A public records request by Anchorage citizen activist Russell Biggs shows that some Anchorage Assembly members have been destroying their text messages that they use to deliberate public policy and coordinate votes, a violation of the Open Meetings Act.
Assembly members are prohibited by law from making agreements in private about how they will vote in public. They are also prohibited from destroying records of their communications.
“We’ve suspected for a long time that several assembly members have been destroying public records that showed the extent of their collusion in driving policy within the assembly meetings –Â specifically messaging between themselves and/or individuals outside the meeting in order to coordinate the vote. After several months and lots of money, we now know that Forrest Dunbar, Chris Constant, and Meg Zaletel are using several methods to evade the Alaska Public Records and records retention laws, and that the municipal clerk has not enforced the compliance with those laws,” Biggs said.
Biggs had requested all electronic messages sent in the last 90 days during the Assembly meetings, and he has paid thousands of dollars in fees to the Municipal Clerk to get those documents. Assemblyman Chris Constant only revealed that he deletes messages automatically after every seven days. Deleting  communications that pertain to legislation would be a violation of public records and retention laws.
Former Assemblyman Forrest Dunbar, who is now a state senator, admitted that he uses the app known as Signal (a secret message auto-delete app) and claimed it was because he had been cyber-attacked. However, he also said he emails frequently … but did not provide any emails or deleted texts to meet the requirements of the records request.
Assemblywoman Meg Zaletel claimed that a software update deleted her texts, and failed to provide an explanation why those public records would not be easily recoverable (or why they were not saved to begin with), also violating the public records retention laws.
“Finally, the clerk has not enforced compliance on these legislators, which is her job,” Biggs explained. “This is exactly the same type of behavior that has landed a slew of state legislators in legal trouble over the last few years, because they believe that 1. These cases won’t end up in Superior Court (or Supreme Court if necessary) and 2. that Signal won’t produce those records under a subpoena (they will). “
Biggs has already won three legal actions against the clerk and says he is confident this unlawful attempt by Zaletel, Constant, and Dunbar to evade the AK public records is headed for a fourth date in court.
“What that will look like is uncertain, but you can bet that the same legislators that redacted hundreds of pages of their communications with the Blue Alaskan/AK Dems Communications Director and then sealed the executive sessions indefinitely without disclosing why are going to fight this tooth and nail,” Biggs said. “As invested members of the media, I’m forwarding this info along. The ADN has chosen not to report on any of the prior public records settlements involving the clerk, or two separate letters to the editor that explained the circumstances that forced the muni to settle these cases for several thousand dollars.”
