City attorney seeks Begich e-mails

Municipal Attorney Dennis Wheeler also wants to interview Begich, now one of Alaska's U.S. senators, in person or by telephone. But Begich wants to conduct that discussion in writing.

In a letter sent to Wheeler on Wednesday, Begich says he has provided all the information relevant to the city attorney's inquiry and that in any case he doesn't have access to his private e-mails for the period Wheeler cites -- Aug. 31, 2008, to Jan. 1, 2009. Begich resigned as mayor on Jan. 3 to become senator.

Begich goes on to say, however, that any e-mails from city officials that were sent to his private e-mail account would have been archived on the city's computer servers.

"Any emails that may have been sent by others to my home email account, which only rarely occurred, would have been archived on the Municipality's email system because they were sent to me from individuals using their Municipal e-mail accounts and also were sent to my office e-mail address," Begich said in a written response sent to Wheeler on Wednesday.

"I did not make a habit of sending emails concerning Municipal business from my home email account."

"If you have any additional questions, please put them in writing and I will be pleased to review them," the senator says in the Oct. 21 letter to the city attorney.

Wheeler's investigation began after the city Assembly directed him in late September to review a private attorney's report on the way two labor contracts were analyzed and approved by the Assembly late last year. The contracts called for five years of pay increases for police officers and electrical workers at a time when city investments, hotel-tax revenue and some other revenue streams were being pinched by the nation's financial meltdown. The attorney's review extends to an e-mail sent to Begich in December by Sharon Weddleton, then the city's chief financial officer, warning of potential multimillion-dollar budget shortfalls ahead in 2009.

REPORT DUE NOV. 15

Begich's office on Thursday released a series of letters between Wheeler and the senator about the attorney's investigation. Wheeler did not return telephone calls and an assistant said he will not discuss his investigation while it is in progress. He is scheduled to present a report to the Assembly by Nov. 15.

A letter from Wheeler to Begich dated Oct. 13 informs the former mayor that Wheeler is interviewing several former administration officials. Wheeler says he wants to interview Begich as well and is willing to do so by telephone if necessary. He also says he is advising all the city officials they may want to have a lawyer present.

"I am advising interviewees that I do not know whether facts that I am gathering may result in the exposure of any person to potential civil or criminal liability," Wheeler tells Begich in the letter.

"Because of this, in my judgment, I owe interviewees the courtesy of advising them that civil or criminal liability is at least theoretically possible. Thus, each person should consider whether to seek the advice of their own counsel prior to speaking with me. Of course, I have no objection should you wish to have counsel present to advise you during the interview."

Begich's spokeswoman, Julie Hasquet, said the senator's schedule is full whenever he returns to Alaska and that he has offered to respond to any inquiries from the city in writing. Begich is scheduled to address the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in Anchorage on Saturday.

Hasquet said Begich has not hired an attorney to represent him during Wheeler's investigation.

PRIVATE E-MAIL ACCOUNTS

Wheeler's Oct. 13 letter also asks for electronic or paper copies of all e-mails concerning city business that were sent to two private Begich e-mail accounts during the last four months of 2008. Wheeler asked for that information to be delivered to him by today.

The report to the Assembly last month by private attorney Joseph Levesque notes that his study was "limited by those documents and that information that we were provided," and adds, "certain evidence might exist showing that municipal officials may have failed to perform their duties" under city law. Levesque suggests further investigation may be warranted, and the Assembly responded by asking Wheeler to do so.

The controversy about whether Begich and his executives were up-front with Assembly members about city revenue projections and investment returns has been simmering for months and heated up in September, when Assemblyman Bill Starr released Weddleton's Dec. 9 e-mail to Begich warning of potential budget shortfalls in the coming year.

Starr, who got the e-mail through a public records request filed with the city, and several others say that information should have been shared with the Assembly. Begich says that information was shared, in several different forms.