Anchorage Assembly may restrict insider jobs

ANCHORAGE - The Anchorage Assembly is considering a measure that would prohibit city officials from taking a city job within a year after leaving office.

The Anchorage Daily News reports the measure sponsored by Elvi Gray-Jackson also would bar former elected officials from getting no-bid city contracts for a year.

The assembly postponed action on the measure Tuesday to resolve a legal question about the wording.

Gray-Jackson said the fact that former Assembly member Dan Coffey got a noncompetitive city contract shortly after leaving office this spring prompted her to look at city law. But her proposal is not targeted at Coffey, she said. He already has a contract, and the measure would not be retroactive.

"My point is I don't want this to ever happen again," she said. "To me, it is poor public process to give an elected official a contract without going to a competitive bid."

Coffey served on the Assembly until May. He was given a contract last month for up to $30,000 to complete an ongoing major rewrite of the city zoning code. He sought an opinion from the city Board of Ethics, which cleared the contract.