Alaska's attorney general resigns over hundreds of texts to female employee

Mary Margaret Olohan, DCNF

The attorney general of Alaska resigned Tuesday after outlets published hundreds of texts he sent to a female state employee.

“Kevin Clarkson has admitted to conduct in the workplace that did not live up to our high expectations, and this is deeply disappointing,” Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said in a statement Tuesday, according to the New York Times. “This morning he took responsibility for the unintentional consequences of his actions and tendered his resignation to me.”

Clarkson, who is married, sent a female employee 558 text messages in March, The Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica reported. The employee is much younger than Clarkson, the publications noted.

The publications, which did not name the female employee, obtained copies of Clarkson’s text messages and co-published a story Tuesday.

Clarkson asked the female employee to come to his home at least 18 times over the course of 27 days, according to the publications. The texts, sent during both the day and the evening, included the “kiss emoji” and frequent comments about the female employee’s appearance.

STORY; Alaska Attorney General Kevin Clarkson resigns after disclosure of “uncomfortable” text messages to state employee https://t.co/7doYqsDYH8

— Anchorage Daily News (@adndotcom) August 25, 2020

In early April, the employee texted Clarkson saying that she does not take late-night calls on her personal phone and asked Clarkson to respect professional boundaries, The Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica reported.

“You’re beautiful … sweet dreams. Sorry to bother you,” Clarkson texted the employee on March 16.

“So what are you doing sweet lady,” he asked her the next day.

“Always nice to see you beautiful lady,” he texted her on another occasion. “You have to find a way to say yes and come over and let me cook for you.”

In a Monday night statement to the conservative blog Must Read Alaska, Clarkson admitted to sending the messages. The former Alaska attorney general said the topics of the texts “ranged from food, to movies, to books, to family, saying they were “conversational,” “positive,” “reciprocal,” and “‘G’ rated.”

“These texts included invitations for this person and her children to come to my home to share a meal, which she politely declined,” he said. “In our texts we exchanged mutual endearments in words and emojis. On several occasions, this person initiated a friendly hug when I came to her work place, and I reflexively gave her a peck on top of her head.”

“I wish to take public responsibility for errors of judgment that led directly, but unintentionally, to my placing a State employee in an uncomfortable environment in her workplace. This employee was not in the department of law, I was not her supervisor, and I did not supervise her; nevertheless, I should never have placed her in this uncomfortable situation. For this, I am truly sorry,” he continued.

Clarkson did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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