Friday, Alaskan retirees received a peculiar e-mail in their inboxes from Curtis Thayer, Governor Parnell’s Commissioner of Administration. The letter detailed the administration’s stance on recent legislation regarding Alaska’s retirement system, which recently has been the subject of numerous political ads and debate as November 4th approaches. His email came from his official state email and is a clear violation of Alaska election law.

Ironically, on September 4, 2014, Thayer sent an email to state employees warning them against using state resources for campaign purposes. Thayer’s September email said, in part: “During an election season it is important for all of us to remember that as employees of the State of Alaska we must follow certain codes of conduct.  As employees of the State, we are prohibited by Alaska Statute from using the State email system or resources for partisan political purposes and from promoting partisan preferences during work or official state business.”

When Vince Beltrami, President of the AFL-CIO, read the email sent by Thayer he responded by stating “While it is evident Commissioner Thayer will say he ran this by the Department of Law, it is obvious of its intended purpose: to sway state retirees to support Governor Parnell in a few days before the election. It is blatant pandering, which could have just as easily been sent to retirees a week from now. Any other explanation Thayer or Parnell could offer won’t pass the smell test.”

  campaign, curtis thayer, email, parnell