With All Due Respect Episode 48

We review Governor Mike Dunleavy's really not so good last year and an update on the firing of Angela Rodell.

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Show 48

Welcome to another episode of With All Due Respect
 I am your host Andrew Halcro
 With me as always is my main man…Van Sanders.

 Mr. Sanders…are you ready for part 2 of our 2021 look back
 
 (Van exchange)
 
 Excellent.

As our listeners know last week 
 we featured our local politics review of 2021
 and today we will review state politics in 2021.
 
 However…
 …this show will not be 40 minutes
 …last weeks show was a whopping 40 minutes
 …so we are going to slice, dice and compress this episode
 …into something more manageable 
 
 As always we’d like to thank the Anchorage Daily News…
 
 When we first launched With All Due Respect last May
 the Alaska legislature was in the final weeks of the regular
 legislative session and we quickly realized that it wasn’t 
 going to be over anytime soon.

 That is correct sir.
 Governor Mike Dunleavy would keep lawmakers in Juneau
 for another four months with four different special sessions
 
 So why did the governor hold the legislature hostage for 
 and extra four months? 
 
 The governor was trying to force lawmakers into
 paying a super-sized dividend of $2,300.
 
 His strategy was two fold
 …keep the legislature pinned down in Juneau
 …while he uses public money to try
 …and agitate the public to pressure lawmakers
 
 Now as you’ll remember, Dunleavy got elected three years
 promising thousands more in dividends than his predecessor
 former Governor Bill Walker but has fallen short.
 
 So now
 …he was trying to get the public to accomplish something
 …he alone said he could do
 
 The problem for Governor Dunleavy was lawmakers weren’t
 buying what he was selling…
 
 (Plays Clip #6 6:05 to 6:38)

The reason why lawmakers weren’t buying what the governor
 was selling is because he had no way to pay for it…
 
 (Plays clip #9 11:39-11:48)
 
 But the Governor kept pushing
 …and lawmakers kept pushing back
 
 (Plays clip #13 2:18 to 2:53)

 But then something happened.
 Something unintentional that would
 change the course of the discussion
 and eliminate any leverage the governor had…
 
 

(Plays clip #19 1:43 to 2:06)
 
 What happened was Governor Dunleavy’s staff
 accidently failed to properly note the governor’s veto
 of $4 billion dollars which took the money
 he was planning on using as leverage to get a bigger dividend
 off the table…a $4 billion own goal
 
 (Plays clip #19 8:20 to 8:57)
 
 In playing these political games
 Governor Dunleavy put himself in the position
 of becoming the only governor in the last 40 years
 not to pay a dividend.

(Plays clip #20 9:43 to 9:57)
 
 So with both the governor and his 14 hold out lawmakers
 with absolutely no leverage to extract a bigger dividend
 we brought in a special guest to give advice to the majority
 on how they should call Dunleavy’s bluff…
 
 (Plays clip #20 12:38 to 13:01)
 
 At the end of the day, majority lawmakers called the governor’s bluff
 and paid a dividend that wouldn’t over draw the fund.
 
 But it didn’t end there.
 
 No. Governor Dunleavy is his relentless
 pursuit of a super dividend decided to
 turn his hostility towards the one person who has
 made a growing dividend possible…the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation.
 
 (Plays clip #45 6:00 to 6:25)

 After refusing to abandon good investment principals
 the Executive Director of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation was fired
 so Governor Mike Dunleavy could hire someone who doesn’t question him
 
 (Plays clip #45 9:56 to 10:11)

 We will have much more on
 …the Angela Rodell story
 …in closing comments
 
 

 Along the way during special session
 …Governor Dunleavy took more than his far share
 of hostages
 
 …including rural Alaska and Power Cost Equalization
 
 (Plays clip #18 4:56 to 5:12)
 
 …Imagine
 …he tried to stiff rural Alaska on PCE after promising
 …to protect rural Alaska when he was elected
 
 (Plays clip #25 3:24 to 4:04)
 
 

In addition to attacking the legislature, 
 the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation
 and rural Alaska
 …Governor Dunleavy thought he’d screw
 …with Alaska independent judiciary as well
 
 (Plays clip #9 7:50 to 8:26)

 Dunleavy’s controversial appointment of Kristie Babcock
 to the Alaska Judicial Council wasn’t the only
 member of the Babcock family 
 to try and screw Alaska in 2021
 
 Enter Tuckerman Babcock
 …the husband of Kristie 
 …and Governor Dunleavy’s former chief of staff
 
 …Seems this couple has a plan
 …to one up each other as 
 …who can be the worst people in Alaska

(Plays clip #37 10:20 to 10:46)
 
 So if that wasn’t bad enough that these two clowns
 violated employees constitutional rights
 …when the court ruled they were liable
 …they both did what every good 
 …anti-government conservative would do
 …they ran to government to help them

 (Plays clip #42 2:30 to 2:47)
 
 So the two dudes who were bold enough to demand a loyalty pledge
 aren’t bold enough to take responsibility for it

(Plays clip #42 11:56 to 12:06)
 
 Meanwhile
 …Governor Dunleavy’s covid response
 …during the delta surge was one of the worst
 …in the country
 
 (Plays clip #31 8:40 to 8:58)
 
 The governor’s refusal to declare an emergency declaration
 played politics with lives of every Alaskan…all the benefit his re-election chances
 
 (Plays clip #31 9:45 to 10:14)
 
 And Governor Dunleavy’s dishonesty also put Alaskans
 at risk from Covid by hiding reports that show masks are effective
 
 (Plays clip #35 20:00 – 20:28)
 
 
 And if managing the Covid pandemic so poorly wasn’t enough
 Governor Dunleavy’s analogies showed he didn’t have a clue
 about how to lead Alaskans…
 
 (Plays clip #35 16:27 to 16:40)
 
 And then to top off a record breaking Covid surge
 …Governor Dunleavy decided to write 
 …on op/ed defending his
 …pandemic response
 …to which this podcast took issue
 
 (Plays clip #36 15:50 to 16:30)
 
 Now…you might wonder
 with the attacks on the legislature, the judiciary, 
 the separation of powers…why?

