Anchorage police decline to endorse Dunbar for mayor

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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.

32 COMMENTS

  1. It took several days of debate? What do they think their lives and their jobs are worth? Or is it just standing up to the Marxist anti-American unions?

  2. My respect for the Anchorage Police Department has grown immensely. They can predict correctly all of the trouble we will be in if Dunbar ends up as the next mayor. This was the right call.

  3. This is no longer the land of the free if the land of the brave does not show up. Today, our men in blue bravely stood up to the ironically named “union” that has shown it cares more for money and politics than the people that our police serve. The police just told the union to take a hike, they have a job to do. And supporting Forrest is not on that list.
    Sadly, our teachers will not stand up. Their union tells them who to vote for and vote they do! Ironically again, always for those candidates who Planned Parenthood supports.

  4. First of all, public unions should not exist: there is no one to negotiate for the owners (I.e., tax payers). Public unions are the reason Alaska is in such trouble financially but I guess that is a discussion for a different day since we think we can kick that can forever.

    Regarding this story, one of the few powers that government legitimately has is to protect citizens and enforce the rule of law. If Dunbar doesn’t believe in funding the police to fulfill this obligation, then he cannot take the oath of office and should be taken off the ticket.

  5. Private sector unions negotiate with private sector employers…both sides have a vested interest, competing vested interests that are in opposition meaning their negotiations are spirited. Private sector employers know that increased labor costs must be passed to the consumer so they fight for every dollar.

    Public sector unions negotiate with public officials who are negotiating with taxpayer funds…public sector managers have no vested interest in maximizing output for minimum taxpayer fund input.

    That’s why public sector unions should not exist…no incentive for public sector employers to economize because they can just dip their greedy little fingers deeper into your pockets and that just what they do and public sector unions reap their benefits at your cost.

  6. Unbelievable. The police union decided that if they could not endorse the Marxist, anti police, promoter of violence candidate than they could not endorse anyone? What are they drinking? I think they seriously need to evaluate whom they hitch their wagon to. Times are changing and the Democrat party is not even remotely the party it was 20, even 10, years ago. Let’s see, the candidate from the party of elitist, Marxist, identity politics, government entitlement for votes, haters of our nation, vs a candidate that loves our country, wants to protect freedom, respects law enforcement, believes in hard work and work ethic vs the bondage of entitlement ——— oh, but if we can’t endorse the former, than, well, can’t endorse anyone….. wow. I very much doubt that is a true representation of our police officers that are represented.

  7. The bigger question is why won’t that Union support Bronson? Answer… They think that any Republican Administration might not give them the yearly raise etc etc etc. that they wrongfully expect. Police officers in this town now start at $34 an hour straight time. Plus a boatload of benefits plus all of their gear paid for and a take-home car… how much is enough? Many of them will say “when the bullets fly everyone else runs away and we have to go towards the trouble…” while that is all very true, if those officers did not go into that line of work with a calling to do so they’re in the wrong line of business. George Patton said that all Real Americans love to fight and that maybe a bit of hyperbole because the reality of it is always ugly however all real peace officers want to run to the sound of the gunfire and those needing help, the last thing on their mind is a raise next year. Anchorage police Union should be ashamed of themselves for not taking a stand half-measures don’t work anymore. Union leadership are a bunch of paid whores and they have buffaloed the rank and file for the most part. Anchorage will be Portland in a few years unless this stops. Police officers… Wake the hell up.

  8. Militarized Police, Walls, Guns, Tyranny, Repression, Oppression, Domestic Military Actions, Unlawful Murder, and Overt Racism masquerading as equality.
    .
    As long as Democrats are in the director’s seat, all the above are just peachy with them, heck look no further than our Capitol and its surrounding neighborhoods in 2021.
    .
    It’s good to see the police showing a little political disobedience by calling Dunbar out for his duplicitous behavior here.

  9. Not easy to trust nor support someone with your life when they support a group that advocates violence against you wishing for your death.

    • Dunbar and his loyal followers are on the wrong side of history, if they could untwist their twisted truth they be more approachable. Its good Dunbar thinks better about his cat and he won’t Defund his cat’s food fund nor Dismantle his attention time given to his cat’s veterinarian care needs. His Cat is like the police department, you don’t take care of it, you end up with a crappy looking cat.

  10. Maybe the National Guard should do the same thing and dismiss Dunbar. He doesn’t support the Constitution, which he vowed to support.

  11. Dunbar is a woke joke. ‘Civilization’ is turning into amoral reptiles pandering to whoever offers the best return for re-election. Right and wrong defined by referendum, or just the loudest screeching. Campaigning with only the superficial fluff, avoiding the topics that are known to create possible wakes. Even Caligula would fit with in with half these Leftists.

  12. Why would the Anchorage police even consider endorsing a mayor who supports Defund the Police. As for the “Wall of Moms,” I would gladly pepper spray them.

  13. PJ OLSON, it is even worse than you say. Public sector unions not only negotiate with public officials spending taxpayer funds, those officials also negotiate to be on the direct receiving end of those funds as ‘campaign contributions’ and guaranteed votes to maintain their power and implement their agenda (and sometimes even more nefarious ends). Public sector unions should not exist (even FDR said that), or members should not be allowed to vote in elections involving officials negotiating with them. The deck is stacked against the taxpayer.

  14. For the record, AO37 did not reduce police department funds as stated. It put some restrictions on what could be negotiated in union contracts, such as no contracts longer than three years. I’m pleased that the APD recognizes the damage that liberals like Forest Dunbar can inflict on a community.

