Enrolled SR 5: Relating to subpoenas issued by the Senate Judiciary Committee and to compliance with those subpoenas.
00Enrolled SR 5 01 Relating to subpoenas issued by the Senate Judiciary Committee and to compliance with those 02 subpoenas. 03 _______________ 04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE: 05 WHEREAS, on July 28, 2008, the Alaska Legislative Council unanimously 06 authorized an investigation into the events and circumstances surrounding the termination of 07 former commissioner of public safety Walt Monegan; and 08 WHEREAS, on September 12, 2008, the Senate Judiciary Committee, under 09 AS 24.25.010, authorized the issuance of subpoenas to witnesses in the case; and 10 WHEREAS, at the same hearing, the House Judiciary Committee unanimously 11 concurred in the issuance of the subpoenas; and 12 WHEREAS, within a few days, the subpoenas for Todd Palin, Randy Ruaro, and Ivy 13 Frye were all served on their respective attorneys, and the subpoenas required Mr. Palin, Mr. 14 Ruaro, and Ms. Frye to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 19, 2008; 15 and 16 WHEREAS, on September 19, 2008, Todd Palin, Randy Ruaro, and Ivy Frye failed to 17 appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee in compliance with the subpoenas that had
01 been served on them; and 02 WHEREAS the subpoenas for Annette Kreitzer, Dianne Kiesel, Nicki Neal, Brad 03 Thompson, Michael Nizich, Kris Perry, and Janice Mason, were not served immediately upon 04 their issuance by the Senate Judiciary Committee, because Special Counsel Stephen 05 Branchflower, who was charged with seeing that the subpoenas were served, received on 06 September 12, 2008, the same day the subpoenas were issued, a written offer of cooperation 07 from Assistant Attorney General Michael Barnhill; and 08 WHEREAS Michael Barnhill promised the cooperation of the witnesses represented 09 by the Department of Law, asking only that the subpoenas not be served, and Mr. 10 Branchflower agreed not to serve the subpoenas and began scheduling depositions of the 11 witnesses; and 12 WHEREAS, three days later, on September 16, 2008, that written promise of 13 cooperation was countermanded by a letter from the Attorney General demanding that the 14 subpoenas be withdrawn; and 15 WHEREAS the subpoenas were then served on the seven witnesses represented by 16 the Department of Law, requiring that they appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on 17 September 26, 2008; and 18 WHEREAS, on September 25, 2008, the Department of Law filed a lawsuit on behalf 19 of Annette Kreitzer, Dianne Kiesel, Nicki Neal, Brad Thompson, Michael Nizich, Kris Perry, 20 and Janice Mason, asking the court to declare invalid the subpoenas issued by the Senate 21 Judiciary Committee; and 22 WHEREAS, on September 26, 2008, Annette Kreitzer, Dianne Kiesel, Nikki Neal, 23 Brad Thompson, Michael Nizich, Kris Perry, and Janice Mason failed to appear before the 24 Senate Judiciary Committee in compliance with the subpoenas that had been served on them; 25 and 26 WHEREAS, on October 2, 2008, Superior Court Judge Peter Michalski dismissed the 27 Department of Law's suit, finding that "AS 24.25.010 gives the legislature and the Senate 28 Judiciary Committee's subpoena power" and that there had been "no due process or fair and 29 just treatment violation" of anyone's rights; and 30 WHEREAS, on October 5, 2008, the Attorney General declared in a letter that "in 31 light of Judge Michalski's decision . . . the seven state employees are willing to testify"; and
01 WHEREAS, on October 5, 2008, written interrogatories were sent to the seven 02 witnesses who had failed to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 26, 03 2008, as well as to Todd Palin, Randy Ruaro, and Ivy Frye; and 04 WHEREAS, on October 8, 2008, responses to those interrogatories were delivered to 05 Special Counsel Stephen Branchflower; and 06 WHEREAS, on October 10, 2008, the Alaska Legislative Council unanimously 07 adopted a motion stating that witnesses had "submitted responses to the interrogatories, 08 thereby aiding the investigation"; 09 BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate that, while the witnesses who did not appear as 10 required by their subpoenas committed contempt, under the totality of the circumstances, the 11 Senate imposes no penalty for their failure to appear.