What was Commissioner/TAG Tom Katkus thinking?

In 2010, Commissioner DMVA/TAG Thomas H. Katkus decided to diminish the Alaska State Defense Force, the State’s 32 USC § 109(c) State Defense Force authorized under AS 26.05. The ASDF was removed from a constabulary role under AS 26.05.070 and effectively disarmed after years of a solid record of service without incident to the people and State of Alaska as an armed, State Military Police Constabulary unit.

In 2006, the ASDF served Alaskans during the floods of Houston and Valdez, and the fire response at Hooper Bay. The all-volunteer ASDF soldiers served as armed State Military Police Constabulary acting to prevent looting and to augment local police.

The National Guard had been called up for war duties.

National Guard Regulation (NGR) 10-4 demonstrates that the National Guard Bureau assumes a constabulary role for the State Defense Forces:

“5. Mission
a. The mission of a State Defense Force . . . is to provide an adequately trained and organized State military reserve force which would be under the exclusive control of the governor. It would be capable of accomplishing those State emergency responsibilities normally assigned to the National Guard, when that force is federalized or otherwise not available to the needs of the governor . . .
c. Potential missions:
(1) Assist civil authorities in the preservation of order, and protection of life and property.
(2) Meet such domestic emergencies as may arise within the State.
(3) Guard and protect critical industrial installations and facilities, as determined by the governor, when other means are deemed inadequate.
(4) Prevent or suppress subversive activities, in conjunction with, or in support of State or local law enforcement agencies.
(5) Under control of the governor, cooperate with Federal military authorities and forces engaged in active military operations or charged with internal security missions within the State.
(6) Assume control of State armories and property, provide security for any Federal property until relieved by proper authority, and assist in the mobilization of the National Guard when so directed by the governor.
(7)Perform other duties as may be assigned by the governor, under the constitution and laws of the state.”

6. Organization
. . . activities of State Defense Forces, as envisioned by this regulation, are supplemental to the State mission of the National Guard during peacetime and are considered to be of a constabulary nature and not that of combat forces. Organization under Tables of Organization and Equipment (TO/E) similar to military police or light infantry would most closely facilitate these anticipated missions . . . . Priority for any future Federal support that may be authorized will be given to those states whose Defense Force organization is considered most appropriate (by the Service Secretary) to accomplish the general missions outlined above.”

The Alaskan soldiers of the Alaska State Defense Force are all volunteers, serving without pay until called to State Active Duty. The soldiers of the ASDF are prior military, retired and serving police officers, professionals and journeyman tradesmen. They provide their own weapons, ammunition, field gear, uniforms, training and transportation.

To qualify as State Military Police Constables, they underwent a minimum of 120 hours of training in the ASDF’s Military Police Academy, attended 142 hours of additional training at drills yearly with an annual 8 hours of Law Enforcement recurrency training. The ASDF soldier was required to qualify with weapons annually, but many units conducted additional weapons and law enforcement training by donating extra time.

The federal government has started cutting back on the regular military, meaning a greater federal role for the National Guard.

This action to diminish the ASDF begs the question of who and what will act as a force multiplier for the National Guard and the State and local government police pursuant to AS 26.05.070 and AS 26.05.100?

As a result of the Commissioner, DMVA’s action against the ASDF, the State’s disaster response is unreasonably diminished.

Alaskans are not safer, because of what MG Katkus decided to do with the ASDF.

Call your legislator and the Governor and ask them why this was allowed to happen without a public hearing?

DMVA moves to eliminate ASDF . . .

For some reason as yet unstated, Gov. Sean Parnell's DMVA under BG Tom Katkus, ARNG, has decided to disrespect and humiliate the Alaska State Defense Force.

Given ASDF's leadership woes, some organizational nose drubbing is deserved. However, such would only serve to ignore DMVA's part in creating ASDF's leadership crisis. Since 2005, former DMVA Commissioner and Adjutant General Craig Campbell has known of the failures in leadership on the part of ASDF's former commander. For whatever reason, Craig Campbell chose to ignore those failures.

ASDF has served the State of Alaska well over the years, saving the State hundreds of thousands of dollars in manpower costs for disaster response. In 2006, ASDF demonstrated the viability of a state military police organization serving to support the AST and local police departments as set forth under AS 26.05.076.

