State law exists for a reason. The Alaska Retirement Management Board oversees billions of dollars in retirement savings for teachers, firefighters, state workers, and their families. When seats on that board sit empty, those dollars are being managed without the full oversight the law requires. Governor Dunleavy has left two union-designated seats vacant since March 1st — five months and counting — despite a clear legal obligation to fill them. The Alaska AFL-CIO and NEA-Alaska had to sue him in Anchorage Superior Court just to get him to follow the law. That's not how government is supposed to work.
This isn't about politics. It's about whether the people whose retirement savings are on the line have a real voice in how those funds are managed. Workers earned those pensions. They paid into them. And state law specifically requires that workers have representation on the board watching over that money. Every month those seats stay empty is another month retirees and working families have less protection over savings they spent careers building.
I'm asking you to publicly call on Governor Dunleavy to fill these two board seats immediately, and to use every tool available to you — including legislative pressure and budget oversight — to hold him accountable for following Alaska law.
Please do your job and make sure the Governor does his: fill those pension board seats today.
