Dan Fagan: How Dahlstrom worked the playbook for climbing the political ladder

By DAN FAGAN

Here’s the playbook for many legislators: Once out of office, score a job with a fat paycheck, one dependent on government bloat, largess, and wasteful spending.

A job like military advisor to the governor. Can you imagine filling a 40-hour work week as the governor’s military advisor?

Alaska state government jobs pay well with little accountability and iron clad job security.

The state has close to 700 public employees per 10,000 residents. That’s more than forty-eight other states.

One in four Alaska employees work for government.

Alaska spends north of $21,000 on state government per capita. That’s the highest in the nation and close to double what 40 other states spend on state government. Idaho spends one-third of what Alaska does on state government.

Back in 2010, Nancy Dahlstrom, after serving in the Legislature, decided to get in on the easy money state government job train.

Then-Gov. Sean Parnell made Dahlstrom his “Senior Military Advisor. “

I asked Republican Gov. Michael Dunleavy’s spokesperson, Jeff Turner, if the position of military advisor still exists. It does not.

“The governor has Gen. (Torrence) Saxe who is more qualified to advise the governor on issues relating to the military,” said Turner.  

Parnell, also a Republican, had adjunct Gen. Thomas Katkus to advise him in 2010. Apparently, he needed Dahlstrom too.

Unfortunately for Dahlstrom, she had to give up her easy on the workload $96,000 per year job shortly after Parnell handed it to her.

The Alaska Constitution prohibits legislators from accepting jobs created while they were in office.

Parnell at the time told the Anchorage Daily News he waited to talk to Dahlstrom about the job until after the session. But Dahlstrom told me otherwise. She admitted the governor first talked with her about the job several months prior.

That’s a huge conflict of interest because Dahlstrom was still in the Legislature and held the powerful position of Rules Committee chair. The Rules chair is uniquely positioned to block or advance legislation, including the governor’s legislation.

Dahlstrom knew Parnell was going to give her this high paying job after the session was over. She had to know blocking any of Parnell’s legislation as Rules Chair could jeopardize her upcoming sweet $96,000 a year salary.

Then gubernatorial candidate and Republican Ralph Samuels told the Daily News Parnell clearly broke the law by giving Dahlstrom the job.   

“This whole sorry episode reeks of politics as usual, doling out highly paid, made-up jobs to political friends. But in this case, what is most troubling is the governor’s clear intent to sidestep the Constitution,” Samuels said.

At first, Parnell’s Attorney General Dan Sullivan, now U.S. senator, gave the governor the green light on the Dahlstrom hiring. But changed his position after I challenged him on his legal opinion.  

Here’s how the Anchorage Daily News reported it in 2010:

“KFQD talk-radio host Dan Fagan began to hammer Parnell on (his legal opinion) last month. The attorney general then came on Fagan’s radio show and said his department’s analysis wasn’t thorough and he would do a more complete one.”

After Sullivan’s “more thorough review” he changed his legal opinion on the Dahlstrom hiring.

In defense of Dahlstrom, when I talked with her, she seemed oblivious to the glaring conflict of interest with her serving as Rules chair, while knowing her potential future boss was willing to dole out almost $100,000 a year to her after the session.

When Dahlstrom admitted to me it had been months since she and the governor discussed her future job, she didn’t seem to be worried about hiding anything.

And there is no way to know if Dahlstrom used her power as Rules chair to benefit her future boss instead of her Eagle River constituents.

Keep in mind Juneau was awash in cash during this time. Only four years prior former Gov. Sarah Palin signed her massive tax increase, ACES.

State politicians, including Parnell, couldn’t find enough ways to spend all the money transferred out of the private sector and into wasteful state government.

It got so bad that the state offered free airfare to any Alaskan willing to fly to Anchorage and attend a game at the then- fledgling Great Alaska Shootout basketball tournament.

The big concern is not the illegal job offer or even the $96,000 heading Dahlstrom’s way.

It’s that as Rules chair, Dahlstrom had a giant financial incentive to do the bidding of the governor instead of her constituents.  

Dan Fagan hosts a radio show on KVNT 1020 AM, 92 FM in Eagle River and North Anchorage, 104.5 FM in South Anchorage and globally on KVNT.com from 7 to 9 AM.