Public safety chief sought to keep Rossi affair under wraps to protect probe
Craig Medred |
Jan 19, 2012
Alaska Fish and Game Commissioner Cora Campbell was asked to keep quiet about a December investigation of Department of Wildlife Conservation Director Corey Rossi, according to the state Department of Public Safety.
Questions have arisen about why Campbell kept the Rossi affair under wraps for almost a month after learning of the wildlife director's alleged involvement in illegal bear hunting. Commissioner of Public Safety Joe Master on Wednesday revealed that he asked her to do that. "I did ask her to keep information confidential until I notified her that filing of charges was imminent,'' Masters said in an email to Dispatch.
Public Safety didn't want to tip off any possible witnesses in Alaska, and state investigators "were very sensitive to the fact that another state had an ongoing investigation (the genesis for the information that began our investigation) that we also did not want to compromise,'' Masters said. Details of the out-of-state investigation that led back to Rossi remain unclear. So to is why Campbell didn't just ask Rossi to take leave for "personal reasons'' once Rossi learned he was under investigation in mid-December. Or why Campbell sent Fish and Game staff an e-mail announcing Rossi's immediate resignation "for personal reasons'' and thanking him for his service only hours before the news broke in early January that he'd been charged with 12 counts of breaking state hunting laws.
The e-mail reportedly followed a crisis meeting several hours long in the office of the Fish and Game commissioner.
Give Masters & Campbell the benefit of the doubt right now. I can imagine if Rossi had been asked to take leave he may have guessed it was related to the bear issue. All involved would have been tipped off before the investigation was completed. Now I'm NOT AT ALL comfortable with Cora being commish of ADFG, but at this point I don't see that she or Masters were out of line on this item. Who knows there may be something much bigger going on as well. I hope in time ALL info is made available. Some times these inter-state wildlife crimes turn out to be pretty big and far-reaching. In an investigation it can be real nice to get to these rich crooks before they have a chance to hide behind their lawyers.
It does seem Campbell was way too nice in her email - it would have been an opportunity to make it clear that her administration would not tolerate even a hint of fish or wildlife violations by any staff. On the other hand the way personnel laws work these days an employer has to be really careful or they can be in more trouble than the culprit. I had to fire 2 state employees but personnel would not let me say so in clear cut terms - I just had to terminate them with no comment beyond that I'd had to stop the projects early. When I really wanted to kick their sorry hind ends all the way to the airport. And we have to remember at this point Rossi has been charged only - he has not had his day in court.
Give Medred a break as well, Even when the truth would work just fine he can't seem to help himself, he has to slant his writing as much as possible to fit his point of view. If you are new to Medred and the Dispatch don't give up on him yet, his writing is fun to read and usually pertinent to day to day Alaskan's, BUT- You need to get in the habit of fact checking everything he writes.
Once convicted, Rossi needs to pay back the SoA salary he accepted, en-light of the vow he took to accept the position of Division Director of Wildlife Conservation.
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