Treadwell Oversees & Meddles in Elections
‘Tis the season of the robocall. We all get them at some point – reminding us about a fundraiser, or from a candidate seeking our vote. Occasionally a candidate will get someone to call on his or her behalf.
It’s usually not the sitting Lieutenant Governor.
Yes boys and girls, if you live in the Valley, you may have gotten a robocall from Lite Gov Mead Treadwell singing the praises of local Tea Party types Larry Devilbiss for Mayor and Ron Arvin for Borough Assembly. Here’s what one of them said:
“This is Mead Treadwell. The Mat-Su Borough has made great strides in the past several years by creating opportunity to diversify our economy and create family waged jobs. With Rod Arvin on the Assembly these changes will continue. We listen to him in Juneau. I hope you will join me in supporting the re-election of Rod Arvin for Assembly as we all work together to develop a future for the next generation and beyond – a future driven by our diversified economy and supported by your unique Alaskan pioneering spirit. Simply, a community with an economy. Please join me in supporting our local leader Rod Arvin for Assembly on October 2nd, and don’t forget to vote. Paid for by Rod Arvin for Assembly, Wassilla 99654.”
The duties of the Lt. Governor are minimal. Basically, he’s in charge of polishing the state seal, handing out copies of the Constitution, overseeing Alaska’s notaries public, and… what was that other thing? Oh, yes – control and supervision of the Division of Elections.
Generally Lieutenant governors don’t consider “control and supervision” to mean actively stumping via robocall for local candidates. Apparently it’s open to interpretation for Mead Treadwell.
Arvin’s other ringing endorsements via robocall come from Bill “the Naked Baker” Stoltze, and Senator Charlie Huggins, who with three of his pouty friends (Cathy Giessel, John Coghill, and Fred Dyson) chose to throw their districts under the bus and join the powerless Senate minority rather than work with that icky bipartisan majority who was there to get things done.
Please feel free to call the Lt. Governor’s office and let him know what you think of an elected official whose main responsibility is to oversee elections, putting his political muscle behind affecting how they turn out? Welcome to the ethics optional Parnell administration. Treadwell’s number is 907-465-3520. Apparently the office will “add your name to the list” of those complaining that he should stick to overseeing elections, not meddling in them.
When Treadwell urges support for Arvin because “we listen to him in Juneau”, it’s clear he’s using his position as Lt. Guv as a political tool, against the intent of the state ethics regulations.
I find that especially distasteful, since as a state employee, I’ve recently received at least two official mass-emails from the Commissioner of the State Dept. of Administration, which they put out around the time of each election cycle, warning all state employees against political activity that is in any way on state time, or using state resources or credentials. Hell, I can’t even wear a political candidate’s pin on the lapel of my coat when I walk into the office in the morning.
“BAH! Ethics, Schmethics!” , right Mead, Charllie, and Stoltzie?
Rather ballsy! How to piss off the constituency.
…and to ingratiate oneself to the deep, deep pockets of like-minded backers –both from inside AK and, particularily, from outside!– all in one fell swoop. Not to mention implicitly dissing and explicitly ignoring the published rules, regulations, laws, and Constitution of the State, to boot. Ballsy!, indeed. beth.
Actually- if he didn’t do this on state time or equipment the State doesn’t out right prohibit it… excepting maybe the “we listen to him in Juneau” crap, as per Sourdough Mullet above.
I’m not sure what argument one would have to make
http://law.alaska.gov/doclibrary/ethics/EthicsCode.html
to nail him on it though. He’s a lot smarter than whatzername and even she got away with putting on her “personal” hat to influence a ballot initiative vote.
There IS something distinctly wrong with the elected head of the Division of Elections making a remark which alludes to influence the candidate for Borough Assembly has with the Executive branch of government here.
It is bad enough Cap’n Torpedo ( Parnell) has made targeting the Senate bipartisan working group a priority this cycle ( yup, just what we need- legislative doormats for the executive suite- you betcha! )
but having the DoE head trying to influence a local election on top of it? Pffft!