The Alaska Department of Law is proposing rules that would allow the state to represent a governor, lieutenant governor or attorney general in complaints against them alleging ethics violations.
JUNEAU —
Currently, a governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general must hire outside attorneys to represent them in such matters, the department said. Under the proposed rules, those officeholders could decline representation by the department and hire their own attorneys if they wished. Ethics complaints are referred to the state personnel board, which hires independent counsel to investigate such complaints.
It was not immediately clear what prompted the department to raise the issue now. But state Sen. Bill Wielechowski said this has been an ongoing topic of concern for members of the executive branch.Republican former Gov. Sarah Palin has said an onslaught of records requests and ethics complaints that she called frivolous factored in to her decision to resign as governor in 2009.
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