The Alaska Policy Forum has published the list of the positions and salaries for at-will employees — those not covered by union contracts at the State of Alaska who are serving at the pleasure of the governor.
The list does not include judiciary or legislative appointees and is for 2017. Must Read Alaska spotted several names of those no longer working for the State of Alaska, but it’s still informative:
SHOE SHOPLIFTING, UNION ORGANIZING, AND A TANGLED CONSTITUTIONAL CASE
A former assistant attorney general who was convicted for using her position as the legal adviser to the Alaska Labor Relations Agency to benefit a close friend, landlord and union organizer, has had her conviction overturned because Troopers seized her computer and wrongly searched it for evidence. The Alaska Court of Appeals has ruled that even though the evidence was there, they had no reasonable cause to believe it would be, so it was a wrongful search and seizure.
The Troopers found plenty of evidence to get a conviction of Erin Pohland.
But because Pohland lived in a portion of a home owned by her friend, Skye McRoberts, Pohland argued that her rooms were equivalent to a separate living space, and could not be searched while Troopers went about establishing that McRoberts had been forging signatures for a union drive involving Alaska’s largest union — Alaska State Employees Association.
McRoberts in 2010 was charged with forging the signatures and altering documents in other ways in an effort to unionize some 1,500 University of Alaska employees who were not part of ASEA.
McRoberts submitted employee “interest” cards to the Alaska Labor Relations Agency. These cards were said to represent the interest of various University of Alaska employees in becoming members of the union. Under Alaska law, at least 30 percent of a proposed bargaining unit must express interest in becoming unionized.
Based on the sharp eye of an agency employee, the Labor Relations Agency came to suspect that a number of these interest cards might have been forged, so the agency asked Pohland for advice.
Pohland, however, was not only renting from McRoberts, but the two were also partners in crime. They were both accused of stealing shoes from Fred Meyer in a December caper, when they removed the electronic theft tags off of shoes and attempted to leave the store with about $1,000 worth of unpaid merchandise. They were charged with misdemeanors.
[Read more about the shoe shoplifting caper here]
When the Labor Relations Agency was reaching out to Pohland for advice on McRoberts in 2010, little did they know she was consulting on the matter with McRoberts.
In its charges against Pohland, the State alleged she failed to tell the Agency that she and McRoberts were close and that she lived in an apartment within McRoberts’s home. The two spoke about McRoberts’s unionizing efforts regularly, and she had even assisted McRoberts in her role as a union organizer
The state was taking advice, in other words, from someone who was colluding with the accused party.
By March of 2011, Alaska State Troopers had obtained a warrant to search McRoberts’s house for evidence that she and her husband, Donavahn McRoberts, had committed forgery and falsification of business records relating to the forged cards.
The search warrant allowed troopers to search the house for any kind of documents that could support the case against the McRoberts.
At this time, Troopers were already aware of the conflict of interest that Pohland had with Skye McRoberts and the Labor Relations Agency. They knew the agency had sought advice from Pohland on the forgery situation, and they knew the advice Pohland gave the agency was suspect.
The search warrant affidavit spelled it out: Pohland’s advice to the Labor Relations Agency “did not follow the guidelines for forged Interest Cards laid out in a National Labor Relations Manual”.
The warrant also noted that Pohland “failed to advise [the Agency] to contact law enforcement to investigate the matter”, and that she failed to tell the Labor Relations Agency that she was good friends with McRoberts and that McRoberts was her landlord.
The search warrant issued by the district court said troopers could seize and search any computer or electronic storage media “capable of concealing documents related to the business and finances associated with Donavahn McRoberts or Skye McRoberts.”
But later, the Troopers and prosecutor assigned to the case acknowledged that at the time of the search, they didn’t have probable cause to believe Pohland was complicit in McRoberts’s crimes.
The question during appeals was whether Pohland’s computer was in the McRoberts’ residence or in what could truly be considered a separate apartment. The suite of rooms had their own bathroom, kitchen and laundry facility, but not a separate entryway.
