Today is the last day for Alaskans to comment on regulation changes that would have state money pay for the legal mis-doings of governors and executive officers. Attorney General Treg Taylor and the Department of Law propose to change regulations on cover legal costs for the governor, attorney general and lieutenant governor if they are under investigation for dishonest and unethical misconduct. The change is similar to that proposed in 2019, that was found to be illegal, as it potentially violated numerous clauses of the Alaska Constitution. All of the public comments submitted about the 2019 proposals were negative. Those changes were not implemented.
Attorney General Taylor argues that the Department of Law should represent the top officials when they are acting in their official capacity, and, therefore, should represent them for free, when they are accused of violating ethics.
Information on the proposal and how to submit comments can be found on Alaska’s Online Public Notice System: https://aws.state.ak.us/OnlinePublicNotices/Notices/View.aspx?id=212053 Comments can be emailed to ethics.regulation.public.comments@alaska.gov