At a hastily called meeting to address Mayor Dave Bronson’s veto of anti-free speech Anchorage Ordinance 2021-117, the Anchorage Assembly on Friday voted 9-2 to overturn the veto and uphold the ordinance. Voting against the override were free-speech champions Chugiak-Eagle River Assembly members Jamie Allard and Crystal Kennedy.
The ordinance prevents people from using their three minutes at the podium to conduct a silent protest and gives greater authority to remove people from meetings to the chair of the Assembly.
The leftist majority has had a hard time controlling the public at its meetings because of the strong disagreements that the public has with the majority members now known as the “Marxist Nine.” The Assembly, in response, is now clamping down on free speech rights, including barring what people may bring into the meetings with them. Things like American flags, for instance, which the chair of the Assembly now has the power to deem as dangerous or distracting.
“Mayor Bronson supports the Assembly’s right to manage their meetings,” the mayor’s spokesman said in a statement. “But they don’t have the right to infringe on citizens constitutional rights including their right to petition their government. The mayor supports the First Amendment, which gives every citizen the right to address their government.”
The Assembly also had something to say in defense of themselves:
“This ordinance is a simple and straightforward codification of longstanding procedures that ensure order and safety at Assembly meetings. It is critical to the functioning of the legislative branch of our municipal government that the Assembly Chair has the tools and resources needed to effectively run meetings,” said Chair Suzanne LaFrance in a statement. “The Assembly rules, the Anchorage Charter and the Anchorage Municipal Code provide an abundance of opportunities for public input, notice and transparency. The changes in this ordinance do not infringe on those important rights of citizens to speak up and access their government. What is does do is prevent actions that can disrupt the business of our municipality and put participants at risk for their safety.”
At the opening of the Special Meeting, Vice Chair Chris Constant said the mayor’s concerns about First Amendment issues are unwarranted. “The ordinance cleans up several contradictions; makes the Assembly’s rules more transparent and user-friendly; and the vast majority of its necessary updates are non-controversial.”
The leftists on the Assembly have shown a pattern of using their rules selectively against members of the public on numerous occasions over the past two years, when the public suddenly took a greater interest in what the Assembly was doing.
