Alaska attorney general to appear before Eagle River lawmaker’s committee

JUNEAU — Attorney General Treg Taylor will appear for a scheduled confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, a spokesperson for Gov. Mike Dunleavy said Friday.

The hearing is scheduled for Wednesday and would come more than a month after Dunleavy said his administration would no longer participate in hearings led by Sen. Lora Reinbold, a fellow Republican he had accused in a scathing letter of misrepresenting the state’s COVID-19 response.

Reinbold, the committee’s chair, has called Dunleavy’s letter an “attempt to intimidate those who question him and his administration and to silence those with opposing views.” She also has demanded an apology.

Jeff Turner, a Dunleavy spokesperson, said the administration and lawmakers have a lot of business to conduct during the session and that the administration “will work with any committee chair to provide the information they need.”

“The Governor’s expectation is that committee meetings will be conducted in a professional manner with the goal of accomplishing the business of the state,” Turner said by email Friday.

Turner also said Dunleavy “still stands by the letter.”

Senate President Peter Micciche, a Republican, earlier Friday told reporters he expected the confirmation hearing to happen.

“If he’s equipped to be an AG, he’s equipped to be in Senate Judiciary,” Micciche said of Taylor.

The Associated Press sent Reinbold an email seeking comment.

Dunleavy in his Feb. 18 letter to Reinbold said the letter served as notice that “all officials and staff, employed and serving the State of Alaska’s Executive Branch of government, will not be responding, or participating, in any matter that pertains to yourself, your office, or, currently, in your capacity as the chair of a committee.”

Micciche earlier this month called the dispute between Dunleavy and Reinbold a distraction that he said he hoped the two would resolve.

Taylor’s appointment is subject to legislative confirmation. The House Judiciary Committee this week held hearings on Taylor’s nomination.