Alaska Politics Blog

This is the place to talk about Alaska politics, state, local, national. Public life in the Last Frontier has rarely been more interesting -- a full slate of federal and state elections, the influence of former Gov. Sarah Palin, the usual hardball Alaska politics. Come here for news, tidbits and information, and join the discussion. We encourage lively debate, but please keep it civil and stay on point. Don't use profanity, make crude comments or attack other posters. Posts that violate the Terms of Use will be deleted. Repeat offenders will lose their ability to post comments.

Sean Cockerham

Sean Cockerham writes about Alaska state politics. He's worked for the ADN in Anchorage and Juneau, covered the legislature for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, and covered Washington state politics for the Tacoma News Tribune. E-mail Sean at scockerham@adn.com

Kyle Hopkins

Kyle Hopkins covers rural affairs, general assignments and politics for the ADN. He covered the 2006 campaign for governor, has blogged extensively about Alaska politics, covered Anchorage city government and was a reporter based in the Mat-Su. He grew up in Southeast Alaska and previously wrote for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and Anchorage Press. E-mail Kyle at khopkins@adn.com and also find him on our rural Alaska blog, The Village.

David Hulen

David Hulen, the ADN's state and local news editor, is responsible for political coverage. He has been an editor and reporter at the ADN for more than 20 years. E-mail David at dhulen@adn.com

SECTION

Alaska political corruption

When the FBI raided state legislature offices in Aug. 2006, it publicly launched an investigation that ultimately reached the highest levels of Alaska politics, and continues to this day.

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Fairbanks North Star Borough weighing release of Joe Miller's employment records

From Sean Cockerham in Anchorage –

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner did a story today discussing public records requests made to the Fairbanks borough by several media outlets, including the Daily News, for information about Joe Miller’s time working for the borough as an attorney.

Andrew Halcro, who supports Sen. Lisa Murkowski in her primary race against Miller, wrote on his blog that Miller was fired.

Miller’s campaign manager, former Anchorage Assemblyman Paul Bauer, then produced a resignation letter written by Miller last August, in which Miller said he was resigning because of differences with the borough, including what he said was an attempt to make him work on a case that represented a conflicted of interest with work he was doing for another client.

The Daily News asked the borough for more information about Miller’s departure, as well as his time working for the borough. The borough responded to me this week that it will provide “any disclosable documents” by the close of business Monday.

Below is the Associated Press pickup of the Chris Freiberg story from today’s News-Miner:

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — The Fairbanks North Star Borough says it will release some records dealing with U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller's seven years as an assistant borough attorney.

Several Alaska media outlets have sought information about Miller's performance and any documents related to his departure. It's unclear how much information the borough will release.

Miller worked for the borough part-time from 2002 to 2009. Campaign spokesman Randy DeSoto said Miller was not fired or asked to resign. Rather, he chose to leave because he disagreed with policy decisions.DeSoto added that Miller can't say much more unless the borough signs a document releasing him of attorney-client privilege. The campaign also is reviewing the borough's documents and may allow the release of some information that would normally be denied under a public records request.

"We're not trying to hide anything," DeSoto said.

Miller is seeking the Republican nomination for the seat now held by GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski. He has been endorsed by former Gov. Sarah Palin.

Miller does not mention his time as a borough attorney in the biography on his website.

DeSoto alleged that the borough has been leaking information about Miller's departure and has hired an attorney to defend itself. Borough attorney Rene Broker denied that assertion.

"That's absolutely untrue," she said. "The only one we hired was to deal with the public records requests. I hire all the attorneys, so I would know."

The borough said it will release Miller's employment information within the next few days.

© Copyright 2011, The Anchorage Daily News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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