Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) announced on Tuesday that he has accepted the resignation of Alaska Attorney General Kevin Clarkson (R), after he "admitted to conduct in the workplace that did not live up to our high expectations."
Clarkson admitted to sending inappropriate text messages to the personal phone of a junior state employee, who was not in his chain of command but did interact with him. ProPublica and the Anchorage Daily News report that Clarkson sent more than 550 text messages to the unnamed woman, inviting her to his home at least 18 times and regularly using the kiss emoji. On March 26, he allegedly told the woman, "Haven't seen you in awhile, so you owe me a number of hugs." A few days later, on April 4, the woman reportedly told Clarkson he needed to respect her boundaries and "please remember this is my personal phone."
In his resignation letter, obtained by NBC News, Clarkson apologized for his "errors in judgment" and said when the woman "eventually expressed her discomfort to me, I immediately respected her wishes and ceased communicating with her by text." He called the messages "'G' rated" and said there is "nothing remotely salacious about the texts. In our texts we exchanged innocent mutual endearments between us in words and emojis."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Political cartoons for November 1Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include insurance premiums, early voting in NYC, and more
-
Salted caramel and chocolate tart recipeThe Week Recommends Delicious dessert can be made with any biscuits you fancy
-
Meet Ireland’s new socialist presidentIn the Spotlight Landslide victory of former barrister and ‘outsider’ Catherine Connolly could ‘mark a turning point’ in anti-establishment politics
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
-
Trump demands millions from his administrationSpeed Read The president has requested $230 million in compensation from the Justice Department for previous federal investigations
