On Tuesday, the Anchorage Assembly majority rejected a combat veteran who is a 25-year union member and former local union board president. Todd Peplow had been nominated by Mayor Dave Bronson to the Anchorage Employee Relations Board.
Peplow had supported Bronson for mayor in 2021, while the AFL-CIO has supported Forrest Dunbar. In 2020, Dunbar and the AFL-CIO lost that election, and on Tuesday night they exacted their event. Dunbar spoke against Peplow. So did the president of the AFL-CIO.
Peplow told the Assembly that “This is 100 percent politics,” retribution for his support for Bronson.
“Todd Peplow is a good man who has spent his life defending our country, and advancing the rights of workers and union members. His character and name were drug through the mud for purely political reasons. Actions like those taken last night do nothing but discourage the public from participating in their government, and demonstrates the unwillingness of the Assembly majority to work with my Administration on simple issues like filling volunteer boards and commissions,” Mayor Bronson said.
Bronson said that it’s getting increasingly difficult to find people to serve on boards and commissions because of the viciousness of the Anchorage Assembly confirmation process. The Assembly is controlled by extremist progressives, while Bronson is a conservative.
