A far-left political organization known for its street-level activism says it has received the green light to move forward with a proposed change to the Anchorage Municipal Charter.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation announced that it has been authorized by the Anchorage Municipal Clerk to begin collecting signatures for a petition titled “New Charter Section 4.08. Inspector General.” The initiative seeks to create an Office of Inspector General within the legislative branch of the municipality.
This is the same group that recently insisted that a municipal golf course be converted into a tent city for vagrants and that short-term rentals be banned in the city. It is the same group that has called for the death of Zionists and Jews, in support of Palestinians.
The petition was officially certified by the clerk’s office on July 7, the group announced. In order for the measure to appear on the ballot next March, the group must now collect at least 7,225 verified signatures from registered Anchorage voters by the Oct. 6 deadline.
If successful, the ballot measure would ask voters to amend the Municipal Charter and establish a new watchdog position — an Inspector General — to presumably provide oversight of municipal government operations.
There already is an Ombudsman’s office in Anchorage that serves a similar purpose.
Big cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC have inspectors general but small cities like Anchorage typically do not. New York City’s Inspector General had a budget of approximately $25.6 million for fiscal year 2024, while Los Angeles had a budget of $5 million.
The PSL, which is spearheading the effort, describes itself as a Marxist-Leninist political party and has been active in Anchorage through organized protests and demonstrations centered on housing, police defunding, and anti-capitalist causes.
Civilian Oversight Now – C.O.N.
Sounds like communist creep to me! Soon they will be running for office and liberals will be falling all over themselves to support them!
Soon???
This has been happening for decades.
They look so miserable in an androgynous sort of way. Presumably everything they do is tainted by the hollow mental angst they display.
Useful idiots.
LOL!! Because government bureaucracies have always worked so well…
Liberation through tyranny. If it wasnt such an oxymoron it would be hilarious.
These people don’t know if they’ve been shot, plucked, powder burned or snake bit.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation wants to change the political climate in Anchorage, and it will be the biggest success take over to win in Alaska. They claim to speak for the little guy/gal. Just read the agenda from their website….
‘https://pslweb.org/
“The Party for Socialism and Liberation exists to carry out the struggle for socialism inside the United States….” Their agenda is socialism good, capitalism bad, and they indoctrinate you to control every facet of your life.
OH MY GOSH! If this came to pass it’s a very safe bet that Juneau would decide to not be outdone. And in Juneau, always wanting to one-up everyone else, the Juneau Inspector General would be a drag queen.
Possibly, the Juneau Assembly looks more to Seattle for inspiration.
Except I don’t think the powers to be will be very amenable to giving up any of their authority. So for the wrong reason, I think we are safe. 😂
These people need to suffer the worst possible punishment for their lies and evil intent!! What is worse is to think there are actually people who will believe them!!
Hey Carol, what EXACTLY is ONE lie or evil that justifies your severe punishment idea.
Yeah Like the Mayor of Anchorage
Just curious, what crimes have these hippies committed, and who is responsible for “punishing” them?
Just a hurdle to city government more of mess then there needs to be.
But in Anchorage, communism, socialism, I’m not surprised.
Sounds like a new position for Chris Constant once his gig on the Assembly runs out.
“Useful Idiots” the soviets used to call these folks. Sadly, if their ‘communist utopia’ ever came to power, they’d likely to be the very first to die in slave labor camps. If they were in China, guess how true communists respond to these protesters?
Sure looks like a lot of them, no? But if this was proposed by conservatives, what would it look like? We certainly need an I.G. when it comes to judicial corruption!
Wow! The enthusiasm coming from those 6 people is of the charts……NOT!
Out of idle curiosity, who is going to verify those signatures? The Muni clerk, who works for the assembly?
Out of more idle curiosity what exactly want they “oversight” off? APD? The mayor? The assembly? Department heads? All very vague here.
It should be pointed out that their organizational name is mutually exclusive. Socialism is the antithesis of liberation, as it subjugates personal individuality and will to the collective.
In my opinion an IG is just another way to fleece the taxpayer with another layer of bureaucracy, to protect the bureaucracy and harass those not in the correct mindset.
