“I don’t have any experience whatsoever in commercial fishing. And as I looked at the statutes and as everyone else looked at the statutes, that’s not a requirement to do this job,” said Mike Porcaro when Sen. Scott Kawasaki asked him about his experience in fishing and his job on the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission.

“I think it’s actually a benefit, since I have no entangling alliances. I have no preconceived ideas. And I’m learning and believe me I’m learning every day, just as most people do, what’s going on. And I’ve got some excellent teachers. And I’ve got some incredible staff members that work with me,” he said during a perfunctory hearing Wednesday.

“I’m not terribly . . .well, you shouldn’t be, but you know I’ll tell you that. You shouldn’t be terribly worried about whether or not I have a great deal of experience in fishing or not. I have a great deal of experience in managing and a great deal of experience in communicating and a great deal of experience in success,” Porcaro said.

“I don’t know if that answers your question, it makes you feel any better. But that’s the one I’m stuck with sir,” he said to Kawasaki.

Porcaro, who said he didn’t ask for a state job, was given one last summer by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a $136,000-a-year post as commissioner on the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission.

Porcaro, how in his mid-70s, is still running his advertising business, his talk show and drawing a full-time salary as a state employee. He uses his talk show to complain about government waste, government excess, high taxes and the need to cut spending.

His talk show is a safe space for Dunleavy where there are no tough questions from the host. The job is a political reward at state expense.

No one on the Senate Resources Committee asked about the state audit that said there is not enough work to justify even two full-time commissioners with benefits. Glenn Haight is the other commissioner.

I’ve asked the members of the committee—Sens. Cathy Giessel, Bill Wielchowski, Click Bishop, James Kaufman, Matt Claman,, Forrest Dunbar and Kawasaki—exactly how many hours a week Porcaro works and when.

No answer.

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