As the Tshibakas plot their next move, I think that Niki’s recent resignation letter, as reported in the ADN on Feb. 7, was exceptionally shrewd. He claimed that he had to resign immediately because of a “toxic, hostile, demoralizing work environment.”
First, this resignation letter can go on his resume as a statement of moral principle. He can present himself as another municipal employee struggling along to do his best, but he just can’t take it any more. However, the truth is that he was in fact a major cause of the now-infamous conflicts within the Bronson administration. Having submitted this letter, he can now claim the opposite of the truth: he is now not a perpetrator, but a victim. Even though he himself was a cause of the prevailing “toxic, hostile” work environment, he may be able to convince a future patron to think the opposite.
Second, now that he is not a municipal employee, perhaps he can create some distance between himself, the municipal legal department and the Assembly as they try to deal with the Joe Gerace scandal and the Heather MacAlpine lawsuit. Niki needs to run from both those problems, which he created.
The Assembly is not finished with Gerace, and Tshibaka has more to answer for in that regard. Now that he is not a municipal employee, does that change the subpoena process, making it more difficult for the Assembly to hear the truth from him?
In the MacAlpine case, he likely created a situation that will require the municipality to provide a big payout to the plaintiff. Niki Tshibaka is likely to cost us a lot of money.
So, it is to his advantage to flee the administration, pretending to be a victim.
I think it is comically predictable, and perfectly in character, that Niki is willing to let his patron and supporter, Mayor Dave Bronson, hang out to dry, letting Bronson take the blame for the toxicity and hostility that Niki created (and Bronson tolerated).
— Clarence Crawford
Anchorage
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