Anchorage’s ombudsman recommends for the IT director in Anchorage to is removed for his involvement in a campaign to challenge the city’s elections this year.
Ombudsman Darrel Hess has also said He believes there could have an infraction of the law governing elections in the state, and he’s recommending information towards the State Office of Special Prosecutions, according to the final report of his investigation that was released the week before.
Hess The investigation is based on an election complaint filed April 11, by Sami Graham, a former chief of staff for the mayor Dave Bronson. In her complaint Graham mentioned a rule that demanded the presence of an IT staff member to be present or provide approval for the insertion into USB gadgets into “critical” city computers. The policy was just approved on the day she filed her complaint, which occurred one week following the day of the election and was not available at the moment of her complaint. City records indicate that IT Director Marc Dahl emailed it to Graham. The policy was not approved as per city guidelines for new policies, Bronson officials declared last month.
Hess began to investigate the incident following the first published to The Anchorage Daily News in May when a constituent made an complaint with him. In his final report Hess found the Dahl had been “acquainted to Graham and was supplying her with information that would assist her in preparing objections against the 4th of April Municipal elections.”
Hess said the following: Dahl, “damaged the reputation of the Municipality’s Office of Information Technology,” and should be fired.
Hess also suggested that all city department heads be subject to similar restrictions on participating in elections. He also recommended that there be penalties for any interference with the Anchorage elections, in addition to ensuring that every city employee get annually a course on ethics. According to Hess report, the administration reacted positively to the last two of these suggestions.
Officials of the Bronson administration confirmed on Monday that Dahl remains an employee of the city and was on leave for administrative reasons for a few months. The officials did not specify if the mayor has plans to dismiss Dahl.
