An investigation by the city's chief attorney concludes that former Mayor Mark Begich knew and failed to tell the Anchorage Assembly that the city wasn't going to have enough money to cover all its budgeted expenses last year and this year.

Click to enlarge

Sen. Mark Begich

Story tools

Comments (0)

Email Story

Print

Share on Facebook

Digg this

Seed Newsvine

Send link via AIM

Tweet this

Font size : A | A | A

tool name

close

tool goes here

A 60-page report delivered to Assembly members late Wednesday afternoon by municipal attorney Dennis Wheeler says a section of the city charter "requires the mayor to report to the Assembly when he knows to a reasonable certainty that revenues will be less than appropriations for the fiscal year."

But Wheeler's report, echoing accusations that have been aired by Begich foes for months, said Begich and some of his top executives missed a series of opportunities at meetings and work sessions to spell out how poorly some city investments and revenues were performing as the Assembly deliberated the 2009 budget and four long-term labor contracts approved late last year.

The attorney said city laws don't provide any remedies for what he sees as Begich's failure to live up to the letter of the charter. Wheeler said he is drafting language for an ordinance that would do so in the future, if approved by the Assembly.

In a written statement, Begich called Wheeler's report predictably critical of him and his administration.

"We should not pretend that this review of the facts was objective, fair or complete," Begich's statement said. "The Sullivan administration, in concert with a handful of Assembly members, is determined to tarnish the record of my administration and this is just the latest step in that effort."

As he has repeatedly, Begich again insisted that the Assembly "was fully apprised of all financial information related to the Municipality throughout my terms as mayor." In a written response to questions from Wheeler, Begich said at least a dozen work sessions with the Assembly "were devoted to the state of city finances."

In a separate statement, the Alaska Democratic Party says the report is politically motivated. Anchorage city elections are technically non-partisan, but Begich, a Democrat who defeated former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens last year, and Republican Mayor Dan Sullivan have sparred repeatedly since city officials announced a $17 million deficit in this year's budget shortly after Begich left the mayor's office. Sullivan argues that the labor contracts left behind by the Begich administration could hamstring the city's ability to pay for government for years.

During his regular weekly news conference on budget issues earlier Wednesday, Sullivan announced that the city attorney's report would be delivered to the Municipal Clerk's office for distribution to Assembly members. At that time, Sullivan said he had not yet read the report and had kept his office out of the investigation.

In an interview and in his report, Wheeler concedes that other "reasonable minds" might disagree about whether Begich's financial reporting to Assembly members violated a provision in the charter that says: "If the mayor determines that revenues will be less than appropriations for a fiscal year, the mayor shall so report to the Assembly."

In any case, the labor contracts in question are valid, he said.

The Assembly in late September asked Wheeler to review the process used last year to approve the labor contracts, as well as a private attorney's opinion that was critical of the process. On Wednesday night, Assembly Chairwoman Debbie Ossiander said Wheeler's report will be on the agenda at the group's next regular meeting in December.

She said she had scanned the report but had not yet read it carefully. Her initial reaction: "I think what it does is it tells me as an Assembly member to not rely on general statement, and rather to probe for specific questions."

Wheeler said he interviewed Begich's chief financial officer and city manager, Sharon Weddleton and Mike Abbott, and studied months of e-mails, recordings of meetings and paperwork distributed to Assembly members during the last half of 2008. Begich declined a request for an in-person interview, but responded in writing to questions faxed to him by Wheeler.

In recent interviews with the Daily News, Weddleton has insisted she tried to inform the Assembly about the costs of the labor contracts, and she provided memos that she had sent to the group disclosing until-then unrecognized costs of the police and fire contracts during the week they were being considered. Weddleton said some of that information was so discouraging she was surprised when the Assembly approved the agreements.

In an interview late Wednesday, Weddleton said Wheeler's report is full of mistakes. "I have read through 43 pages of this report and I have found 66 errors so far," she said.

Wheeler's investigation spans a period of about six months at the end of 2008. He acknowledges that Begich and his executives provided some gloomy information about the performance of city funds and revenues, but argues they didn't go far enough to explain the severity of the problems.

"We conclude that Mayor Begich knew that revenues for the 2008 and 2009 budgets were reasonably certain to be less than appropriations and that the shortfall would have a significant impact on the Municipality's financial well-being, but did not timely report this to the Assembly," his reports says.

ADVERTISEMENT