ASDF was deployed 3 times in 2006 in disaster response duties. ASDF served in 2006 at Valdez, Houston and the Hooper Bay Fire aftermath. The deployment of ASDF personnel to State Active Duty kept the Alaska State Troopers from the Glennallen Detachment, the Valdez Police Dept. and the Houston Police Dept. on the job protecting their communities instead of tying up manpower at check points for flood safety duty, or requiring AST to station a Trooper in Hooper Bay.

At Valdez, ASDF personnel took the place of DOT personnel who would have otherwise had to be transferred in from other DOT locations in the State. The use of ASDF meant a that there was no reduction in services to those communities served by the DOT personnel who would have been transferred for Valdez flood duty. DOT estimated that ASDF saved DOT at least $100,000 in manpower costs by manning DOT check points.

ASDF has performed many other State disaster relief and public service duties over the years. The Iditarod Restart and the Special Olympics are two public functions where ASDF personnel volunteer to serve each year. During the Orange Alert of Dec., 2003-Jan., 2004, ASDF was called to State Active Duty with the Army National Guard for armed security service at the Yukon River Bridge and at Valdez Terminal. ASDF members participating, like their National Guard counterparts, were awarded the Homeland Security Medal for what became known as Winter Talon. Another call up was for the Turnagin Pass avalanche disaster that buried 5 snowmachiners.

ASDF was first armed by then Governor Tony Knowles when he called ASDF to duty at the Yukon River Bridge post 9-11. Gov. Knowles, a RVN combat veteran, believed that unarmed troops were just victims waiting to happen.

As a result of actions taken against yours truly in November, 2007 to prevent the outing of an illegal and out of compliance use of force policy by a subordinate unit, and as a result of a April, 2007 complaint to the governor made by myself regarding the lack of accountability and conduct of the then ASDF commanding officer, an investigation was performed by an out of state Army National Guard JAG officer from Washington State. This investigation was unprecendented in the history of ASDF, much less the State Guards of the 22 States that maintain such State only forces.

One of the allegations to then Gov. Sarah Palin was the misrepresentation of manpower estimates made by the ASDF commander and his staff to DMVA in monthly reports. Normally, such conduct would be considered a serious breach of responsibility and ethics. However, in Craig Campbell's DMVA, such conduct on the part of ASDF's then commander was the norm.

MAJ Matthew Cooper recommended changes to ASDF. One of the more incredible recommendations was the change from a State Military Police Brigade to a Civil Affairs Brigade. This in the face of AS 26.05.076 and a March 30, 2006 Attorney General's Opinion confirming ASDF's role as a State police force when called to State Active Duty under a declaration of emergency. This recommendation was made using the specious excuse of risk management, totally ignoring ASDF's indeminificaiton under AS 26.05. Then Commissioner/TAG Craig Campbell acted upon these recommendations initially disarming ASDF and halting all Military Police training by the various units. However, those restrictions were lifted after October, 2008.

The intriguing thing about what happened in 2007-2008 with the investigations ordered by then MG Craig Campbell, Commissioner/TAG DMVA, was the use of an out of state ARNG JAG officer to conduct an investigation into a USC 32 Sec. 109(c) state guard/state defense force organization having no affiliation with the National Guard Bureau or U.S. Army in any manner form or way. I believe the investigations should have been civil in nature, given the nature of the allegations, and conducted by State of Alaska civilian investigators. By keeping the issue entirely under the TAG's office, the Governor's office has been prevented from acting fully, had an investigation been called for, for example, by the DOT Commissioner for alleged improprieties in DOT. Civilian politicians without miltiary experience are loath to challenge the military on any issue. By keeping the investigations miltiary, Craig Campbell was able to protect the former commander of ASDF, and to cover up Campbell's failures in requiring performance and accountability from ASDF's leadership.

All Craig Campbell had to do to remedy ASDF's leadership problems was to require personnel policies, manuals, regulations, and other common administrative tools to be instituted at ASDF. After all, ASDF's then commander and the present commander are both attorneys. One would think that such would be one of the first priorities on their part. Unfortunately for ASDF's personnel, such administrative rules would have eliminated the lack of accountability and the capricious nature of the application of leadership at ASDF. All ASDF needed was good leadership and some oversight on the part of DMVA. Instead, ASDF has received meager support and non-existent oversight.

