Alaska’s Lieutenant Governor Resigns After ‘Inappropriate’ Comments

SEATTLE — The lieutenant governor of Alaska, Byron Mallott, resigned abruptly Tuesday after making what Gov. Bill Walker, a political independent, called “inappropriate” but unspecified comments.

The resignation threw an already tight re-election effort by Walker into even more uncertain territory with only a few weeks before voting begins.

Mallott, 75, is the state’s most prominent Native Alaskan politician, a member of the Tlingit people, and has been a hugely popular figure in rural tribal areas of the state. As a Democrat, he was also part of an unlikely political marriage with Walker, a former Republican who left his party to run as an independent in 2014.

In his first term, Walker repeatedly referred to Mallott as his partner in dealing with a huge budget deficit that has required painful cuts to state programs and a reduction in payments to Alaskans from a fund created by decades of oil tax revenues.

And Walker was entering what appeared to be a tough gantlet in seeking a second term, facing a well-known Democratic candidate, former U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, and a well-financed Republican former state senator, Mike Dunleavy.

Now, with only a few weeks left before the election, Walker’s office said in a statement that it was too late to remove Mallott’s name from the ballot. “He will not accept the position of lieutenant governor if elected,” the statement said.

Walker said he learned Monday night of “inappropriate comments that do not reflect the sterling level of behavior required in his role as lieutenant governor.”

Mallott’s replacement, Valerie Nurr’araaluk Davidson, who had beencommissioner of the Department of Health and Social Services and is also Native Alaskan, suggested in her own statement that Mallott’s comments involved a woman or women, although she, too, provided no specifics.

“Respect for women, and the dignity of all Alaskans, is our responsibility,” she said. “I am profoundly disappointed by his conduct.”

Mallott was briefly the Democratic Party nominee for governor in 2014 but gave up the nomination to run at Walker’s side because Mallott said that only together could they defeat the previous governor, Sean Parnell, a Republican.

Mallott could not be immediately reached for comment, with a call and email to the governor’s office getting no response late Tuesday afternoon. He said in his resignation letter that his comments had “placed a person whom I respect and revere in a position of vulnerability.”

He said in the letter that he would seek “healing for my family and for my staff, my friends and all those who have placed their faith in me and been let down by my behavior.”

“I take full responsibility for this action and apologize to, and seek healing for, the person I hurt,” he added.

The rapid erasure of Mallott from the executive branch website was also sharp and sudden. An internet search that turned up the lieutenant governor’s website produced an error message, saying that “the page you are looking for no longer exists,” and listing Davidson as the officeholder.