Another Dunleavy official with disturbing views on women has resigned

Weird it keeps happening.

Good afternoon, Alaska. It’s Wednesday.

In this edition: Another creep in the Dunleavy administration is out after reporters checked out the guy’s podcast, which is filled with frankly awful views on women and a scattered defense of Hitler. The governor put out a boilerplate statement in response to the news that doesn’t exactly instill a lot of confidence that the revelations were much of a revelation to the administration. Meanwhile, former Dunleavy chief of staff Tuckerman Babcock has a new job, and the federal debt deal is a step closer to reality.

Current mood: 🤮

Another Dunleavy official with disturbing views on women has resigned

Gov. Mike Dunleavy. Photo by Matt Buxton.

“Gov. Dunleavy sincerely believes that the differences between people are what makes all of us stronger,” said Dunleavy spokesman Jeff Turner in a prepared statement released on Tuesday. “The governor represents all Alaskans, regardless of their faith, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation or gender. Derogatory statements about individuals and groups within our society do not in any way reflect the values of Gov. Dunleavy or his administration and will not be tolerated.”

That’s the statement the Dunleavy administration put out after yet another official resigned for, among many things, some deeply disturbing views on women. This time it’s former “pro-family” policy advisor Jeremy Cubas, who is the subject of a shocking-even-by-today’s-standards report by Alaska Public Media delving into more than 100 hours of Cubas’ podcast where among many things, he dismissed the seriousness of rape, claimed a man can’t rape his wife, claimed women “want to be taken,” defended Hitler for supporting racial purity, bragged about his use of The Racial Slur, talked about slapping women and promoted attacking transgender activists.

Read the full report here, but here’s an excerpt that gives you a pretty good idea of who was helping shape the governor’s “pro-family” agenda:

In March, Cubas spoke at length about his belief that modern society has exaggerated the seriousness of rape.

“Rape, in the end, is pretty low on the totem pole of grave immoral actions,” Cubas said. “Because in the end, I mean, if you produce a child through rape, you’ve ontologically fulfilled the act to a pretty good capacity.”

Cubas said that’s why he believes that “an act like divorce is worse than rape.” While he also argued that rape can be sinful if it involves sex outside of wedlock, he said it’s fine for a man to force himself on his wife.

“I don’t think it’s possible to rape your wife. I think that that’s an impossible act,” he said. “When you signed the contract, you have already consented. You’re consenting until the end of time, until you’re dead.”

Cubas, who goes to the same church as Dunleavy, was in the governor’s press office earning $40 an hour until he was promoted to policy advisor on “pro-family” issues in April, a job that paid $110,000 a year. According to earlier comments from Dunleavy, the position’s primary duty was setting up some kind of website as part of the governor’s pledge to make Alaska the “most pro-life state in the country,” which signaled a sharp turn into culture war issues in his second term with legislation that targeted LGBTQ youth under the guise of “parents’ rights.”

Despite the governor’s attempt at distancing himself, Cubas certainly gave the impression in his podcasts that he was a close ally and confidant of the governor as the head of the fictitious “Office of Family Life.” In further digging by Dermot Cole, Cubas talked about representing the state at several conservative Christian events and how writing a piece about the job for the Alaska Family Council dinner was hard.

“Something like this, like what the fuck am I saying? I’m introducing an office, and I’m saying, ‘Yeah, fuck the left.’ That’s pretty much what it has to be,” he said on his May 13 podcast. With this kind of event, he said, “What else do you really say?”

It certainly sounds like there was more to the job than building a website, and it also doesn’t sound like Cubas was particularly shy about how he talked about his job and personal views. But, unsurprisingly, the administration hasn’t been forthcoming about the vetting process with Cubas or whether it was aware of the podcast, which was near the top of the Google search results for his name before the news broke.

Since then, Cubas has stood by his comments, justifying the ones about rape to Alaska Public Media as how things worked “for the majority of history.” On social media, he’s reveled in the right-wing victimhood and support from fellow right-wingers.

“To all the pussies out there that are crying and shitting themselves,” Cubas said at the start of a nearly 2-minute video posted to Twitter before landing on the final message of “Go fuck yourself.”

Cubas is far from the first creep to leave the Dunleavy administration after reporters looked into their past. Former Attorney General Kevin Clarkson resigned after the Anchorage Daily News/ProPublica reported long-running harassment and unwanted advances toward a junior state employee. Clarkson’s successor, Attorney General Ed Sniffen, lasted about two weeks between his official appointment to the position and his resignation after allegations that he had groomed a teenage student for a sexual relationship nearly three decades ago.