My Twitter Feed

March 18, 2024

Headlines:

No Time for Tuckerman -

Thursday, August 3, 2023

The Quitter Returns! -

Monday, March 21, 2022

Putting the goober in gubernatorial -

Friday, January 28, 2022

‘Crock of Shit Gate’ Latest Developments

chenault-lg

The legislature is in full swing, things are heating up in Juneau, and the emails are flying. But one recent email in particular has painted the office of boorish lout, Speaker of the House Mike Chenault, in a particularly boorish, loutish, light. Go figure.

Picture if you will, the lovely and hard-working Sheri Pierce, City Clerk for Valdez ,Alaska, sitting in her office one morning. She’s clerking away for her fine city, fires up the computer, takes a sip of coffee, and sees something in the in-box. Look, it’s an email from Rep. Mike Chenault!

She clicks on the email, and behold! A reply to an email that she had sent on behalf of Valdez Mayor Dave Cobb to all state legislators and Governor Parnell. The email was regarding the All-Alaska Gasline Project, which would run a gasline from the North Slope of Alaska to the terminus in Valdez. The email from the Speaker of the House said in its entirety, and I quote:

“What a crock of shit.”

Now, you can imagine that Ms. Pierce must have been quite shocked and offended, so it will come as no surprise to you that she told the Valdez Star that she was, in fact, “shocked” and “offended.”

But here’s the best part. The Valdez Star decided to cover this little incident, and sent an email to Chenault’s address asking:

“Is this the House Speakers official position regarding exporting Alaska’s natural gas from the North Slope through Port Valdez?”

By the time Chenault’s office responded to the Valdez Star, the incident had been hung around the neck of Rep. Chenault’s Chief of Staff, Tom Wright, who explained in an emailed apology to our hapless Clerk that he actually thought he was calling Mayor Cobb’s letter a “crock of shit” to other legislators and meant to forward it to these other unnamed recipients, but accidentally just hit reply by accident. He went on to explain that the email he sent from the Speaker’s account did not at all reflect the opinion of the Speaker himself, but was solely his own… that he didn’t sign with his name. See? He was just calling your efforts to reach out a “crock of shit” behind your back, not actually to your face. So, it’s all good.

This means one of two things. Either the Speaker has turned over his personal email address to a Chief of Staff who thinks nothing of throwing around this type of assessment to other legislators using the email belonging to his Speaker of the Hous boss –  or Mr. Wright has found that his job duties involve sacrificial lamb-hood so the Big Man doesn’t have to suffer the repercussions of his own unfortunate and large mouth.

At a work session of the Valdez City Council, it was clear that the Mayor was not amused.

“I’m not going to stoop to his level,” Cobb said. “but I’d like to.”

Chenault, who hails from Nikiski, is the sponsor of the recently introduced House Bill 4,which would authorize the construction of a natural gas pipeline which would terminate in his district.  That idea is opposed by those who would prefer the route that terminates in  Valdez.

But Wright’s email apology wasn’t the end of the story. And if you’re thinking that Mike “the buck stops with my Chief-of-Staff” Chenault actually stepped up and apologized for the actions of his office, think again. No such humility or manners were forthcoming.

But Mayor Cobb did have a thing or two to say in a letter to Rep. Chenault, which he copied to Governor Parnell, Lt. Governor Treadwell, and every last member of the legislature. Get ready to love this, especially the last page.

Oh. Snap. Everyone, please rise and let’s have a standing slow-clap for the Mayor of Valdez. Well done, Sir. Well done.

If we all have to suffer through the next two years with this pack of yahoos running the show, at least we can enjoy ourselves as they collapse before us under the weight of their own arrogance, and ineptitude.

Comments

comments

Comments
7 Responses to “‘Crock of Shit Gate’ Latest Developments”
  1. Megaera919 says:

    I don’t believe for a nano second the staff person sent this. If you’re going to say COS, say it. Own it. God.

  2. Alaska Pi says:

    Doesn’t matter who the “crock” was meant for- is out of bounds for public business , regardless of the intended recipient.
    This is not going to “get some laughs and slaps on the back ” from the every day people of Juneau- who are part of the state’s larger constituency.
    We love hosting our state government here but some of the folks our neighbors hire to speak for them and send down for session..?
    Not really.
    Not so much.
    Pffft!

    Representative Chenault comes across, more and more lately, as a vulgar self satisfied lout.
    Doesn’t matter who hit “send”- responsibility is his in the end.
    Pfft!

  3. Zyxomma says:

    This belongs in the WTF files.

  4. Bi11Wi11 says:

    This email is the least of what can be expected from Chenault.

    You just don’t know the half of it. (more like the 90 percent of it)

  5. slipstream says:

    Yaaayyy!

    Chenault receives the 2013 Vic Koring Award for Decency in Government!

  6. John says:

    A man of integrity tells you to your face if he thinks your idea is a crock of shit (hopefully with more tact).
    A man of integrity doesn’t blame his staff for an error made by his office, even if it was a staff member’s errror.
    But we are talking about Chenault, not a man of integrity.

  7. GoI3ig says:

    It’s Deja Vu all over again. His chief of staff is pulling a “Frank Bailey.” Next up to the sacrificial altar….