Anchorage Assembly Chair Ernie Hall has retained a local law firm to advise the assembly on issues related to certifying the results of the city’s troubled April 3 elections.
City Clerk Barbara Gruenstein says the law firm will not serve as the independent investigator Hall has said he intends to hire. Gruenstein told Channel 2 News Friday evening she expects Hall to name that person within a few days.
Earlier this week, the Election Commission advised against appointing a special investigator.
According to a statement Friday night from the Municipal Clerk, the firm of Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot will conduct a review of the Election Commission’s report released Tuesday, as well as an April 20 opinion from Municipal Attorney Dennis Wheeler.
Tim Petumenos, who in 2008 investigated then-Gov. Sarah Palin's firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan during the Troopergate scandal, will present the results of the review at a special May 3 Assembly meeting. That meeting’s agenda has been posted on the city’s website.
(Editor's note: an earlier version of this story said that Tim Petumenos and the law firm hired by Hall would serve as the "independant investigator" to look into the election problems. That report was incorrect)
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