(SitNews) - In July 2012, 57-year-old Paul Pozonsky abruptly quit his job as a Common Pleas Court judge in Pennsylvania and moved 4,000 miles to Alaska to join his wife Sara, a politically connected native of Alaska.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, with his departure, Pozonsky left behind a storied, 14-year judicial career, a $169,541 salary and lingering questions about his tenure after he unilaterally ordered evidence destroyed in 17 mostly drug-related cases without consulting the district attorney's office.

The hiring of Paul Pozonsky was the subject of intense criticism because he was hired by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development as a Workforce Compensation Hearing Officer II position paying around $80,000 yearly even while his record as a judge in Pennsylvania was under investigation.  One of the subjects of investigation was the disappearance of illegal drugs while in his custody, which recently was revealed to be part of a broader pattern of Pozonsky’s alleged theft of cocaine which was supposed to be used as evidence in cases over which Pozonsky was presiding in PA.  Moreover, the Alaska Democratic Party said yesterday that Pozonsky was hired in violation of a requirement on the Workforce Compensation Hearing Officer II hire form, which required hiring an Alaska resident. 

When Pozonsky's hiring in Alaska first came under scrutiny, he resigned his position in December 2012 after less than two months on the job. Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell ordered an internal investigation into how Pozonsky got the job.

What is known about Pozonsky's history is troubling to the Alaska Democratic Party. “The Parnell/Treadwell Administration needs to come clean with the public about its involvement in hiring Paul Pozonsky, an Outsider and alleged cocaine thief, for a job that was supposed to be reserved for Alaska hire.  If politics wasn’t involved, then why did the Department break its own rules to hire an Outsider who was under investigation for judicial misconduct?” said Mike Wenstrup, Chair of the Alaska Democratic Party in a statement released yesterday.

The Alaska Democratic Party said yesterday the Parnell/Treadwell Administration refuses to disclose how Pozonsky, an out-of-state resident, was hired

The Parnell/Treadwell Administration has stonewalled efforts to determine which members of the administration may have been involved in the hire of Paul Pozonsky, a judge from Pennsylvania who recently was charged with stealing cocaine.  Pozonsky was a Pennsylvania resident before he was hired for a job which required Alaska hire after alleged political intervention by Chuck Kopp, an in-law of Pozonsky’s wife and Senator Fred Dyson’s Chief of Staff.  The Parnell/Treadwell Administration has refused to provide any background about how Pozonsky got hired despite a series of Public Records Act requests from the Alaska Democratic Party.

Journalists investigating the Pozonsky scandal found that bar-certified Alaska residents applied for the job when the job was advertised, but none were hired and the job advertisement was withdrawn.  Then the state re-advertised the position, apparently interviewed only then-Pennsylvania resident Pozonsky, and decided to hire him.  State officials were aware that he lived out of state and provided him with guidance on moving services.  As documented by the Anchorage Daily News, Pozonsky’s wife is well connected in the Alaska Republican Party and some speculated that those connections allowed Pozonsky—an Outsider—to get the job instead of Alaska residents even though his record as a judge was under investigation.

The Alaska Democratic Party submitted a Public Records Act request after the hiring of Paul Pozonsky to determine how an out-of-state resident got hired for a job that was supposed to require Alaska hire.  Initially, the Parnell Administration denied 73 records of communication about the hiring of Pozonsky.  After the Party appealed, noting inconsistencies in records denials, the administration provided additional 19 communications about the hiring of Pozonsky.  However, those records were fully redacted, and do not reveal how an out-of-state resident came to be hired for this position.  Despite denial of many records and complete redaction of others, this much is clear according to the Alaska Democratic Party:

• Randy Ruaro, Governor Sean Parnell’s Deputy Chief of Staff, communicated with “multiple” agency individuals about the Pozonsky hire; the agency did not list with whom he communicated or any details about the nature of their correspondence.
• Diane Blumer, who Governor Parnell appointed as Commissioner of the agency which hired Pozonsky (Department of Labor and Workforce Development), appears to have been intimately involved with the hire, and communicated with Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell, Director of Workers Compensation Michael Monagle, Chief of Workers Compensation Adjudications Janel Wright (the direct contact for hiring Pozonsky), Greg Cashen, Assistant Commissioner for the Department of Labor and Workforce Development), and others involved with the hiring of Pozonsky.
• The Department of Labor and Workforce Development was aware it was hiring an Outside resident despite the Alaska hire requirement for the position.  Department employee Janel Wright exchanged multiple emails with Paul Pozonsky about which moving companies to use for when he came to Alaska after he accepted the job while living in Pennsylvania.
• The extent of Parnell Administration involvement before Pozonsky’s hire is unclear.  Parnell/Treadwell should explain what happened, and make public any redacted and undisclosed records that would reveal political involvement in the hire.

Edited by Mary Kauffman, SitNews

Source of News: 

Alaska Democratic Party
www.alaskademocrats.org

Reference Source:

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
www.post-gazette.com

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