Murkowski-Sullivan split on federal judge picks enters critical phase

The political fight over who should fill two open judgeships in Alaska features competing selection processes from Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Sen. Dan Sullivan.

Murkowski is following tradition in Alaska, using a method that allows some openness in the process. We know the names of the people who have applied to be federal judges.

Unhappy with this approach, Sullivan is using a secret process in which the names of applicants are known only to former Gov. Sean Parnell, former Lt. Gov. Loren Leman and the seven other people chosen by Sullivan to sift through a separate pile of applications.

Under Murkowski’s approach we not only see the names and resumes, but also the results of a poll of the members of the Alaska Bar Association about their opinions regarding the qualifications of the applicants.

Here is a list of the applicants under the Murkowski process and the bar poll results.

A total of 407 people responded to the poll, but for every applicant except one, a majority of respondents said they didn’t know if the applicant was qualified.

The only exception was Anchorage Superior Court Judge Adolf Zeman, who was rated as qualified by 55 percent of the respondents and not qualified by 5 percent.

Here are their letters of application and their resumes.

The applicants are:

Jessie M. Alloway, solicitor general in the Department of Law.

Joseph F. Busa, deputy municipal attorney for Anchorage.

Robert W. Corbisier, director of the state Office of Human Rights.

Michael J. Heyman, criminal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Anchorage.

Ronald W. Opsahl, assistant attorney general in the Department of Law.

Scott A. Oravec, federal magistrate judge.

Danee L. Pontious, Anchorage lawyer in private practice.

Kyle Reardon, federal magistrate judge.

Ian Wheeles, Superior Court Judge, Anchorage.

Joan Wilson, chief administrative law judge, Office of Administrative Hearings.

Justin Works, assistant district attorney, Kenai.

Adolf Zeman, Superior Court Judge, Anchorage.

Under Sullivan’s flawed process, by contrast, we don’t know the names of those who have applied to be judges and don’t have their resumes.

To reduce the chances of repeating the Josh Kindred disaster, more disclosure and transparency is required.

Sullivan needs to lift the gag order on his hand-picked secret judge recruitment committee. He created the committee in 2023 as part of his successful plan to stall a judge selection during the entire Biden administration.

Sullivan voted against 233 Biden nominees for federal district court positions. He voted for 2. He opposed the nominees that Murkowski put forward to Biden and no one was nominated.

Now President Trump selects federal judges, who face confirmation votes in a closely divided Senate.

The federal tradition of relying on home-state senators to agree on names for federal judges appointed by the president means the vacancies may continue as long as Murkowski and Sullivan are divided.

The three-year Sullivan stall has led us to where we are today with one federal judge instead of three.

Murkowski has a credible process to select candidates for two vacancies, the second one created by the Kindred disaster. Sullivan doesn’t.

I have asked Sullivan employee Amanda Coyne, who was named to be the public spokesperson for the Sullivan secret committee, for a list of the applicants and their resumes. I will mention if and when she replies.

Sullivan’s office lists the members of his committee as of September 19, 2023.

A refusal to release the names of the judge applicants and their resumes will reflect poorly on Sullivan and the nine friends and/or political allies who serve on his secret committee—UAA Chancellor and former Gov. Parnell, former Lt. Gov. Loren Leman, Texas lawyer Stephen Cox, former Sullivan employee Jon Katchen, Matt Findley, Jessica Graham, Jo Kuchle, Christine Pate and Kim Reitmeier.

Releasing the names of the applicants and their resumes is the only way to show this exercise is not a sham.

The members of this committee have a responsibility to the public, one that they have neglected by choosing secrecy, not transparency.

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