Troopers searched the suites and seized a laptop that belonged to Pohland. On it, they found numerous text messages between Pohland and Skye McRoberts, discussing McRoberts’ effort to unionize university workers.
The text messages became part of the State’s case against Pohland when she was later charged with official misconduct for the advice that she gave to the Labor Relations Agency.
The appeals court overturned the district court’s conviction because the search warrant application did not establish probable cause to seize and search Pohland’s laptop computer.
“For these reasons, we conclude that the search of Pohland’s laptop computer violated the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 14 of the Alaska Constitution. The evidence against Pohland obtained as a result of that search must be suppressed,” according to the Appeals Court decision.
Pohland, who is no longer working for the State of Alaska and has been disbarred here, has since left the state. She is now a freelance legal researcher and writer in Pittsburgh.
In 2013, Skye McRoberts was convicted of forgery in the second degree in Anchorage and sentenced to spend three years on felony probation and to pay $25,248.10 in restitution to the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development and $9,094.10 to the University of Alaska.
GOVERNMENT WILL UNDERWRITE ‘TRUSTED’ SOURCES
In what is a new twist in the downward spiral of a free and unfettered press that covers the news without fear or favor, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has unveiled a multi-pronged life ring of tax breaks for news organizations that include tax breaks for citizens who buy subscriptions to approved news providers.
The plan was announced Wednesday and will bring nearly $600 million to news organizations that have the stamp of approval from the government.
“It’s necessary to have a journalism sector that is robust in our democracy,” Finance Minister Bill Morneau told reporters after the announcement at Parliament.
The Toronto Star reports that the tax credit will allow subscribers to deduct 15 percent of the cost of subscriptions to digital news media in order to help those organizations survive.
The initiative spans five years and includes aid to nonprofit news organizations and other tax breaks for for-profit news groups, such at the Globe and Mail and Toronto Star, to pay for the labor of journalists. A panel made up of executives from the news industry will decide which news companies are considered “trusted sources” of news, and which roles in news gathering and reporting will be subsidized.
Some news organizations that are for profit organizations will be treated as nonprofits, allowing them to receive donations from foundations and other philanthropic support, for which the donors would receive tax deductions. Normally, only contributions to charitable organizations are tax deductible, but the new policy allows newspapers to receive the benefits of nonprofits, while still remaining for-profit.
PASSES OVER JUNEAU’S JULIE WILLOUGHBY — AGAIN
Gov. Bill Walker appointed four judges on Wednesday for the Bethel, Juneau, and Kenai Superior Courts, and the Court of Appeals.
TERRANCE HAAS, BETHEL SUPERIOR COURT
Haas practiced law in Alaska for close to ten years, after Graduating from Roger Williams University School of Law in 2007. He clerked for the Rhode Island Supreme Court before moving to Bethel, where he has been the supervisor for the Bethel and Dillingham Public Defender Offices for the last 10 years. He will join the Bethel Superior Court.
DANIEL SCHALLY, JUNEAU SUPERIOR COURT
Schally has practiced law in Alaska for more than 20 years, clerking in Kodiak and working as an assistant District Attorney for Southeast, before becoming district court judge and superior court Judge pro tempore in Southcentral in 2005. He will join the Juneau Superior Court.
JASON GIST, KENAI SUPERIOR COURT
Gist has practiced law in Alaska for more than 14 years, after graduating from the University of California’s Berkeley School of Law in 2004. He clerked for Alaska’s Chief Justice Alexander O. Bryner, worked in private practice, and has been an assistant district attorney for the State of Alaska since 2008. He joins the Kenai Superior Court.
BETHANY HARBISON, ALASKA COURT OF APPEALS
Harbison has practiced law in Alaska for almost 25 years, after graduating from Harvard Law School in 1993. She clerked for Judge Angela Mary Greene, worked as a public defender and magistrate judge, and is the presiding superior court judge for the Fourth Judicial District, covering Fairbanks and most of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. She will join the Alaska Court of Appeals.
