AIDEA denounces critical research reports before reading them

The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority didn’t bother to read the three new reports by respected Alaska economists Gregg Erickson and Milt Barker before denouncing the documents as inaccurate.

Legislators need to ask why the state-owned development bank is so quick to try to direct attention away from the poor financial returns and the opaque operations of AIDEA described in detail in the Erickson/Barker reports.

"AIDEA has never produced even the simplest accounting of full-time-equivalent jobs that it claims to generate, let alone a rigorous economic analysis of its direct, indirect, and induced impacts on employment,” Erickson and Barker wrote.

Instead, Randy Ruaro, the former Dunleavy chief of staff who is now the AIDEA executive director, complained about the “dark money” from the groups backing Salmon State, the environmental organization that contracted with Erickson and Barker.

Here is the AIDEA press release, in which Ruaro attacks left-wing dark money and provides links to a right-wing dark money outfit attacking left-wing dark money. The groups backing Salmon State, and by extension, Erickson and Barker, are an “affront to the democratic process,” according to AIDEA.

Let’s talk about the money.

Erickson said that he and Barker have been paid a total of $55,000 for their September 2022 report, “AIDEA Cost & Financial Performance— A Long, Hard Look,” and the three reports released this week.

Stung by the Erickson/Barker findings and assertions 18 months ago, AIDEA announced plans on September 29, 2022 to hire a contractor to prepare a report for AIDEA that would counter the “disinformation” in the Erickson/Barker report.

AIDEA said it hoped to “complete the analysis by the end of 2022” and headlined its press release, “AIDEA Debunks Report and Announces Independent Economic Analysis.”

There was no debunking then. And there has been no debunking since then.

Erickson’s professional history in Alaska ranges from key positions with the Legislature and executive branch to the University of Alaska Fairbanks and private business. Barker is a former board member of AIDEA with broad experience on state finance issues.

Alan Weitzner, AIDEA director in 2022, discounted the expertise and the many decades of solid analysis that Erickson and Barker have conducted on all aspects of Alaska state finances. He claimed their work is “detrimental to Alaska’s economy and prospects for the future.”

AIDEA wanted a contractor to tell the public all the great things that AIDEA was doing.

AIDEA hired Northern Economics, which calls itself “Alaska’s Trusted Economics Expert,” for up to $250,000 to counter the “disinformation” in the Erickson/Barker report. Marcus Hartley is the president of the Anchorage-based firm, while Mike Fisher is the vice president.

In November 2022, AIDEA said it wanted the consultant to "document the authority’s impressive economic and investment history” and its “central role” in supporting economic development. It said the report would be done by June 2023.

On February 2, 2023, AIDEA said it had hired Northern Economics for its reply and that the study would be available to the public by late 2023. AIDEA now says that Northern Economics has requested more time, which is why the study has yet to be released.

For the sake of independence, it would have been better for some entity other than AIDEA to hire a contractor to prepare a positive study about AIDEA that responds to a critical research report about AIDEA.

When the Northern Economics report is finally released, one obvious question will be whether the conclusions contained in “AIDEA Debunks Report and Announces Independent Economic Analysis” on September 29, 2022 determined the outcome in advance.

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