The commander of ASDF appointed by Frank Murkowski and again by Sarah Palin operated on verbal orders and innuendo, creating a lack of accountability and mistrust. This individual resigned in October, 2008. However, the administrative changes recommended by yours truly and ordered by then LTG Craig Campbell have yet to be implemented.

The State Guards pursuant to USC 32 Sec. 109(c) are not federal anything. They are constructs of their respective states, only, without federal funding or other obligation that would subordinate or otherwise affiliate them with the federal DOD. Therefore, why was a federal ARNG officer selected to investigate an organization for which he had little or no knowledge and understanding?

What were any potential conflicting imperatives that might have resulted in the degrading of ASDF's mission to the State?

Unfortunately, the U.S. Army has a long institutional memory. Believe it or not, the USA is no fan or supporter of the USC 32 Sec. 109(c) State Guards. It was the State Guard (militias) of the southern states that coaesced into the Army of Northern Virginia and the Confederate Army that met the blue bellies at Bull Run and which bloodied the Union Army until Gettysberg. The blue bellies have not forgotten, nor forgiven. Hence, the ever present disdain and distrust of the State Guards by the National Guard Bureau and the regular Army.

Yet, the State Guards are comprised by retired and former military personnel and police officers to a great extent. Virtually every trade and profession is represented in the membership of a State Guard. These people represent a vast wealth of information, experience and know how. One would think that such potential would be honored instead of demeaned, as is happening with ASDF under Parnell and Katkus.

There was a respite in this attitude with the War on Terror. In November, 2005, a report to Congress was written by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Security that outlined the role of State Guards in homeland defense. The report further stated that DOD was willing to entertain on requests for U.S. military surplus material and training support to the State Guards of the various States by submitting a request for such support through the State's Adjutant General. No State Guard has ever acted upon this potential to my knowledge, as the Adjutant General's answer to both the governor of that state and the National Guard Bureau. The NGB is absolutely opposed to the use of State Guards. They want to keep all militia forces FEDERAL.

The NGB is very jealous of the State Guards, as the State Guards perform without federal support and are independent of the federal chain of command. Again, the lesson of the Civil War rears its ugly head.

Now, under Gov. Sean Parnell, DMVA under Commissioner/TAG Tom Katkus is acting to fully disarm ASDF, restrict ASDF personnel from any training, and to take away the ability of ASDF to wear the Army Uniform pursuant to AR670-1 Chapt. 30-8(c), p316. To what end is this being accomplished and why?

Obviously, to accomplish the goals of the NGB where the elimination of the State Guards are concerned.

The lessons of the War on Terror are clear. The United States military is stretched with two realitively low tempo theaters of operation in OIF and OEF. Low tempo compared with RVN, Korea or WWII. Now that OIF is ending operationally, more troops are available for OEF. In 2006, the State of Alaska was berift of troops. Reserve and active duty components were committed to Kosovo, OIF and OEF. Alaska was literally left with only the ASDF as the final line of defense on the ground.

The Alaska Army National Guard was reorganized in 2006-2007 to include Military Police battalions that were not previously part of the AK ARNG's force structure. These units were formed in response to the need to secure Ft. Greely's missile defense system and to provide MP units for deployment overseas, given the lessons of OIF in the aftermath of the anarch resulting from the defeat of Saddam's army. For some reason, BG Tom Katkus feels that these FEDERAL troops can be used as were ASDF personnel used time and again to perform civil police missions pursuant to AS 26.05.076. For this reason, he is slowly conducting a pogrom to eliminate ASDF from Alaska's emergency response force structure. The Army never forgets.

Alaska is unlike any other State in North America. We are separated geographically from the Outside. Without ASDF, Alaska loses a valuable resource that has been used to supplement the very ARNG troops that will always be at the beck and call of a federal government, and not our Governor. The only troops the Governor has that are Alaska's, are ASDF's troops. Now, Parnell and Tom Katkus want to end ASDF.

If the regular federal troops are deployed overseas, and the National Guard is called to national duty, who then will stand for Alaska and guard our oil and gas and transportation infrastructure if ASDF is eliminated?

Who will stand with our civil emergency response to support them in time of natural disaster if ASDF is elminated?

