Yesterday’s bombshell letter detailing a slew of scandalous allegations from Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson and his administration was dizzying. Due to the sheer volume, the absolutely insane conduct of “Senior Policy Advisor” Larry Baker might have gone under the radar.
It shouldn’t.
The letter, sent by former Municipal Manager Amy Deboski’s legal team, stated that Baker has worked as a contracted member of the administration for more than a year, which allows him to simultaneously collect a de facto salary and retirement benefits from the state. Even worse, he is doing so on multiple sole source contracts that come just under the threshold of Assembly approval, which obscures the full nature of his role and compensation from the public.
The letter states Baker was paid $29,500 in at least three successive contracts to avoid Assembly oversight, for a total of $88,500. The threshold for Assembly approval is $30,000.
Baker’s private role has raised eyebrows. According to Anchorage Daily News Reporter Kyle Hopkins, the paper requested Baker’s contracts weeks ago, but haven’t received anything.
It’s been more than 3 weeks since the Daily News requested Anchorage city contracts that in many municipalities would be readily available online or at the very least open to public inspection for walk-ins. https://t.co/3zmwpNBSMm
— Kyle Hopkins (@kylehopkinsAK) January 12, 2023
Employees with the paper followed up with an in person visit on Jan. 5, but the Bronson administration still did not provide the contracts.
“(Rachelle) Alger, the purchasing director, said the documents were not yet available because the department had other pending records requests and was busy attending to other city business. She could not say when the documents would be made public,” the ADN wrote in its coverage Wednesday.
“City Ombudsman Darrel Hess wrote in an email that he could not provide the contracts, citing his ongoing investigation. However, he said, the paperwork should be readily available to the public at City Hall.
“Responding to your records request should not take purchasing more than 15 minutes,” Hess wrote, according to the paper.
While Bronson, as mayor, was the headliner of Wednesday’s news, Baker is at or near the center of most of it, and the administration has not released his contracts.
Baker played a key role in greenlighting construction of the Tudor and Elmore Navigation Center without Assembly approval. According to Demboski, Baker specifically pressured a city employee to order work on the Navigation Center, and says she has a video showing him personally supervising an employee pouring concrete. When the code violation was discovered and a stop work order issued, Baker continued to work directly through the employee, and Demboski had to physically go to the site to stop the work.
Baker has a friend and business partner, Brandon Spoerhase, who was charged with domestic violence and stalking charges in 2019. According to Demboski, former Municipal Attorney Patrick Bergt was approached by Baker in an attempt to get Spoerhase’s charges dropped. The charges weren’t dropped, and Bergt reported feeling uncomfortable.
Baker also reportedly attempted to steer the real estate department to transactions regarding properties Spoerhase represents.
One of the weirder alleged events, and something incredibly telling of Bronson and Baker’s close relationship, took place at Baker’s house on Thanksgiving weekend.
Police responded to Baker’s home for a domestic disturbance. Bronson arrived as well, armed with a gun. The mayor later instructed a city employee to access the Alaska Homeless Management Information System law enforcement database to investigate someone involved in the incident. This was an unlawful use of the database, the letter states.
The letter alleges many contracts, several of which are improper, have not been made public. The ADN reported that it requested several contracts in addition to Baker’s, but haven’t received them. The purpose of public records is to know how government is spending public money. It’s a safeguard on corruption and incompetence.
Show us the contracts.
