DA sends Denali report to state

PALMER — In a departure from his initial stance, Palmer District Attorney Roman Kalytiak has forwarded to special state prosecutors a report alleging collusion between Wasilla’s mayor and a shopping center developer.

The move is in contrast to a paragraph in Denali Law Group’s report that says after discussing the investigation with the DA, Kalytiak would “likely not take any action” because the mayor will no longer be in office as of October.

Kalytiak said he met briefly with Denali Law Group during its investigation, but hadn’t seen the completed report at that time.

“The discussions I had with them were somewhat brief, and it wasn’t a statement [made] after giving the report a full review,” he said. After seeing the completed report and discussing it with his superiors, Kalytiak said the decision was made to forward it to the Office of Special Prosecutions and Appeals.

It was sent on “just to make it clean and avoid any appearances of impropriety,” he said.

On Monday, Denali Law Group attorney Jon-Marc Petersen, who, along with attorney Richard Payne, investigated Mayor Dianne M. Keller and some city staff at the request of city council, said he figured the report would be sent to the Office of Special Prosecutions and Appeals.

Petersen said he thinks the DA underestimated the amount of media attention the report would get.

“I think he didn’t realize the extent to which it would get big,” Petersen said.

Petersen added he and Payne told Kalytiak the report would become a “media frenzy.”

“We said. ‘People are going to be turning to you and asking questions,’” Petersen said.

Kalytiak said he knew the Denali Law investigation report would generate media and community attention and that didn’t influence the decision to forward the report to the state agency.

“I pretty much knew the media would give it attention,” he said. “Living in this area, you can’t help but hear and notice what’s going on. I fully expected it would get media coverage, and quite a bit of media coverage.”

Denali Law Group doesn’t have the power to levy criminal charges on Keller or any of her staff. The firm was hired by city council for $23,500 to independently investigate the circumstances surrounding dealings with Meritage Development LLC, which is developing two parcels of land adjacent to the Parks Highway.

A message left for Assistant Attorney General James Fayette, who Petersen said would most likely handle the report for the state, was not returned by press time.

The report was also sent by the Wasilla Police Department last week to the Alaska State Trooper Bureau of Investigation in Anchorage for further investigation. Wasilla Police Chief Angella Long said the report was forwarded to troopers to avoid any perceived or real conflicts of interest.

Troopers spokeswoman Beth Ipsen said Monday she couldn’t say anything about the report.

For Wasilla Councilwoman Dianne Woodruff, sending the report to any agency that can help with the investigation will help the case.

“Anybody that can finish getting to the bottom of the things Denali Law Group didn’t have access to [would be good],” Woodruff said.

Those “things” would be items for which investigators would need a warrant to seize, such as financial records.

Speaking through her executive assistant last week, Keller said she will wait and see what, if anything, happens with the report in the hands of law enforcement.

Wasilla has been embroiled in controversy since Denali Law Group released its findings in June.

After the report was made public, city council voted 4-1 June 30 requesting Keller resign for her part in what’s been called favoritism to Meritage.

Keller has said she will not resign and will finish her term, which ends in October.

Contact Michael Rovito at michael.rovito@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.