ASDF has performed with a State budget of less than $30,000 per year, maintaining over 100 personnel active with another 75-100 partially active, all trained and deployable. ASDF personnel have over 100 hours of Law Enforcement training with quarterly firearms qualifications and a yearly recertification for qualified MP Constables. All of which was accomplished out of the resources of the individual ASDF members, not by anything given by the State. In 2006, the NAACP Band received $33,000 from the State while ASDF received $26,000 for administrative support.

ASDF personnel provide their own transportation, training, equipment, firearms and ammunition at no cost to the State. The average cost of the equipment and arms alone is over $4,000 per individual ASDF volunteer soldier.

Does the Army National Guard soldier attend drill without benefits or compensation? Does the ARNG soldier pay for his own weapon and provide his own ammunition, gear, and transportation for training or call up to State Active Duty? NO, the ARNG troop does not.

Now, Gov. Sean Parnell's Commissioner/TAG wants to eliminate ASDF?

The reality of disaster response is that there is never enough assets. Yet, this governor and his TAG/Commissioner want to REDUCE those assets by eliminating the Alaska State Defense Force. What?!!!

This idiocy makes my case for separating the Commissioner and the Adjutant General (TAG) office back into separate offices with the TAG subordinate to the civilian Commissioner, just as it was before Gov. Frank Murkowski combined the two in what has become a failed experiment.

I guess next disaster response, Gov. Sean Parnell and BG Tom Katkus can call up the NAACP Band.

For more information: www.ak-prepared.com/asdf ; www.dmva.alaska.gov

Parnell's gotta go . . .

Governor Parnell’s new budget sticker price is a shocker. $10.5B. That’s billion with an explosive “B”. The size of this figure should give rise to fear and trepidation into the hearts of every conservative Alaskan out there, and the rest, also. Out of $10.5B, less than point 5 percent builds anything. The rest goes to State government to maintain the social State that Alaska has become while drunk on oil revenues.

When has there been any desire to build anything since Bill Eagan’s second term in the early 1970s? All State government does now is grow, and make excuses for why we cannot do anything anymore.

Worse, why has the State government grown with the Palin/Parnell Administration? As it turns out, Sarah was no conservative. She sold us a load of bilge on that promise, and Parnell has yet to pump out the bilge water that is the growth in State government since Palin/Parnell came to power. The current increase of 8.6% over Palin’s last budget shows that Parnell is no fiscal conservative.

An example of the expansion of State government is Palin/Parnell’s Climate Change Sub-Cabinet. A State executive cabinet that is managed by a federal EPA employee. This management is contrary to the Palin/Parnell stance and rhetoric in Sean’s State of the State address about maintaining and protecting the State’s sovereignty. This cabinet is no longer needed with the admission of climate change being manufactured science to a political end. This sub-cabinet is also an expansion of government whose function was already covered by DEC, DNR, DMVA on the emergency response side, and other State agencies. Worse, it is administered by Climate Change Strategies, an NGO that promotes the false science of man-made global warming.

Another duplication of effort and money, to the tune of $7 million this year, was the creation of the Pipeline Czar position under Palin and continued by Parnell. We created ANGDA in 2002 by an overwhelming majority to do exactly what Noah and now Bob Swenson were appointed to do. Why is this bureaucracy and expense necessary? What does it do that ANGDA could not do, especially in the face of former Sen. Gene Therriault’s appointment as the governor’s oil and gas advisor. Seems to me that between Therriault and ANGDA, the situation regarding gas pipelines was covered.

DMVA continues an interesting structure that is contrary to our republican tradition in government. The military always has a civilian head. In Alaska, under former Gov. Frank Murkowski, an experiment was tried. The Commissioner DMVA and the position of the Adjutant General were combined. The purpose was to put the two top jobs, military and civilian under one hat. While good in theory, it put the military in control of DMVA, or more particularly, the National Guard Bureau (NGB). The reorganization also resulted in the two top positions being out of State at the same time. With then MG Craig Campbell’s numerous trips to Mongolia, Iraq, and Afghanistan as TAG, DMVA’s remaining leadership was incapable of making any decisions while the Commissioner/TAG was out of town. The Commissioner DMVA should be a civilian, and the TAG should be military, as two separate positions. NGB fuels DMVA. The combination of TAG and Commissioner under one hat gives the feds too much influence. Parnell, as a long time legislator, should have had the moxy to correct this situation. The military should always have civilian leadership. Even the Russians know better.

