Libby Casey, APRN – Washington DC
The Fairbanks Borough is not weighing-in on the claims of its former mayor, Jim Whitaker, that Senate candidate Joe Miller broke ethics rules while an employee.
Whitaker told APRN and other news outlets Wednesday that Miller used borough work computers for partisan politics in 2008. Whitaker alleges that Miller was trying to get the state Republican chairman, Randy Ruedrich ousted.
At the time Miller was a part-time lawyer for the borough. Whitaker says he was disciplined in writing for breaking the ethics policy, but didn’t lose his job because the borough needed him to wrap up work on an oil pipeline tax dispute.
Miller resigned from borough employment five months later.
Miller would not comment on Thursday to APRN, his campaign said it’s not discussing the issue and that his statement from earlier this week speaks for itself. On Monday Miller’s campaign invited reporters to a press conference, only to have him announce that he’s not going to answer questions about his background or personal issues.
Fairbanks Borough Attorney Rene Broker says the office won’t comment on Whitaker’s accusations. The Borough released to news organizations in July a heavily redacted set of documents relating to Miller’s employment. Officials say they can’t release more without Miller’s permission.
Two news outlets, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and the Alaska Dispatch have filed lawsuits against the borough to get more information about Miller’s time there from 2002 to 2009.
Broker says the borough will comply with the law if there’s a court order to turn over the information.
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