Gene Therriault claims he didn't sign what he clearly signed

Desperate times call for desperate measures and it is clear Gene Therriault desperately wants to keep his bloated pension and not give up his illegal job.

The mainstream media played catch up yesterday with the story about a smoking gun document uncovered by activist Andree McLeod proving beyond the shadow of a doubt Gov. Sean Parnell broke the law when he hired sitting legislator Gene Therriault. 

Now that it has hit the fan for Parnell and Therriault you would think the two would play the scandal smarter. They are not.

The recently surfaced document shows Therriault’s job was created on September 1^st and Therriault signed the document on the 12^th. He quit his legislative job on the 13^th.

But in a an interview with the Alaska Dispatch Therriault says I am wrong in claiming that he signed his new job papers on the Sept. 12, the day before he quit the Senate. It was actually four days after the resignation, Therriault said.

But as you can see by the document below Therriault clearly signs the document on the 12^th. And not only that look at what it is he is signing.

New Employee:

I acknowledge that I am being appointed to an exempt/partially exempt position and understand the following: 1) I am not subject to bargaining unit (union) representation. 2) The majority of the provisions of the State Personnel Act and the Personnel Rules in the Alaska Administrative Code generally do not apply to my employment. 3) As an exempt/partially exempt employee of this department I will achieve “permanent” status as defined for the classified service.

And then right below this acknowledgment of being a new employee is the signature of one Gene Therriault, sitting legislator dated September 12^th, a full day before he quits his elected post.

Therriault also told the Alaska Dispatch I was misinterpreting the document. He didn’t elaborate.

Some in the media obviously have not yet read this document because they are reporting this story as a he said she said deal. There is no controversy here. Parnell hired Therriault while he was a legislator with a job created while he was a legislator. End of story. They broke the law. The document ends any debate.

Based on Parnell’s previous behavior I am not surprised he is refusing to make this right and fire Therriault. Remember Parnell didn’t have the courage to fire Nancy Dahlstrom after Attorney General Daniel Sullivan found her hiring would not stand up in court. Dahlstrom did the right thing and resigned. Who knows if Parnell would have ever fired her?

Don’t count on Gene Therriault quitting anytime soon. His illegal job will end up sending more than a million bucks his way in added pension benefits if he can hang onto his job just a few more months.

The only way this injustice will be made right is if Attorney General Daniel Sullivan steps forward like he did with the Dahlstrom hiring and render a legal opinion.

Mr. Sullivan has promised to appear on my radio show and talk about the Dahlstrom hiring. He has yet to do so and is not returning my calls.

But with Sullivan’s resume and career accomplishments I have full confidence in our AG that he will step forward and do the right thing.

When it comes to our governor, not so much.