Walker passed over for the second time the application of Julie Willoughby, a Juneau defense attorney who he appointed earlier this year, before rescinding that appointment to the Juneau Superior Court, and giving the position to a lesser-qualified candidate.
Willoughby applied again, this time for the seat left open by retiring Judge Thomas Nave. Instead, the appointment went to Schally.
[Read: Judicial nominees: Will Walker weigh in or pass?]
The fictional Cicely, Alaska will see the return of “Dr. Joel Fleischman,” played by actor Rob Morrow, in a continuation of the hit television series Northern Exposure.
Universal Television is preparing to film a new segment of series, which ran for six seasons and won 39 Emmy Awards, according to Variety Magazine. The series ran from 1990-95.
As a part of the new series plot, Fleishman, now older, will come back to Alaska for the funeral of an old friend, and he’ll reunite with some of his old friends and get acquainted with some new quirky characters.
Morrow is not only starring in the show, which he left midway through the first series over a money dispute, but will be a producer. Another member of the original cast, John Corbett, is also producing, but not cast into a role as of yet.
The series is being written by Josh Brand. Executive producers are Morrow, John Falsey, and Ben Silverman. Both Brand and Falsey were part of the original series.
Although Northern Exposure was filmed in the town of Roslyn, Wash., it inspired many people to visit Alaska. At times, Alaskans would speculate that Talkeetna was the inspiration for the show, while others said the series had its roots in Haines.
Members of the cast and crew of the original series had a reunion in 2017 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the show, and that’s when they started talking about a revival.
It’s unlikely that the new series will be filmed in Alaska, but if it goes into production, it will certainly give sourdoughs and cheechakos something to debate over moose stew.
THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO SECURE OUR FREEDOM
Thanksgiving — a day-long meditation of gratitude for what we have, which is plenty in this land.
I wish readers a day of feasting, football, friendship and family.
Or perhaps your cup of tea is not that at all, but something even more meaningful…
Perhaps if you work in public safety or in the military, you are picking up the pieces of someone’s mess this weekend.
Thank you for being our watchmen for a civil society, for keeping us safe from harm so we can enjoy a peaceful Thanksgiving.
Must Read Alaska encourages readers to take a break from politics and enjoy a full meal or a mere morsel with whomever you can cobble together for a family, however temporary it may be.
And that’s what this writer will be doing — holding babies, washing dishes, and finding someone to take a walk with. And football. My family loves football. And pie.
There will be nothing new posted here on Thanksgiving Day unless there’s a constitutional crisis. I’m checking out for the day. You should too. The news can wait a day.
But you feel like donating to this site to keep it going for another year, please do! Here’s the link.
Wishing you every happiness, and with thanks in advance for your devotion to freedom!
Suzanne
2,661 VOTES APIECE
The race between Bart LeBon and Kathryn Dodge is tied for District 1 House seat. During the auditing process, the Division of Elections found more ballots for both LeBon and Dodge.
This is the seat being vacated by Rep. Scott Kawasaki. LeBon is a Republican, Dodge is a Democrat.
Until today, LeBon was up by five votes. No additional overseas absentee ballots were received by today’s deadline.
Mechanical vote detection equipment did not pick up on the newly found votes, according to Must Read Alaska sources. A human eye verified the extra votes.
They found six more votes for Dodge, and one for LeBon.
What happened is that the State Review Board went through the ballots by hand. In one instance, the ballot had a tear on the “timing mark” and went through the machine and didn’t get counted, according to sources.
Every ballot except the absentee ballots for District 1 have been counted by both machine and by hand by the State Review Board.
The extra votes were found during a time when none of the Republican vote observers were present. The Republican observers in Fairbanks were surprised to learn that they were not notified about the audit.
Absentee ballots will be audited this Friday.
Next Friday the observers will be able to be present in Juneau when the recount takes place.
