Ed Sniffen: Alaska Resignation, Dismissed Charges, Hawaii DOT Role

Ed Sniffen is the director of the Hawaii Department of Transportation, a post he has held since Governor Josh Green appointed him in December 2022 and the state Senate confirmed him in April 2023. Before Hawaii, he spent two decades at the Alaska Department of Law, briefly served as Alaska’s acting attorney general in 2020 and 2021, and resigned in January 2021 as reporters were preparing to publish allegations that he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl he coached in 1991. He was later indicted on three counts of sexual abuse of a minor. A judge dismissed the case in 2023 on statute-of-limitations grounds.

The Alaska Resignation

Clyde “Ed” Sniffen joined the Alaska Department of Law in 2000 and worked his way up over two decades, serving as a senior attorney in the consumer protection unit and then as deputy attorney general.¹ He became acting attorney general in August 2020 after his predecessor resigned in a separate scandal, and on January 18, 2021, Governor Mike Dunleavy announced him as his choice for the permanent role, subject to legislative confirmation.² Dunleavy described Sniffen as having “a long and proven record of leadership within the Department of Law.”³

Eleven days later, he was gone. Sniffen resigned on January 29, 2021, citing “personal reasons,” as the Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica were preparing to publish a report on allegations that he had engaged in a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student in 1991.² He left state government entirely, and Dunleavy appointed Treg Taylor in his place.¹

The Sex Abuse Charges and Dismissal

The allegations concerned Sniffen’s time as a 27-year-old attorney volunteering as a coach for the West Anchorage High School girls’ mock trial team. His accuser, Nikki Dougherty White, said the relationship began during a trip to a national competition in New Orleans in 1991, when she was 17, and continued for roughly two years. A 1990 Alaska law made it a crime for someone in a position of authority, such as a coach, to engage in sexual activity with a person under 18 whom they coached or taught.²

White had reported the allegations to police in 1994, but the case was closed at the time due to what authorities described as a lack of cooperation from the accuser.⁴ After Sniffen’s 2021 resignation, Dunleavy requested a criminal investigation, and the Alaska Department of Law hired outside prosecutor Gregg Olson to handle it because of a conflict of interest.²

In May 2022, Olson filed three counts of sexual abuse of a minor against Sniffen, each carrying a maximum of five years in prison.³ An Anchorage grand jury reaffirmed the indictment that September. Sniffen pleaded not guilty. His attorney, Jeffrey Robinson, moved to dismiss, arguing the delay between the alleged conduct and the charges violated Sniffen’s due process rights.⁴

On March 31, 2023, Alaska Superior Court Judge Peter Ramgren dismissed the case. Ramgren ruled that the alleged 1991 conduct was governed by a five-year statute of limitations in effect at that time, and that later legislative changes eliminating the limitations period for felony sexual abuse of a minor could not be applied retroactively.⁵ The Alaska Department of Law said days later it was “still reviewing the judge’s ruling” and had not decided whether to appeal.⁶

White said she was disappointed the case would never go to trial. “I never got a chance to say this is what happened,” she told reporters. “The real-life aspect of what that does to a person for the rest of their lives — none of that got a chance to be heard.”⁶

How He Ended Up Leading Hawaii DOT

Sniffen’s path to Hawaii predated the Alaska scandal. He joined the Hawaii Department of Transportation as deputy director for highways in January 2015 and held that role for nearly eight years, becoming a recognized voice on infrastructure resilience, chairing an AASHTO committee on transportation system security and resilience, and testifying before the U.S. Senate.⁷

Governor Josh Green nominated him to lead the department on December 5, 2022, while the Alaska criminal case was still pending.⁸ At his confirmation hearing on April 6, 2023, before the Hawaii Senate’s Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts, the nomination drew more than 100 written testimonies in support, and dozens of department heads appeared in person to vouch for him.⁹

The hearing was not friction-free. Senators Joy San Buenaventura and Jarrett Keohokalole disclosed anonymous letters alleging Sniffen had been “out of control and unmanageable” as a deputy director and had been the subject of two complaints by senior managers regarding harassment. Sniffen said the one grievance he was aware of had been investigated by the attorney general’s office “with no findings,” and he acknowledged a reputation for being “very difficult” on staff, describing his style as one that holds employees accountable.⁹ The committee recommended him unanimously, and the full Senate confirmed him on April 28, 2023.¹⁰

What He Does as Hawaii DOT Director

As director, Sniffen oversees the three divisions of Hawaii’s transportation system: airports, harbors, and highways. His office is in the Aliiaimoku Building in downtown Honolulu.¹¹

On the highway side, Hawaii is receiving roughly $2.5 billion over five years under the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, about $1.2 billion of it earmarked for highways. Under Sniffen, the department has put that money toward bridge repairs along the Big Island’s Hamakua coast, repaving on the H-1 and other Oahu highways, safety upgrades, and traffic signal improvements. Sniffen called the IIJA “a great step up, but it’s not life changing.”¹²

At the airports, he is overseeing a $7 billion multi-year modernization program targeted for completion by 2032 or 2033, funded through airport user fees and revenue bonds rather than state general funds.¹³ When wildfires destroyed much of Lahaina in August 2023, his department waived wharf charges at Kahului Harbor to speed humanitarian cargo and installed dust screens in the burn area to keep hazardous material off major roadways.¹⁴

As of mid-2026, Sniffen remains in the director’s chair.¹¹

1
KTOO. 11 Days After Appointment, Alaska Attorney General Ed Sniffen Leaving Job
2
Anchorage Daily News. Sexual Misconduct Allegations Prompt Another Alaska Attorney General to Resign
3
ProPublica. Sniffen Alaska AG Sexual Assault Charges
4
Anchorage Daily News. Former Acting Attorney General Indicted on Sex Abuse Charges
5
ProPublica. Ed Sniffen Sex Abuse Case Dismissed
6
Alaska’s News Source. Judge Dismisses Sexual Abuse Charges Against Former Acting Alaska Attorney General
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AASHTO Journal. Gov-Elect Names Ed Sniffen to Lead Hawaii DOT
8
Board of Water Supply. Ed Sniffen
9
Spectrum News Hawaii. Senate Committee Recommends Sniffen for Confirmation
10
Hawaii DOT. HDOT Leadership Team Finalized
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Hawaii DOT. HDOT Administration Contacts
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Honolulu Civil Beat. How Federal Funds Could Help Fix Hawaii’s Roads and Bridges
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Honolulu Star-Advertiser. $7 Billion Overhaul of Hawaii Airports Advances
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AASHTO Journal. Hawaii DOT Helping With West Maui Wildfire Recovery