Acting Attorney General Ed Sniffen will become Alaska’s Attorney General, said Gov. Mike Dunleavy in a statement today.
Sniffen took on the role of the AG after the resignation of Kevin Clarkson, subsequent to a series of personal text messages between Clarkson and a woman in the Governor’s Office.
Mr. Sniffen received his B.A. in Biology and Sociology from the College of Idaho and his J.D. from Willamette University College of Law. Upon graduating from law school in 1988, he began practicing law in Anchorage with a focus on natural resources, environmental, labor and employment, maritime, and utility law.
In 2000, he began his career with the Alaska Department of Law, serving as a senior assistant attorney general in the consumer protection unit, then as a chief assistant attorney general, deputy attorney general, chief of staff, and most recently as acting attorney general.
His appointment must be confirmed by the Alaska Legislature. Democrats will be sure to make his appointment difficult, and will likely ask him about his role in joining with the Attorney General of Texas in a challenge of four battleground states’ presidential election results, an effort that failed to gain traction in the U.S. Supreme Court, which rejected the case.
