Democrats object to Dunleavy letter to 800 employees

12
293

‘TAKE IT BACK,’ THEY SAY

A group of Democratic lawmakers and lawmakers-elect has sent a letter to Gov. Mike Dunleavy, asking him to rescind his letter that was sent to over 800 at-will State employees asking for their resignation.

Gov. Bill Walker has also objected to the letter sent to the exempt and partially exempt employees.

In their letter, the lawmakers said that asking employees to state their expressed “positive desire” to serve in the Dunleavy Administration is ill-considered, “and we call on you to reverse course on it immediately.”

The four-page letter is linked here:

Letter to Governor-elect Dunleavy RE Rescind Resignation Requet All At-Will State Employees

“We certainly recognize your right to seek the resignations of those state employees whose positions are more policy-oriented in nature—department commissioners, directors, executive staff, and the like. However, your resignation demand goes far beyond that. The state employees whose resignations you have demanded are professionals with specialized education, training, and skill sets—and years of experience.”

The letter was signed by Sens. Bill Wielechowski, Donny Olson, and Tom Begich, and Reps. Matt Claman, David Guttenberg, Chris Tuck, Les Gara, Scott Kawasaki, and Sens.-elect Jesse Kiehl and Elvi Gray-Jackson.

Notably, several Democratic lawmakers did not sign the letter, and two who did are leaving office in January — Reps. Les Gara and David Guttenberg.

The Democrats signing the letter did not offer what number of resignations they would find acceptable, or which specific positions or employees they sought to protect from having to send in a letter that states they want to continue to work for the new administration.

The transition team had decided that rather than pick and choose, it was more fair to send the letter to all who are in the category of at-will employees.

Earlier this month, the lead psychiatrist at the Alaska Psychiatric Institute wrote publicly that he would not respond to the Dunleavy request and that he would not resign. Anthony Blanford penned a letter to the Anchorage Daily News outlining his position on the matter.

Dunleavy won with 53 percent of the statewide vote, winning more votes than the other three candidates combined (Mark Begich, Billy Toien, and Gov. Bill Walker, who received just 2 percent).

12 COMMENTS

  1. Now, the Democrats really know what its like to lose their jobs. Government bastards and sore losers. Get rid of them all, Dunleavy, and don’t worry about a thing. None of them voted for you anyway.

    • 1. Not all government employees are Democrats.

      2. Many employees have the State’s best interest at heart and can’t stand the corruption in the state government.

      3. These same government employees would proudly serve Governor Dunleavy and his administration.

      4. Governor Dunleavy is completely justified and absolutely should ask for resignations.

      5. I am one of the government employees that had to submit their resignation.

      6. I agree with the other posts: return to sender!

  2. Who really cares what they think. Governor Dunleavy is well with in his prerogative to request. They need to stop trying to cover for the employees that will not have the best interest of the new Governor. They know when they sign on the for the Job that nothing is a guarantee when a new administration is in charge.

    • I have re-applied for my job before because the company was sold, and the new owners wanted to clean house. Many companies, and public sector entities, become populated with buddies, sycophants, relatives , rent-a-friends and other worthless deadwood that sadly end up in management positions. They usually have a pompous , entitled attitude that demoralizes the folks who actually work ( sound familiar ? ).

      Cleaning out the Walker management is a good move. Replacing them with a bunch of Dunleavy buddies would be bad. Do something different and hire competent, non-political folks that can do the job. The only way to drain the swamp is to have someone who knows how to open the valve.

      Be brave and hire top notch, crudentialed folks that have a steely-eyed focus on the job. Terminate the plethora of myopic, self-serving slugs that are so prevalent . They are part of the problem, not the solution.

      Otherwise, get used to the same old loser attitude that so many worthless
      managers espouse. Do more with less, join the real world. More money will never cure bad management, pinkslips will.

  3. Bye bye….sorry it in the best interest of the majority of the voters to have the persons best suited s public servants heart to be pubic servants.

    Dunlevy won and those in those jobs complaining about it will not be happy implementing the tasks needed to push the path that the majority of the voters want. The private citizens matter more than the public servants wants because the public servants create no wealth where as the pubic sector and businesses and the proceeds of our subsurface rights pay the bill including the cost of the employment of public servants.

  4. Not only should he send them packing but put every other government employee under review. Seriously folks we’re being ripped off everywhere you look. There’s no real accountability going on and once you hire some of these people your stuck with their bad decisions. In recent years I have witnessed first hand how poorly our government operates. Going to need some serious house cleaning if your ever going to get spending under control.

Comments are closed.