Dunleavy dithers on Permanent Fund leadership

The Alaska Permanent Fund Board of Trustees is set to meet July 24 in Fairbanks, a regular quarterly meeting at which decisions will be made and updates presented regarding the operations of this vital institution.

But there are only five members of the trustees at this point—two employees of Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a former employee of Dunleavy, a contract employee of Dunleavy and Gabrielle Rubenstein, a political supporter of Dunleavy.

The employees are Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum and Transportation Commissioner Ryan Anderson, while the former employee is Jason Brune, former environmental commissioner. The contract employee is Craig Richards, who gets $10,000 a month as Dunleavy’s statehood defense coordinator/consultant.

Rubenstein, the daughter of billionaire David Rubenstein and Alice Rogoff, is under investigation by the Permanent Fund in regard to comments she made and actions she took that were reported internally by senior employees of the fund.

Among the statements not related to investment decisions attributed to her was this: “Trustee Rubenstein told me that I should know that Chair Schutt will not be reappointed by the governor when his term is up this June,” Marcus Frampton, the chief investment officer of the fund, wrote last winter in an internal email.

The chairman’s position on the trustees has been vacant since July 1, when the four-year term of Ethan Schutt expired.

Corporation officials said the Alaska Department of Law advised them a year ago that unlike some other state boards, the terms of the trustees do no carry over when there is a delay in filling the seat.

The governor appoints all the trustees and there is no legislative confirmation required because of the way the institution was set up by the Legislature.

Schutt’s e-mail address at the corporation has been suspended because he is “technically off the board as of July 1,” said APFC CEO Deven Mitchell.

There has bee no action by Dunleavy to either replace or reappoint Schutt, executive vice president of the Bristol Bay Native Corporation.

Dunleavy’s publicity department did not respond to multiple requests over weeks about whether Schutt will be reappointed or who will be named in his place.

Dunleavy dithering on appointments is not a problem exclusively with the Permanent Fund.

I think this is due in large part because the potential universe of appointees is limited by excluding the tens of thousands of Alaskans who signed the Dunleavy recall petition.

The Regulatory Commission of Alaska, a state agency with enormous influence on the daily lives of Alaskans, is supposed to have five full-time commissioners. One of those positions has vacant since March 1 when Janis Wilson’s term ended.

The state Board of Education, the most important entity in Alaska in regard to statewide education planning and policy, has only five voting members, one above a quorum. Two voting positions are vacant.

The board has been without a member from the Second Judicial District since March 1. The board has also been without one of its public members for more than two months since the Legislature rejected the nomination of Bob Griffin.

No more than four of the seven board positions can be members of the same party as the governor. The board members are Pamela Dupras, James Fields, Sally Stockhausen, Barbara Tyndall and Lorri Van Diest.

According to Dunleavy’s boards and commissions office, led by former Dunleavy campaign volunteer and state employee Jordan Shilling, there are three vacancies on the Alaska Industrial Development & Export Authority board as of July 1.

The state website says hat the two-year AIDEA terms of Randy Eledge, Albert Fogle and Bill Kendig have expired.

The most recent list of vacancies published by the Dunleavy administration is from last December.

If you look up individual boards and commissions on the state website, there are vacancies and expired terms on most boards and commissions.

There are two vacancies on the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute Board of Directors.

The Alaska Public Broadcasting Commmision has five of its nine seats either vacant or occupied by members with expired terms. A public seat on the board has been vacant for more than two years.

John Binkley’s term on the Alaska Railroad board of directors expired on December 1, 2023, according to Shilling’s office.

The terms of three members of the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education expired March 1.

There are seven people on the Governor’s Council on Disabilities and Special Education with expired terms and one position that has been vacant for a year.

There are two people with expired terms on the Alaska House Finance Corp. board.

There are two vacancies on the Alaska Mental Health Board and two people with expired terms.

There are three people with expired terms on the Alaska Pioneers’ Homes Advisory board, one person whose term has been expired on the Alaska Humanities Forum board since last December, two people with expired terms on the Alaska Royalty Oil and Gas Advisory board, two people with expired terms on the Alcoholic Beverage Control board.

There is one vacancy and two seats with expired terms on the Alaska Aerospace Corporation board. The public seat on the Board of Nursing has been vacant since last year and there are two members whose terms have expired.

State law requires five members of the State Assessment Review board, which deals with oil and gas assessment appeals. There are two vacancies.

The state Personnel board, which deals with ethics questions, has one member whose term expired July 1. He is Alfred Tamagni Sr., who has been on the board since 2006.
The State Board of Parole has one member with an expired term, while the State Medical Board has five people whose terms have expired.

Six members of the 11-member Aviation Advisory board have expired terms and one seat is vacant.

Two members of the Board of Pharmacy have expired terms. The same situation exists with the Board of Game, the Board of Fisheries, the Board of Marine Pilots, the Water and Wastewater Works Advisory board,

There is one vacant seat on the Board of Governors of the Alaska Bar, one of the three the governor appoints. A public seat on the Real Estate Commission has been vacant since 2023.

This is by no means a complete list. The overall result is some combination of sloppiness and incompetence that shows the Dunleavy administration neglecting one of the routine aspects of maintaining state government.

The neglect is particularly alarming in the case of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation.

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