Why has Governor Mike Dunleavy spent
 so much of his time breaking things that weren’t broken
 before he got elected?

Well…we’re glad you asked 
 
 (Plays clip #18 6:40 to 7:40) (constitutional convention)
 
 So….when you consider the chaos this governor
 has caused the last year
 …and the fact he’s up for re-election next year
 how has that been playing into his campaign strategy?
 
 

(Plays clip #43 10:29 to 11:00) campaign on public dime
 
 And he’s also bringing a little political extortion into the effort…
 
 (Plays clip #38 19:13 to 19:36)
 
 Now as Governor Dunleavy’s 
 re-election year dawns
 that brings us to a close of this
 year end review of state politics
 and segue into closing comments…
 
 (Van plays music w/o words)
 
 
 
 Closing comments:
 
 In closing comments…
 
 …the truth shall set you free
 
 …as an update to our story last month
 …regarding the firing of Angela Rodell
 …this week Rodell broke her silence
 …and publicly acknowledged 
 …she was fired for political reasons
 
 …In a letter to lawmakers 
 …Rodell said she was fired because
 …she refused to overdraw the fund
 
 …In response
 …Governor Dunleavy through his spokesperson
 …said the governor was going to release Rodell’s
 …confidential personnel file
 
 What in the hot hell of a mess is this?

…a governor who says he has no control 
 …over the operations of the permanent fund corporation
 …and had no power to orchestrate the firing of the CEO
 …is now saying he is going to unilaterally
 …release her confidential
 …personnel file to the public
 
 BUT YET….BUT YET
 …just 16 months ago this same
 …governor refused to say 
 …anything about his disgraced 
 …former attorney general
 …who quit after being outed as a sexual predator
 …claiming to God and country 
 …he was prohibited because it was 
 …a confidential personnel matter
 
 …but yet
 …now he’s just going to throw Rodell’s 
 …personnel file into the middle of town square?
 
 Governor Mike Dunleavy is not a good human being.
 
 

In addition
 …the legislative committee investigating the firing of Rodell
 …is now hearing stories of trustees who said they felt
 …their jobs were at risk if they didn’t vote to remove Rodell
 
 One of Governor Dunleavy’s own commissioners
 …who voted for the removal of Rodell
 …was heard saying it was her vote or her job

 …never before has the 
 …legislative budget and audit committee
 …had to put someone under oath 
 …but they are seriously considering 
 …issuing subpoenas
 …to those involved
 …especially Craig Richards the board chair
 …who has always fancied that job
 …while attempting to undermine Rodell
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen 
 …this is where a wrongful termination suit
 …by Angela Rodell would open 
 …the floodgates to discovery
 …and show how corrupt 
 …and coordinated her termination was
 
 Governor Mike Dunleavy fired the most successful director
 in Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation history
 …in order to help his re-election efforts
 
 This is a governor 
 …who spent 4 months
 …over 4 million dollars to get his way
 …and when he didn’t get his way with lawmakers
 …he fired the one person
 …who actually makes this state money
 
 But there still remain significant questions
 …why did Board Chair Craig Richards meet with the governor just weeks before Rodell was dismissed?
 …why for the first time in 40 years was Governor Dunleavy’s commissioner Lucinda Mahoney
 …the same commissioner who wrote up Rodell’s review 
 …made Vice Chair?
 …why after a record performance as executive director was she fired in five minutes with no explanation?
 …why was she not given specific details about why she was fired?
 …why wasn’t she not given a course of action to correct any bad behaviors?
 
 Seriously
 …from a management stand point
 …this whole sordid affairs blows my mind
 
 …why was there no advance warning to Rodell’s performance?
 …why was there no work plan to address any shortcomings?
 …why the hell would the trustees fail to attempt any course of correction?
 
 And finally
 …Why would Governor Dunleavy threatened to release Rodell’s employee file
 …after he made it a point to claim he had nothing to do with Rodell’s firing?
 
 …If this is a guy who claims he has no power to fire Rodell
 …how would he have the power to unilaterally release her personnel file?
 
 Because Governor Mike Dunleavy is a con man and an unadulterated liar.
 
 He coordinated the firing of Angela Rodell 
 …to aide his re-election chances.
 
 Without a super sized dividend
 …Dunleavy’s re-election chances 
 …are marginal at best
 …and he knows that
 
 Governor Mike Dunleavy 
 …orchestrated the firing of the most
 …successful permanent fund corporation
 …in the 40 year history of the fund
 …so they could hire a stooge
 …who allows them to overdraw the fund
 
 Nothing more
 …nothing less.
 
 
 
 
 

(closing music)

And there is the closing music 
 and you know what that means
 
 we will be back in our regular format
 next week
 
 And we will be launching our 
 new video platform by the end of the month
 
 Van any closing thoughts
 
 (Van exchange)

Alright ladies and gentlemen 
 that is our time and we thank you for yours