The last time a House race was tied was in 2006, when Bryce Edgmon and Rep. Carl Moses flipped a coin; Edgmon won. The candidates can flip a coin or draw cards to decide.
Must Read Alaska will continue to update this story – check back.
The Division of Elections released this statement today:
The bi-partisan State Review Board has completed its review of all ballots from House District 1, with the exception of absentee ballots. Absentee ballots will be audited on Friday, November 23.
Candidates Barton LeBon and Kathryn Dodge are currently tied with 2,661 votes each. The board thoroughly reviewed the election materials from the district and these results are still preliminary until certification. The deadline for the division to receive overseas ballots was on Wednesday, November 21 (15 days after the election). Following mail delivery on Wednesday, the division did not receive any additional overseas ballots for House District 1.
The division has notified both candidates of the current tie and will conduct a recount per state law. If the tie
is certified, a recount would take place in the director’s office in Juneau on Friday, November 30.
The ballots
will be thoroughly scrutinized by the State Review Board. Per state law, in the conduct of a recount, the
director will open and count properly cast absentee ballots that are received after the 15-day count, but
before the completion of a recount.
If the results of the recount re-confirm the tie, the prevailing candidate will be determined under state law. The State Review Board will reconvene on Friday at 12 p.m. in Juneau.
Results are unofficial until certification.
ANNOUNCEMENT MADE IN WASILLA
A former acting commissioner of Transportation and Public Facilities is returning as the department’s commissioner in the Dunleavy Administration.
John MacKinnon, the executive director of the Associated General Contractors, will lead DOT&PF after 10 years at the helm of AGC, a well-known trade organization for commercial construction companies.
Born and raised in Juneau from a historic family of business owners that dates back to the Gold Rush era of the 1880s, MacKinnon graduated from Juneau-Douglas High School in 1970 and earned his bachelor’s degree in marine biology at Western Washington University in Bellingham. His first job out of college was as a biologist at the Auke Bay Laboratory in Juneau.
Later, he founded RMC Inc., a commercial construction firm in Juneau that he ran with his two partners for 24 years. He served four terms on the City Assembly, where he was finally term-limited. During the time, he served as deputy mayor when Dennis Egan was mayor, and previously had been on the City and Borough of Juneau Design Review Board and the Planning Commission.
He was also interim city manager of Juneau for several months, before being tapped to serve in the Department of Transportation under Gov. Frank Murkowski.
In 2006, he was named DOT&PF acting commissioner in Sarah Palin’s administration, but two years later left to run the construction trade organization.
Known to colleagues as intelligent, practical, and plain-spoken, MacKinnon is married to retiring Sen. Anna MacKinnon (formerly Fairclough).
He serves on board of the Denali Commission and the Resource Development Council of Alaska.
WORD ON THE STREET
Jeremy Price will serve as the deputy chief of staff for incoming Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Must Read Alaska has learned. He will work closely with Tuckerman Babcock, Dunleavy’s chief of staff.
Price is from the Salcha area of Fairbanks North Star Borough, where he was raised on a homestead. He graduated from Ben Eielson High School.
In 2014, Price was tapped to begin a branch of Americans for Prosperity in Alaska and has since grown the organization to a well-known voice for economic freedom. The group is supported locally and receives organizational support from its national parent, Americans for Prosperity, which is back by the Koch Brothers. AFP Alaska has launched and supported several successful initiatives, most recently helping Mat-Su residents move their local elections to a November cycle to improve voter turnout.
Price has a master’s degree in governmental studies from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelors from Utah State University.
He started his career with Congressman Don Young in Washington, DC. His legislative portfolio included transportation, infrastructure, and environmental issues and eventually became his legislative director.
After several years with Young, Jeremy moved across the Capitol to the office of Sen. Lisa Murkowski where he handled appropriations, telecommunications, infrastructure, environment, and labor issues.
From there, he became a federal relations manager for the American Petroleum Institute, working on Alaska upstream and national midstream issues, with an emphasis in crude oil by rail.
He resides in Anchorage with his wife and two daughters.