ANCHORAGE DAILY PLANET
Even after years in this business, we are stunned to read that Gov. Bill Walker’s office actually is asking the news media to back off covering Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott’s rushed, secret resignation and the incident – whatever it was – that forced it.
In most parts of the nation, with real news media, that would be like waving a red flag in a bull’s face.
In a long Facebook post, reported by Must Read Alaska, Deputy Chief of Staff Grace Jang leaped to support Mallott. Jang was a broadcast journalist who covered Walker’s campaign and ended up his communication director.
Her inartful Facebook piece was designed to appear as a defense of Mallott’s victim(s), but was nothing more than a way to get the press to give Walker’s torpedoed re-election campaign a break.
“It’s been a tough week for my boss and our whole team,” Jang wrote. “We love, cherish and respect Byron. He made us laugh. He provided perspective. He advocated for voices not at the table. I miss seeing him in the office, hearing his stories and joking with him.”
Then she wrote: