With All Due Respect Episode 45

Angela Rodell is fired as executive director of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation in the biggest political assassination in modern Alaska politics.

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Welcome to another
 …episode of With All Due Respect
 …the podcast
 …that spent its
 …first permanent fund 
 …dividend check in 1982
 …on a new navy blazer
 …and a Harris twead sportcoat
 …at Klopfensteins 
 …conveniently located
 …in the Sears Mall
 

Greetings
 …I’m Andrew Halcro
 …your host
 …for this podcast
 
 With me as always
 …is my main man
 …my co-host with the most
 …Mr. Van Sanders
 
 Van
 …what did you do with your
 …first permanent fund
 …dividend check?
 
 (Van does exchange)

Good times.

As always we’d like
 …to thank
 
 Today on With All Due Respect
 …our first true crime podcast
 
 …the political assassination
 …of the Executive Director
 …of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation

 (Van plays politics bit)
 
 Without explanation, 
 …last Thursday
 …the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp.’s board of trustees 
 …abruptly removed executive director 
 …Angela Rodell
 …despite 
 …a record-breaking performance 
 …by the fund over the past year
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen 
 …I haven’t talked to one person 
 …who isn’t absolutely stunned 
 …and 
 …very 
 …very 
 …concerned about this
 …political hit job
 
 
 Under Roedell’s leadership
 …in the last year alone
 …the fund gained almost 30% 
 …in value
 …the most of any 
 …year since its creation, 
 

Even Independent advisers
 …praised Rodell
 …the day before her firing
 …calling her performance exceptional
 …when compared to similar funds nationally.
 
 
 Angela Rodell
 …grew the
 …Permanent Fund
 …30% last year
 …the best year
 …ever in the fund’s history
 …and yet she got FIRED
 
So why?
 
Why was Angela Rodell 
…fired after a record performance?

Why
 …and how
 …was this political hit job 
 …a day after she was lauded
 …for her guidance of the permanent fund?
 
 
 First
 …we need a 
 …recent history lesson
 
 (Van does history lesson)

 Two months ago on this podcast
 …we rang the bell about
 …how Governor Dunleavy
 …was trying to politicize
 …the Alaska Permanent fund corporation
 …in order to justify paying a super dividend
 
 Van 
 …would you 
 …please play the 
 …two minute clip 
 …from show 37?

(Van plays clip Show 37 14:30 to 16:22)

That was reported
 …on this podcast on October 13
 …after Governor Dunleavy’s
 …finance director Lucinda Mahoney 
 …tried to bully
 …Roe-dell 
 …into changing
 …it’s policies
 
 However
 …Rodell stuck to best
 …investment practices
 …and pushed back 
 …against the Governor’s 
 …attempt to cook the books
 
 Now
 …exactly two months later
 …to the day
 …Angela Roe-dell has been 
 …abruptly fired

 Allow me to explain
 …what happened
 
 It was clear to Governor Dunleavy
 …with Rodell 
 …remaining as Executive Director
 …he’d continue to 
 …find resistance to 
 …over drawing 
 …the fund to pay
 …a super sized dividend
 
 …remember we have mention several times
 …on this program
 …about Governor Dunleavy’s
 …re-election chances all hinge
 …on paying a super dividend
 
 Van
 …one more time please
 …how about show 40 this time
 
 (Van plays show 40 17:00 to 17:14)

 So 
 …what happened?
 
 Did Dunleavy and Mahoney
 …realize that the only way
 …to eliminate the opposition
 …to overdrawing the fund
 …was to fire Rodell?

Did they plan
 …to fire Rodell
 …and then install someone
 …more open to 
 …overdrawing the fund?
 
 

The answer is yes
 …to all of the above?


Remember
…Mahoney was the same
…Dunleavy official
…who told lawmakers that she
…had no idea how they were going to
…cover the billion dollar budget gap
…to pay for the super dividends
 
In fact we did a Jeff Spicoli
…bit on one podcast episode
…in honor of her
…I don’t know
…response
 
 
Rodell had to go 
…because
…she had credibility
…and an unmatched record
…of fund performance
 
When she spoke
…lawmakers listened
 
When she said
…overdrawing the fund
…was fiscally irresponsible 
…lawmakers defended the fund
…to ensure it wasn’t overdrawn
 
 

• So this in my opinion
   …is what happened.
   
   They needed a way
   …to fire Rodell
   
   So with
   …Roe-dell’s evaluation due
   …Mahoney headed up the process
   …that was supposed to be a 360
   …degree evaluation
   
   Now
   …for those of you
   …who are not aware of
   …what a 360 degree review
   …is
   
   …Van will you please give us a
   …definition of a 360 degree interview?
   
   (Van gives definition)
   
   A 360 review 
   …is a performance evaluation 
   …tool that solicits feedback 
   …about an employee from all directions
   …their managers, coworkers, and direct reports
  
  A 360 review seeks 
   …to provide actionable feedback 
   …to an employee and gives 
   …them a better understanding 
   …of their contributions to an organization.
   
