Copyright Anchorage Daily News
It’s almost like someone else was governor when former Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum took $50 million from the Constitutional Budget Reserve and placed it into a limited partnership with DigitalBridge in July. Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Crum’s supervisor, now tells legislative leaders that “I share your desire for the facts regarding this contractural obligation, which is precisely why I engaged a third-party review. I appreciate your patience as we work through the details of this matter. Rest assured that I will provide full disclosure of all pertinent facts on completion of the independent review.” There is no need for a third-party review. Every dollar that Dunleavy gives to WilmerHale, a giant D.C. law firm, is a dollar wasted. There is another sentence in Dunleavy’s letter to Senate President Gary Stevens and House Speaker Bryce Edgmon that points to the need for legislative intervention and monitoring of state investments. Dunleavy said that Crum “pursued investment opportunities with several other potential investment firms,” but the negotiations were halted. When were the negotiations halted and why? I suspect that one of the so-called opportunities was related to Crum’s decision to use his office last spring to promote a new private investment fund called the “Frontier Economic Fund,” listed as AKAF on the New York Stock Exchange. Crum himself inserted into a press release in June that said, “Alaska Commissioner of Revenue Adam Crum, in partnership with Prospr Aligned, announced the launch of The Frontier Economic Fund (NYSE: AKAF), a new investment vehicle focused on companies driving sustainable growth, local job creation, and long-term investment across Alaska.” “Alaska, America’s resource powerhouse, is now positioned as a critical solution for national priorities like energy security and supply chain resilience with the launch of The Frontier Economic Fund,” Crum was quoted as saying in the press release. “There’s a real alignment happening between Alaska’s strengths and the country’s needs,” Crum said. “This fund creates a bridge between that momentum and people who want to support it.” The private companies involved in the venture — Vident Asset Management and Prospr Aligned — said that they and the state of Alaska celebrated the launch of the Frontier Economic Fund by ringing the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange on July 2. Crum was advertised as one of the featured speakers, along with Derek Kreifels of Prospr Aligned and Vince Birley of Vident Asset Management. “The New York Stock Exchange welcomes executives and guests of the State of Alaska, Prospr Aligned & Vident Asset Management to celebrate the launch of The Frontier Economic Fund (NYSE: AKAF). To honor the occasion, Derek Kreifels, Chief Executive Officer of Prospr Aligned, will ring the closing bell,” the NYSE said. Kreifels wants to inject politics into investments and allow institutions to invest in ways that align with their “values.” The fund claims to “align with Alaska’s economic vision and the companies helping to fulfill it.” Kreifels knew Crum through the State Financial Officers Foundation, which Kreifels co-founded. The group gave Crum, vice chair of the foundation, its “rising star award” in 2024. This year the foundation boasted on July 2 that Crum’s “visionary leadership is driving economic growth with the launch of The Frontier Economic Fund.” The top stocks in the fund at the moment are: GE Aerospace, DoorDash, FedEx, ExxonMobil, UPS, Uber, ConocoPhillips, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Teck Resources, Northern Star Resources and Barrick Mining. This all looked like something Crum took part in to allow himself to claim visionary leadership during his campaign for governor. Crum either did not attend the closing bell ceremony or avoided being photographed. Kreifels, an executive of Prospr Aligned, and Vince Birley, CEO of Vident Asset Management, lobbied the state this year to participate in this venture and registered as lobbyists in Juneau. Crum, a trustee of the Alaska Permanent Fund, went so far as to set up communications between Prospr Aligned and Marcus Frampton, the chief investment office of the Alaska Permanent Fund. “APFC doesn’t have anything to do with the Frontier Fund (I believe that is what it is called). At Adam’s request Marcus (Frampton) took a call with them, but no plans to deploy to the fund,” APFC Executive Director Deven Mitchell said in a June 16 email to me after I asked about this matter. (Crum also made referrals to the Permanent Fund for investing in GTM Capital and 57 Stars LLC in March and CurvePoint Capital in May. In 2024, he set up contacts with Alex Fitch, Harris Oakmark, Spicewood Partners, CIV and TVVIN. Trustees of the Permanent Fund need to have the sense to stop promoting investments this way. They need to be hands-off.) In the four months since the Frontier Economic Fund was launched with the blessing of Crum and the Dunleavy administration, there have not been major investments by the state of Alaska or anyone else. The fund says it now has $2.6 million in assets. The Dunleavy administration needs to reveal to the public just what the former revenue commissioner had in mind when he used the state’s name to promote the fund and whether the state intended to put money from the CBR or other sources into it. You can be certain that this information will remain secret unless key legislators demand disclosure and bring it to the public’s attention. Dermot Cole is a former ADN and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner columnist and longtime Alaska reporter, editor and author. This piece originally was published at dermotcole.com.