The socialism and liberation folks will not be getting my signature or let’s hope many others.
Since the proposed I.G. works for and is answerable to the mayor and assembly, it is a worthless extra body in bureaucracy and an excuse to cover up corruption. Vote this one down as fast as you can Anchortown.
I’d like to know the names of the they/thems involved and whether any are employed by the Anchorage School District. Also, it’s curious how KTUU covers this group as if it’s a mainstream organization. Makes me wonder if one of their reporters has ties to the group.
Ombudsman? Does not seem to be more than an arm of the Assembly establishment. Long time buddy of old Alaska when a high school diploma and a union card were enough for a good living.
Ombudsman, sounds like, at least requiring a lawyer wanting to represent the agreived against the government entity, Assembly maybe, NOT beholding to the Muni for his job….Is this why an IG is wanted?
Let’s send these morons to China, Cuba or North Korea for some real training. These 3 particular countries are fantastic demonstrations of what NOT to become. Doesn’t poverty starvation and disease sound great. And o by the way if you piss someone off in the wrong department your whole family is likely to disappear. Sounds fn great.
I’d hate to have some sort of IG office at the muni! Imagine a body in the government being able to investigate waste, fraud, and abuse – all things not in the Ombudsman’s office charter. Why, they might turn up all kinds of misconduct and corruption! Wouldn’t want that now…
Don’t you people want to see LaFrance’s administration investigated or do you automatically dislike the idea because a bunch of dumb hippies came up with it?
Heston, logically your comment makes sense and in a sane world an independent IG would be a prudent position to have. That being said, I looked up the petition on the Muni website and here is how they wish to amend our charter:
“Article IV: The Assembly. Section 4.08 Inspector General
There is established in the legislative branch of the municipality the office of inspector general. The inspector general is appointed by the assembly and serves at the pleasure of the assembly. The term of office, powers and duties of the inspector general shall be prescribed by ordinance. The jurisdiction, power and duties of the inspector general include acts and omission of employees and agents of the Anchorage Police Department.”
In plain English this position will be the “front man/woman” for the assembly in all things APD, meaning Mayor LaFrance and our assembly members can stay above the fray when criticizing our men and women in blue. Furthermore it is clear from the text that this IG position will NOT work for the people, but is beholden to the assembly members, who will define his/her powers by ordinance as they see fit!
So forgive me, but I do not trust these socialists.
Through the miracle of an easily corruptible election system, the dream team of socialists and leftist-perverts rules Anchorage for the foresseable future?
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Good thing nobody believes “Inspector General” is anything more than the unelected Socialist seat at the Assembly table because, sadly, a “Party for Socialism and Liberation” Assembly candidate starts out a few beers short of a six-pack, even with the easily corruptible election system run by folks whose boss works for the Assembly.
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New IG’s job is forensic audits, uncovering sordid details about school-district corruption, hyper-inflated property assessments and building fees, homeless-industrial racket, secret casino relationships, corrupted voter rolls, sticking thumb drives in vote-counting machinery while it’s running, ballot harvesting, sole-source contracts, Medicaid fraud, Assemby conflicts of interest, Covid money misuse, referring stuff to the feds for prosecution
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…under the “Honest services’ law”, 18 U.S.C. §1346, which makes it possible to prosecute public officials for a variety of unethical and criminal activities?
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Really, the Assembly Chair, the IG’s boss, is gonna let this happen?
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Remember, how does a socialist and leftist-pervert coalition rule in America except by lawfare, subpoenas, retaliating against citizen-whistleblowers to shut ’em up, isolating them in the community, seizing their property, making them unemployable, making them leave town, making damn sure wannabe citizen-whistleblowers get the message …might this be the new IG’s actual job?
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Can’t happen? Care to explain why not, starting with all the good, constructive things that have come out of Anchorage Assembly since …forever?
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This might be a good clue the ship’s capsizing, and Eaglexit or secession to Kenai Borough might be residents’ only hope for survival.
Interesting, or confusing, they want defund the police while looking to police the Assembly.
How does a cogent mind square “Socialism” and “Liberation” being used by one group?