  
  

Ladies and Gentlemen
 …this was a political hit
 
 …this was a leave the gun
 …take the cannoli 
 …political mob hit

 Angela Rodell was fired
 …so Governor Mike Dunleavy’s cronies
 …could take over the management
 …of the permanent fund corporation 
 
 So in two months
 …when Governor Dunleavy
 …starts pitching his idea
 …for a super dividend…
 …he’ll have an obedient
 …Permanent Fund director
 …who will go along 

 
 

So how have lawmakers responded?
 
 Shocked
 
 Republican State Senator
 …Natasha Von Imhof 
 …Chair of the 
 …Legislative Budget and Audit Committee
 …will hold hearings on the matter next week.
 
 

So 
 …what does 
 …Governor Dunleavy 
 …have to say
 
 

His office
 …stated

“Governor Dunleavy has no 
 …involvement in the board of 
 …trustees’ actions or decisions”

 
 Do you think for a minute that Dunleavy’s finance director 
 …Lucinda Mahoney
 …would waltz into a board meeting 
 …and propose firing Rodell
 …who has provided record returns for the fund
 …without the governor’s nod of approval
 
 Of course not.

It was the governor’s idea
 …Mahoney was just the messenger
 
 And 
 …lets
 …just for laughs
 …say Dunleavy didn’t know
 
 …well
 …just think
 …that would mean

Two of Dunleavy’s commissioners
 …both of whose paychecks 
 …are signed by Dunleavy
 
 …arbitrarily orchestrated
 …the firing
 …of the permanent fund director
 …who just had a record year
 
 Not. Bloody. Likely.

 Not to mention
 …if there were performance issues
 …with Rodell
 …why wasn’t she given 
 …a probationary period?
 
 …why wasn’t Rodell given 
 …an opportunity to correct
 …any shortcomings in her performance
 
 

Roe-dell wasn’t given an opportunity
 …to remedy any shortcomings
 …because there weren’t any
 
 
 Under Rodell
…a recent audit of the firm
 …found no major problems
 …and in fact
…the corporation was just named 
 …the best place to work among financial services 
 …businesses and organizations in the United States.
 
 So not only did Rodell
 …lead the fund to record earnings
 …she also lead the fund
 …to a top organizational award
 
 And yet she
 …got fired
 …without a second thought

This was a political hit job
 …so the Dunleavy appointed board
 …could hire a director they could control
 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen
 …Governor Dunleavy 
 …refused to fire his
 …his former attorney general
 …Kevin 
 …McCreepy 
 …Clarkson
 …who sexually harassed 
 …a female employee
 …ten steps from his desk

 But suddenly the most successful
 …Executive Director
 …in the Permanent
 …Fund Corporation’s
 …history gets fired
 …for no reason?
 
 Think about this

 Angela Rodell
 …has been the 
 …permanent fund 
 …rainmaker
 
 …Governor Dunleavy 
 …wants to use Rodell’s
 …recent success
 …to justify a super dividend
 
 …that will be paid for
 …by future fund growth
 
 …but there is one big
 …problem with future fund earnings
 
 …he’s just fired 
 …the fund’s rainmaker
 
 

Now
 …before I wrap up here
 …I’d like to point out the
 …absolute insanity
 …regarding the firing of Rodell
 
 The firing of Angela Rodell
 …was orchestrated by 
 …Dunleavy’s finance director
 …Lucinda Mahoney
 
 Both Angela Rodell
 …and Lucinda Mahoney
 …have very clear track records
 …when it comes to public service
 
 Rodell over the last six years
 …has increased the fund buy
 …$30 billion dollars
 …providing benefits for Alaskans
 
 Mahoney
 …well
 …when she was CFO of the City of Anchorage
 …she greenlighted the SAP project
 …you remember the SAP project don’t you?

…Mahoney’s $9 million software upgrade initiative 
 …that ended up costing tax payers over $75 million
 
 …then
 …as a board member of ACDA
 …Mahoney participated as the mayor
 …stacked the ACDA board to push through
 …his million dollar tennis courts
 
 Mahoney’s public service career
 …has been littered
 …with costly mistakes
 …and politically motivated 
 …decision making to the
 …detriment of taxpayers
 
 Lucinda Mahoney couldn’t
 …carry Angela Rodell’s accomplishments
 …with a fleet of flatbeds
 
 …but yet Rodell is fired
 …and Mahoney keeps getting
 …a paycheck from taxpayers.

…Some final words
 …on the firing of Angela Rodell
 
 …if any
 …any
 …of Governor Dunleavy’s
 …cronies
 …end up replacing Rodell
 
 …like Board Chair Craig Richards
 …or his Finance Director Lucinda Mahoney
 …or any other
 …of Dunleavy’s cronies
 
 …that will be proof
 …that Governor Mike Dunleavy
 …and his crew are as latest
 …version of the Corrupt Bastards Club