In a somewhat contentious but enlightening exchange on Feb. 12, high ranking officials in Alaska’s Department of Law (DOL) told a judicial reform watchdog group that the Alaska Supreme Court has put the DOL in the awkward position of approving or rejecting investigations of alleged corruption involving government officials, including those among their own ranks.

The meeting included Alaska Deputy Attorney General Cori Mills and Chief Assistant Attorney General Anne Helzer, who works directly under Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor in the Criminal Division.

They met with David Haeg, leader of the grassroots Alaska Grand Jury Rights, who alleges that corrupt judges and government officials have been working in concert for many years to undercut the constitutional authority of citizen grand juries to freely and independently investigate powerful public officials and judges.

Joining Haeg at the table was Ric Davidge, a long-time political mover who once worked for President Ronald Regan, and who now focuses his attention on Alaska politics through his regular Alaska Roundtable meetings with influencers and politicians from across the state. Soldotna resident Donavan Fritz, who has worked with Haeg for years on grand jury rights, was also at the table. Listening via livestream were Kenai Borough Mayor Peter Micciche and Mat-Su Borough Mayor Edna DeVries, along with Jill Schaefer from Gov. Dunleavy’s Anchorage office.

Haeg and his fellow advocates, who requested the meeting, aired a litany of alleged instances of corruption committed by the Alaska Supreme Court, the Alaska Judicial Council and members working in the Dept. of Law to undermine the power of grand juries to investigate these very same groups and individuals.

In particular, Haeg highlighted the fact that, in 2022, a Kenai grand jury was in the process of investigating alleged corruption in the judicial branch and Department of Law, when the Alaska Supreme Court intervened with a new rule for grand juries that effectively stifled their ability to launch independent investigations without being managed and controlled by the very branches of government they were intent on investigating.

The rule in question was Supreme Court Order 1993. Since statehood, rank-and-file Alaskan citizens have had the absolute right to approach grand juries themselves to request investigations. SCO-1993 erased that right, forcing citizens to now go through the Attorney General’s office.

The best way to address the current situation is through an independent commission, established by the governor, Haeg maintained.

In order to mitigate the impact of this ruling, and restore the power of citizen grand juries to investigate corrupt government officials, Haeg and his allies want Gov. Mike Dunleavy to establish an independent citizen-led commission that can subpoena witnesses under oath, freely report their findings to the public and recommend prosecution – all freedoms that Alaska grand juries once enjoyed. The ultimate goal is to restore the power of the grand jury, as spelled out in the Alaska Constitution.

During the Feb. 12 meeting, Attorney Helzer told Haeg and his allies that she had already been tasked to look at the grand jury situation to see if it is possible to make improvements based on the new rules handed down by the Alaska Supreme Court. She suggested that the current grand jury model might still work if it is refined and improved.

Haeg, disagreed, arguing that merely tweaking the grand jury process would not address the underlying problem of corruption that created the situation in the first place.

“We no longer believe fixing the grand jury will fix the problem,” he said. “We need to have an independent body to look at what the big problem is … It appears, now, that you folks want to fix it before we ever figure out who all is involved, what the problem is, how deep it goes, many things. We tried to answer all those questions with a Kenai Grand Jury, and it got run right into the ground.”

Haeg noted that the Kenai Grand Jury worked for nearly a year and ultimately wrote a report to the Alaska public about its investigations into the judicial branch and the Department of Law, only to have the report sealed by the courts so that no one can see it.

“So, regardless of what is happening, there’s a fox guarding the henhouse problem,” Mills said. “And so that is not what we wanted.”

“When the grand jury investigated for nearly a year – corrupt judges and corrupt district attorneys and corrupt deputy attorney generals – and they write a report to the public of what they found, and those same judges and attorney generals seal the reports, so the public never sees it, the public is becoming very upset,” Haeg countered. “They smell a big problem, massive problem.”

Mills agreed that sealing the Kenai Grand Jury report did nothing to foster public trust.

“I don’t think it helps our system and the trust in our system,” she said, “and that is a problem.”

The best way to address the current situation is through an independent commission, established by the governor, Haeg maintained.

“Before we fix this problem, we want a full and fair and public investigation, where everybody is subpoenaed in, everybody is under oath, with the TV cameras running and the radio stations, and they answer the questions – not a grand jury that’s in secret where we will never hear what they testified,” Haeg added.

Without this action, the Department of Law will never regain the public’s confidence, Haeg said. This is especially so, given that the Supreme Court’s new rules grant the Department of Law the veto authority to accept or reject requests to investigate corruption, even within their own ranks.

Attorney Mills told Haeg that the Dept. of Law never wanted the Supreme Court to empower them to decide which cases a grand jury can and cannot investigate.

“How do we get these sorts of things investigated when you’re dealing with making accusations against people who, have authority,” Attorney Mills observed. “It’s really hard.”

“When the Supreme Court came out with their rule, we did not want the authority to say, ‘This goes to the Grand Jury, this doesn’t,'” Mills explained. “That is not what we ever wanted, for some of the reasons you’re saying. So, regardless of what is happening, there’s a fox guarding the henhouse problem. And so that is not what we wanted.”

But that is where things stand today, Mills added, which is why Helzer is trying to find a solution within the current framework.

Furthermore, Mills said she wasn’t certain the governor could legally empower a citizen commission to subpoena people and take testimony under oath without action from the State Legislature to delineate these powers.

Helzer admitted that it was not ideal for the Dept. of Law to be tasked with figuring out how citizens could file complaints, which may include DOL employees, but she has been tasked with finding a solution.

“There is no simple answer to this conundrum,” she acknowledged. “Because of SCO-1993, we were given this burden.”

At one point in the meeting, Haeg expressed frustration that the Dunleavy administration didn’t seem interested in attempting to launch and empower an independent commission.

“It seems to us like you’ll never meet about an independent commission to investigate corruption in public. Is that true?” he asked.

Mills said it wasn’t her call.

“I take my orders. You know, I take my direction, so what I can tell you is I will take this back, and I will talk about it, and bring that request up,” she responded. “I cannot make that decision. That is not within my authority to make.”

“Okay, who’s authority is it in?” Haeg replied.

“Well, again, we work with the attorney general and the governor’s office on what we should do,” Mills said.

Fritz noted that this issue is not going away, and that local boroughs in the Kenai and Mat-Su have already approved resolutions calling for the restoration of grand jury powers. Additionally, the issue has been introduced and debated in the State Legislature.

Haeg recounted that there have been multiple protest rallies outside of various state courthouses, and that citizens around the state are increasingly frustrated and disillusioned by the actions of the judicial and executive branches of government.

Mills appeared sympathetic.

“How do we get these sorts of things investigated when you’re dealing with making accusations against people who, have authority,” she said. “It’s really hard.”

TAKING ACTION

— Click here to watch a video of the Feb. 12 meeting.

— Click here to contact Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

— Click here to contact the Attorney General’s office.

— Click here to read a brief on why Alaska needs Gov. Dunleavy to appoint an independent commission to investigate government corruption.

— Click here to read a timeline detailing specific instances of alleged corruption within the Alaska judicial branch.

— Click here to read a copy of the original Alaska Grand Jury Handbook, which describes its constitutional authority to conduct independent investigations.

Click here to support Alaska Watchman reporting.