Ethics complaint lodged

MAT-SU -- Tampering with a Frontiersman online poll and sending a confidential document related to coal-bed methane production in the Mat-Su to an Evergreen Resources lobbyist are just two of multiple ethics violations Alaska Republican Party Chairman Randy Ruedrich is charged with, in a 16-page complaint filed in February by the state.

That document and several others, including evidence gleaned through a Department of Law investigation of Ruedrich's behavior during his time as Commissioner for the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission were made public Monday, after Ruedrich waived the confidentiality protection allotted under the state's Executive Branch Ethics Act.

"The Department can now disclose that it is conducting an ethics investigation of Mr. Ruedrich's activities while he was on the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission," said Attorney General Gregg Renkes in a press release announcing Ruedrich's waiver. "Before Mr. Ruedrich gave us a written confidentiality waiver, the Ethics Act prohibited us from disclosing even the existence of an investigation."

The Monday announcement was made the day before former AOGCC Commissioner Sarah Palin was scheduled to be deposed by lawyers for Channel 2 News, Anchorage Daily News and Associated Press. The three news groups filed a lawsuit demanding the state release information about the investigation. With the waiver of confidentiality, Palin's deposition was canceled.

Palin was to be deposed because she was involved in getting the ball rolling on the investigation. Although Palin said she never filed a formal complaint, and no one at the Department of Law has told her what, specifically, prompted their investigation, she did forward concerns of her own and those that members of the AOGCC staff brought forward about Ruedrich's conduct.

"Because the Department of Law was my supervisor, my obligation was to forward on those concerns," Palin said Thursday.

Palin and Ruedrich were appointed in March 2003. In July, she said, she and AOGCC staff began asking questions of Kevin Jardell, assistant commissioner of the Department of Administration, who oversees ethical matters for AOGCC.

"Suffice it to say we brought concerns forward that staff members and public members were observing in a more formal and official procedure," Palin said.

In November the Department of Law opened a file on Ruedrich -- three days before Ruedrich resigned from the commission. When the preliminary investigation was conducted, numerous findings were brought forward. E-mails relating to Republican Party business, including e-mail sent to other state officials relating to party business, were mentioned in the preliminary investigation. Phone records reviewed by investigators reflected participation in Republican National Committee teleconference calls, apparently during hours Ruedrich was reportedly working on AOGCC business. AOGCC staff said Ruedrich was often overheard discussing party business during working hours and "frequent and extensive use" of his cell phone and, allegedly, his office phone, during working hours in AOGCC offices.

"There was a noticeable increase in calls to the AOGCC when you started working at the commission and a noticeable drop in telephone traffic after you left the office," the complaint states.

Those details were included under one charge -- misuse of official position. That's one of four in the complaint.

Ruedrich is also charged as having incompatible outside voluntary service, specifically with political activities incompatible with his role as a state employee.

In ethics disclosure statements forwarded to Jardell by Ruedrich when he began employment at AOGCC, he discusses that outside involvement, and stated he planned to take leave, if necessary, to conduct those duties.

"The activities are conducted outside of traditional working hours," according to Ruedrich's statement. "I may periodically take leave to participate in operations that must occur during regular working hours."

A second charge alleges Ruedrich took part in political activities incompatible with his role as a state supervisor. The complaint cites an e-mail Ruedrich apparently sent to Republican Party members regarding a Frontiersman online poll. The poll question was "Do the benefits of drilling for coal-bed methane in Mat-Su outweigh the risks?" and the question was posted for nearly one month. The e-mail Ruedrich sent, according to the complaint, said "Support coal-bed methane development. Vote yes in this newspaper poll."

Later that day, according to the complaint, Ruedrich forwarded the same e-mail to seven AOGCC staff members' e-mail accounts, with the note "Voice your opinion on this timely topic," in the e-mail. According to the complaint, the recipients of that e-mail were staff Ruedrich supervised and he participated in preparing their performance evaluations.

The final charge cites Ruedrich for improper disclosure of confidential information. According to the complaint, the assistant attorney general sent out a six-page e-mail analysis of a Superior Court decision relating to the commission. The e-mail was marked confidential, according to the complaint, and the analysis had the words "Privileged and Confidential Attorney Client Communication" written on it in bold type. The e-mail was sent to Ruedrich, Palin and AOGCC Commissioner Dan Seamount on Aug. 14, 2003. Ruedrich allegedly later sent the document to Kyle Parker, an attorney who works as a lobbyist for Evergreen Resources.

Barbara Ritchie, chief of the Opinions, Appeals and Ethics section of the Department of Law, said the charges, if found to be true, could result in fines of up to $5,000 each. Although Alaska Statute leaves room for ethics charges of a criminal nature, Ritchie said after consulting the department's criminal division, she doesn't believe the charges will rise to the level of criminal behavior.

In regard to the charges, Ruedrich, through a letter from his attorney Eric Sanders, stated that much of the information uncovered through the state's investigation is innocuous. Some of the e-mails sent to his AOGCC account, he wrote, were sent by mistake. In regards to the teleconferences, he said he was "encouraged not to submit a leave slip for short periods of time. I doubt whether it is common practice for state employees to submit a leave slip when they briefly handle a private matter during the work day." Ruedrich said any cell phone calls he made were brief, and he often used the phone while en route to or from AOGCC offices.

Relating to the Frontiersman poll, he said he sent the message to employees who may have had an interest in the poll.

"The seven AOGCC staff members I sent the e-mail to were particularly qualified to have an opinion on drilling for coal-bed methane," Ruedrich wrote.

And relating to the confidential e-mail sent to Parker, he wrote "I failed to notice that the material from the Attorney General's office was marked confidential, and my action, although admittedly improper, was an isolated mistake, rather than an intentional breach of procedure."

Ritchie said the investigation is still proceeding, and the department is now considering Ruedrich's response.