  15. There is a stark choice to be made here. The guy who wants to defund police, supports anarchy and rioting, or the guy that wants the law upheld? It’s a very simple decision.

    It’s unfathomable that half the people of Anchorage would vote for a Mayor that sides with rioters, that thinks “might makes right” and violent groups should be respected.

    Quit voting for the name you recognize. It’s as simple as that. Get informed, then get out there and vote for the rule of law, which keeps “We the People” in charge, not rioters.

  16. So what happened to Elstun Lauesen comment? A troll or just extremely (I’m being kind) ignorant? Sometimes it’s good to see the stupidity of the low information, public education/union indoctrinated people that are still allowed to vote! Just tell them that there is a Golden Girls marathon on the tube and they might forget.

  17. Craig: The take home car isn’t a benefit. They need it at home because in an emergency it would take too long to drive to the station to pick up a rifle or shotgun, and then to the garage to pick up a patrol car.
    I agree about public employee unions, that they’re doing more harm than good. It may be comforting to some officers that the union will back them from wrongful termination, but then there’s been too many abuses protecting misfits, and the good officers have to put up with them, seemingly forever.

  18. APDEA has done the bare minimum by not doing what the shouldn’t do. If they really can’t decide what candidate is better for APD employees they should not be representing the employees Of APD at all. Bronson should have gotten the endorsement over BLM supporter Dunbar.

  19. I agree, AK. I do wish Elstun Lauesen’s comment remained here. This was his initial statement: “All the Trump “Save Anchorage” types falsely equate the BLM protestors to terrorists…while Forest stands with racial equity .” Maybe Minneapolis burning and getting looted last night (again), all in the name of equity, changed his mind. Elstun, if you’re out there, please make your case how Forrest’s support of this behavior is good for Anchorage.

  20. I know of a relatively recent instance where some thugs attempted to strong-arm a law abiding citizen … who pulled a gun, and even physically restrained one of them when he tried to run.

    It just so happened that several officers, investigating an earlier disturbance, were right around the corner.

    While evidently following protocol, and every directive, the police seemed to interpret every aspect of the event in favor of the citizen.

    The Anchorage police apparently want to do what’s right by law abiding citizens … but they have to be “creative” so as not to trigger the powers that be.

    Perhaps we should consider being less hostile towards their union, for it appears that the union support is about all our officers have sometimes, between them and those who often get drunk on power.

  21. Elstun is a long-time regular leftist bad smell in the room in various political/social fora. He is graphic evidence of my statement about the “Boomer” generation; there are two basic types of us: those who went straight from school to government, education, journalism, arts and entertainment, or the non-profits and those who went into the private sector. If you went straight from school to government etc. you could keep the same stupid ideas you had sitting cross-legged on a dorm floor smoking dope in 1969 for the rest of your life. The rest of us got mugged by reality.

  22. With all due respect Mayor Dan, AO-37 was something that somebody who practices labor law rather than runs a program of labor relations would do, and the outcome was predictable. Nobody who knew anything about a program of labor relations would have taken away the only means of impasse resolution from police and fire employees. What are you going to do when you reach impasse and they can’t legally strike and you don’t have arbitration or some sort of dispute resolution mechanism available? I don’t think there is a politician alive with the courage to fire the police force if they illegally strike, and they know that. I’ve had that threat from the State Troopers union when the Legislature refused to fund an arbitrator’s award for them. We played “one is scared and the other is glad of it” with them and reached a voluntary agreement, but I frankly don’t know what I would have done or recommended if they had struck. Sure, I could have gone to court and maybe gotten and order for them to come back, but what is the Court going to do if they just give it their middle finger?

    Limiting labor agreements to three years with no evergreen clause is a good idea, even the AFL-CIO thought it was back in ’72 when they pushed their model public sector bargaining law, which became the bargaining law in New Jersey, Hawaii, and Alaska. A three year limit prevents, absent shenanigans, the unions from doing what they did to you. The MOA unions got a sweetheart deal out of Begich and the term was five years, so in, to them, the unlikely event a conservative mayor got a second term, they wouldn’t have to negotiate with him/her until the last year of a second term. Even bargaining under the State’s Public Employment Relations Act it is almost impossible to get anything done in a gubernatorial election year. In my time there I only saw it done twice; Gov. Cowper directed us to get an agreement with the unions because he had decided not to seek re-election and didn’t want the contracts to be an issue in the election and the Knowles crowd threw an agreement together that would have been more coherent if it had been copied from the men’s room wall in the expectation that the Legislature would reject it; all they wanted was a few thousand angry State employees singing songs and carrying signs and voting for Fran Ulmer. The Legislature saw through that and approved the dog’s breakfast contracts but didn’t give any additional funding for them. I got to sort that mess out under Gov. Murkowski.

    The right answer is to break up the old boys’ club of MOA labor relations and put them under the State law where there are other interested parties. In my time, MOA has never really had competent labor relations staff, or if the staff were themselves competent, they weren’t allowed to do their job. We only ever hired one whose background was MOA and we couldn’t get him out of State labor relations fast enough. The MOA unions, the MOA l/r staff, and the MOA board are very good at keeping things in the dark and the reality is the only party not at the bargaining table is the taxpayer. MOA should be put under PERA so other polisubs and the State have an interest in what they do, and when MOA does something stupid or corrupt, and it has done both, other parties can intervene before the Alaska Labor Relations Agency.

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