The Alaska Permanent Fund Board of Trustees’ Governance Committee has called a meeting for Monday. During the past few weeks, the Fund’s governance has been fraught with controversy, after emails emerged that showed possible conflict of interest by trustee Ellie Rubenstein, who also happens to be the chair of the Governance Committee.
The agenda is vague concerning the reason the meeting has been called, but it is sure to draw the interest of the media. The Alaska Landmine broke the story that revealed emails that showed the professional staff of the Permanent Fund felt pressured by Rubenstein to forge closer relationships with companies associated with her father, billionaire David Rubenstein, founder of the Carlyle Group.
The APFC Board and staff fall under the State of Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act, which is in state law. All board members and employees are briefed on the Ethics Act requirements as part of their orientation. The Act speaks to a prohibition on officers acting upon personal or financial interests in the performance of their public responsibilities.
The agenda merely says the topic is about amendments to the governance policies and personnel management.
The governance policy is at this link. It says, among other things, that the board will establish a communications policy which sets out guidelines with respect to how the board and individual trustees should communicate with the staff of AFPC, service providers, the media (including social media) and other external parties.
