BUT THERE’S PLENTY OF DOCUMENTATION TO BACK UP HIS CLAIM
(Note: This story is updated with a letter that Commissioner John Quick has sent to the Senate joint committee that interviewed him on Tuesday. See link at the bottom.)
(Note ii: This story is updated to reflect that Commissioner Quick has resigned.)
After a day of political drama, the commissioner of the Department of Administration has resigned. His resume simply did not hold up under scrutiny.
The “owners” of a coffee, tea and frozen yogurt company in Washington state have challenged the claim by Commissioner of Administration nominee John Quick that he was an owner of the company. They said he was an employee whom they fired.
The Janie Reynolds letter to the Senate committee that interviewed Quick prior to his confirmation is linked here:
Senate-Joint-Finance-State-Affairs-Committee-AK-002
But while Janie Reynolds says Quick was an employee they let go, Quick says the ownership was a handshake deal when he started the business with their son, his longtime childhood friend when they were in their mid-20s. Both of them are Christians, and this arrangement is not unusual among young entrepreneurs.
In Tacoma area news stories about the successful business, Bryan Reynolds is always mentioned as an owner in recent years, but a search of news stories from several years ago finds that Quick was an owner-partner with Reynolds. At least that part of his story seems to hold up.
This story highlights John Quick and Bryan Reynolds as partners.
Quick’s claim is also backed up by an old blog entry in his family’s blog from 2011, quartetofquicks.blogspot.com
It appears from news stories, that the two young men went into business together, but eventually the entire Reynolds family eventually got involved and Quick exited the business.
Janie Reynolds, who said she is 50 percent owner of Anthem Coffee & Tea/Elements Frozen Yogurt, wrote a letter to the Senate Joint Finance and State Affairs Committee.
The letter became part of his confirmation process on Tuesday, with Sen. Bill Wielechowski and Sen. Scott Kawasaki asking him pointed questions about his financial ties to that company and his answers were in conflict with the letter they had in their hand from Reynolds, which was then leaked to the media and selected bloggers. It was clearly a coordinated set up.
Quick told the committee that he sold the company to a private party, and he didn’t want to reveal their names on the record, but was a friend from high school. That friend, from MustReadAlaska research, was Bryan Reynolds.
Quick was most recently the chief of staff to the mayor of Kenai Borough, Charlie Pierce.
UPDATE: John Quick sent a letter to the committee this afternoon, clarifying that he had an equity stake position in the company and that he parted ways with the company, rather than selling it, as he stated to the committee.
The letter is linked here:
Comm John Quick Letter 1.24.19
Other parts of his resume, including some online postings, did not hold water. For example, it appears he does not have a master’s degree, although in some places online he indicated that he earned one.
In the end, the inconsistencies were too many to explain away, and his appointment appeared destined to fail the confirmation process.