Under Parnell, we have bigger not better government. We have more money spent with less to show for it. We are in a recession, not a period of growth. There is no pipeline or other major construction on the Parnell plate with an anticipated start date planned. It is time to wipe the slate clean of Palin/Parnell and elect a new governor.

Check out the Div. of Elections website to see who is running. Then, go the candidates’ websites and read up on them.

We cannot afford another round of Palin/Parnell.

Parnell catches up

These are interesting times for Alaska politics. Even though, we have a governor who is about as colorless as his snowman alter-ego. I named the snowman pictured here Gov. Sean Parnell as he is the same bland visage as the governor.

Gov. Parnell has been moving things forward a bit, to try to give his administration substance and an identity of its own in the aftermath of the Palin resignation.

Parnell has put forth a program to fund higher education scholarships for Alaska’s high school students who maintain a B average. Gov. Parnell has recognized that not all go to college, so the program will include technical or vocational school scholarships as well as collage scholarships. What was not made clear was whether or not the collage scholarships will be focused on the University of Alaska, or will allow a student to go to Outside institutions. The former head of U of A had a similar program. It looks like Parnell decided to expand upon it.

This is a good move on Parnell’s part, as it demonstrates a desire to provide a trained workforce and management potential for Alaska resource and business development. Unfortunately, it is also a fact that most of the students will probably not return to Alaska, once they graduate from an Outside institution. That aspect was not addressed in his education initiative. What was not made clear, was whether or not this program is part of a genuine Parnell agenda or something left over from the Palin administration, and Sean is just finishing Sarah’s desires.

The Governor’s recent commitment to address the State’s unfunded maintenance of buildings and transportation infrastructure is a welcome attempt to fix something that vexes a lot of Alaskans. Parnell wants $100,000,000 set aside for this purpose.

With the Prudhoe revenue largess over the years, the focus went from maintaining what the State was responsible for in terms of our schools, roads, harbors, and airports, to a “we can afford to let it go and completely replace” philosophy. This attitude was reflected in the requirements for a community to completely replace all fire engines every 5 years, which has now changed to every 10 years due to the costs. Schools maintenance went by the wayside, except what was required to keep the building functional. Roofs and other costly repair items were ignored, as the attitude was “we will just build a new school”. Yet, maintenance was included in the >$7,000 per student that the State funds every year. Those monies allocated for maintaining the schools were allowed to be spent for other than maintenance by the school districts.

For example, the Matanuska Susitna Borough School District turns back to the Borough every year $1,000,000-$1,500,000 in contingency funds appropriated every school year as part of the district’s budget. This is money that could go to the maintenance of the district’s schools, instead of letting a roof become a hazard requiring emergency funding from the State to fix. After all, the money that goes back to the borough came from the State appropriations for education to begin with.

Governor Parnell finally confirmed BG Thomas Katkus as the new Commissioner and Adjutant General of the Dept. of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA). Katkus was Lt. Gov. Craig Campbell’s pick for that post and his former no. 2. Katkus is a retired Anchorage Police Officer and a life-long resident of Wasilla. Given that DMVA is a rat’s nest of musical chairs for retired brigadier generals, hopefully the next administration will have the courage to conduct a thorough review of DMVA policies along with a legislative audit to bring to light how DMVA spends its money. I doubt Parnell will have the political courage to address DMVA anytime soon.

One of the interesting items is the recent resignation of Pipeline Czar Harry Noah. Noah has championed the idea of a bullet line from the North Slope to Pt. McKenzie on Cook Inlet, just north of Anchorage. This route was heavily favored by Valley legislators Sen. Charlie Huggins, Rep. Bill Stoltze, and Rep. Mark Neuman.

Now, another supporter of this route, Lt. Gov. hopeful Rep. Jay Ramras of Fairbanks, is calling for an investigation by the Governor over Noah’s resignation. Ramras is a supporter of the Enstar bullet line that Noah championed.

The association of the aforementioned Valley legislators and Ramras in their favoring a monopoly by Enstar for any natural gas delivered to south central is something that should be questioned by the Parnell Administration.

The competing line to the North Slope Enstar bullet line was the ANGDA spur line off of any big pipe to be built under AGIA or another competing pipeline proposal.

