ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A Florida town manager who was fired because he married a porn star is now a finalist for a city manager job in a small southeast Alaska town.
Scott Janke said in a job applicant questionnaire for the Petersburg position that he left the job as town manager of Fort Myers Beach, Fla., “for reasons that to this day I don’t understand.”
“The Town Council there simply over-reacted to a news story about my wife’s previous career and they terminated my contract without cause,” he wrote. “I am sure you have heard the stories.”
Janke lost his Fort Myers Beach job in July when the town council unanimously voted to fire him after learning his wife was an adult film star. He now lives in Massachusetts.
He said Wednesday that his wife, Anabela Mota Janke – also known by the stage name Jazella Moore – had retired from the porn industry before their marriage last year, but she returned briefly to magazine and film work to help make ends meet after he was fired. It was temporary and she has not worked for three months, he said.
“We have nothing to be ashamed of,” he told The Associated Press.
Janke, 55, was among five finalists out of 43 applicants for the Petersburg position, according to Kathy O’Rear, city clerk for the community of 3,000. Despite local news reports of Janke’s Florida notoriety, there’s been no outrage among residents that she knows of.
“We’ve not heard a thing, pro or con,” O’Rear said. “Personally it’s not an issue for me, but I could see how it might bother some people.”
It’s not a problem for Mayor Al Dwyer, a voting member of the seven-member Petersburg City Council, which was scheduled to meet Wednesday night to determine how to proceed with the hiring process. Dwyer said he expects the job candidates will be winnowed down to three finalists who will be interviewed by phone.
He said he has already decided on his three favorites, but would not say who they were, although he stressed that Janke’s wife plays no role in his selection.
“I think what a person did or was has nothing to do with what they are,” Dwyer said. “And it wasn’t him who was the porn star. I mean, we’re not hiring his wife.”
Janke sees no reason why he shouldn’t get the job. He has long ties in Alaska and has worked in local governments in the state, including stints as city manager in the towns of Seward and Cordova. And if the thousands of e-mails he received after his firing are any indication, he thinks most people would be unperturbed by his wife’s past.
“The general public could care less,” he said.