Fish board member Chamberlain discloses ethics finding behind voided Area M rules

Alaska Board of Fisheries member Curt Chamberlain waived confidentiality Wednesday and publicly aired a Department of Law finding that his ethics disclosures ahead of February's Alaska Peninsula meeting fell short. That finding underpins the state's disapproval of five Area M salmon regulations the board adopted at that meeting.

The acting attorney general voided the five proposals under the Executive Branch Ethics Act on May 19, as Alaska News reported May 20. The Aleutians East Borough and other parties who sued over the rules in April said in May that members with undisclosed conflicts cast deciding votes.

At the board's work session in Anchorage, Chamberlain said the department "did not find a conflict, yet still voided a full slate of proposals." He said he sought an advisory opinion as the department recommended and has waited three months for it. He called the finding "politically motivated" and said he stands behind his earlier disclosures.

Department of Law attorney Eddie Lee said a violation was found, but whether it amounts to a conflict of interest is for the department's ethics attorney to address. He said the advisory opinion cannot be completed because the department believes Chamberlain still has questions to answer, and that those talks happen with the ethics attorney, not in a public meeting.

Lee said a board member may still vote Thursday on Area M agenda change requests, which ask the board to take up proposals outside the normal cycle. He said the department found that such a vote would have an insignificant effect on a member's personal or financial interests.