Gov. Sean Parnell may be a lackluster guy, but he is finally doing something. Whether his “somethings” are an expression of his desires or Sarah’s have yet to be made clear to Alaskans.

As the coming year quickly approaches, will this governor distance himself from Sarah in time to meet the challenges from Republicans Rep. John Harris and Bill Walker for his job?

Who knows, only the raven knows for sure, and he/she (I did not look that closely) ain’t saying, er rather, squawking. . . .

Open and Transparent does not exist in Alaska's State Gov't

Alaska’s state government has been heavily criticized over the past few years from all sides for a lack of transparency. Criticisms have been made about meetings of the Legislature and the Executive branches held behind closed doors, along with the penchant for the judiciary to hide the crimes of their own.

It is one thing for a candidate to rail about the lack of transparency of the opposition’s administration, then to take office and repeat the same offenses. Sarah Palin railed against Murkowski’s closed door meetings with the oil companies. When she took office, she did the same, including closed door meetings with the Legislature. Sean Parnell’s Administration continues the practice.

What is hidden from we peons is a practice that is an affront to the idea of a constitutional government and the rule of law that is supposed to protect us all. Worse is the damage to the concept of openness in disclosing the machinations of a regime through public disclosure.

The State’s Freedom of Information Act has been compromised along with the disclosure of any document from any branch for any reason by a practice that is so cynical and so abhorrent in its intent so as to make a mockery of the words “open” and “transparent” when referring to an administration’s conduct.

What am I referring to? I am referring to the requirement of the Department of Law to review investigations and documents requested by FOIA under AS 40.25.100-120 and/or any document requested from a State agency for any reason.

The documents which can be refused are defined under AS 40.25.120. Certain aspects for the basis of refusal are a case of “duh” in terms of the obviousness of the need for discretion. However, the State has taken this need to protect its own to a new low.

Documents so reviewed are subject to being redacted, meaning information is changed at the discretion of the Assistant Attorney General reviewing the documents in question. One has to wonder how that sets with the courts to received documents so redacted?

Further, why would it be necessary to send any documents not meeting the criterion under AS 40.25.120 to the DOL for review? Every agency in the State has a legal department that should be competent to review the documents in question without subjecting them to further review by then DOL. In imposing this added bar to open and transparent government, an administration can selectively filter anything that it does not want to disclose, and who is the wiser? How do we peons know that DOL actually conducted a review of the documents in question?

Even the courts can be circumvented by this malarkey.

How do I know about this impediment to open and transparent?

I have requested the results from two investigations by the Dept. of Military and Veterans Affairs into the conduct of a certain appointee of the last two administrations. I am also a subject of those reports and have never been privy to the contents thereof. Yet, DMVA has delayed the disclosure of those reports for months, and when I finally informed them that I wanted to review and then copy as provided for under AS 40.25.100, I was informed that the documents in question would be sent to the DOL for review with respect to AS 40.25.120. How long will this process take? Who knows? It has been months and months for DMVA to disclose the existence of documents that are one year and 4 years old respectively, and still no end in sight as my being able to review a copy of either document.

I had to provide the Director of Administration the author’s name of one of the reports, as this individual indicated that DMVA could not find it. Now, DMVA miraculously found it, and it, with the other report, is allegedly headed to DOL for review, even though DMVA has attorneys on staff.

I firmly believe, and it is a matter of standing precedent, that when one is appointed to a post in an administration by the governor, one is in the public eye. Further, one’s conduct and performance are a matter of public record, and that the results of any investigation are public record. That’s just part of the price for holding one of those well paying political appointee jobs.

In the present case, the subject of the reports was an appointee of both the Murkowski and Palin Administrations and was a good friend of the current Lt. Governor Craig Campbell.

It is too bad that Gov. Sean Parnell cannot see that open and transparent is not withholding lawfully requested documents from one of the subjects of those reports. It sets a dangerous precedent and definitely shows that the Parnell Administration is a mirror of the Palin hypocrisy.

I also discovered this policy also applies to reports made to such agencies as the Office of Children Services that one has made in defense of a minor. If you make a report to OCS in writing, then request a copy of that report at a later date for a court proceeding, you might receive a redacted copy.

CYA should not exist in State government. It is time that such self serving conduct ended. Better the AG’s time be spent on prosecuting the law, than hindering the disclosure of conduct on the part of a state official that might turn out to be embarrassing to an administration or two.