After severals days of internal debate, the Anchorage Police Department Employee Association walked away from endorsing Forrest Dunbar for mayor.
In the end, the membership forced the leaders of the union to endorse no one. In doing so, they robbed Dunbar of an expected endorsement, finding him unfit to support at this time. That means the big union political action money from other unions, such as the AFL-CIO, will not be able to boast of a police endorsement.
The APDEA endorsement almost always goes to the Democrat candidate for mayor, because of the negotiated contracts that they expect to be more favorable under a liberal mayor. The union’s main role is to protect the contracts.
But even contracts were not enough to convince the membership, which came out solidly against Dunbar, who is known for his support of anti-police rioters. During the Portland riots last year, Dunbar opined that he knew that his own mother would be joining in the riots with the Wall of Moms if she could. He never mentioned his support for the Portland police who were being overwhelmed and attacked nightly by Antifa and Black Lives Matter rioters.
Wall of Moms is a group that identifies as mothers and who protects rioters from police by standing between officers and rioters, daring the officers to pepper spray them.
As for Bronson, he wrote a letter to Anchorage police officers on Saturday, saying that he believes ANTIFA is “a domestic terrorist group and should be treated accordingly,” and that “some divisions of Black Lives Matter are violent and anti-American.” Bronson said that the “defund the police” movement is an organized effort to “damage our police departments, harm our citizens, and make our streets less safe.”
Bronson wrote that “as all lives matter, blue lives matter.” He said he would negotiate contracts on behalf of all citizens, including police, and seek contract terms that balance all the needs of the community.
He said he would end any effort to defund, in any way, the Anchorage Police Department and would not introduce, support, or advance any effort that resembles the former AO 37, a measure that put more conditions on what could be negotiated in union contracts, such as no contracts could be over three years long.
