Candidate Forrest Dunbar says Assembly ‘followed the charter’ in deciding against special election for mayor

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In a letter to potential donors, mayoral candidate Forrest Dunbar said that “With regards to the Mayor’s race, my colleagues have decided to follow the Charter and NOT set a Special Election. The election will occur in April, as planned.”

That’s not what the charter says, and the Assembly most certainly did not follow the charter, but instead the liberal majority made a decision that having a special election for mayor would be too costly and confusing, as it would come right in the middle of the regular mayoral election.

“A vacancy in the office of mayor shall be filled at a regular or special election held not less than 90 days from the time the vacancy occurs,” the Charter reads.

Mayor Ethan Berkowitz resigned effective Oct. 23, that means at some point in late January, Anchorage residents should, by law, be allowed to vote on a temporary mayor who would serve until July 1, when the mayor-elect from the regularly scheduled April 6 election takes office.

But that would crimp the term of Acting Mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson and the liberal Assembly majority, which did not want to lose power between January and July.

Dunbar is holding a teleconferenced Zoom fundraiser on Nov. 19 for his candidacy, and he has 100 Democrat heavyweights signed on as co-hosts, such as Assembly members Chris Constant, Suzanne LaFrance, Meg Zalatel, and Pete Petersen — all who voted to not have a special election for acting mayor.

Dunbar had recused himself from the vote because he is an announced candidate. He promises a revitalized downtown, better trails, and “embracing a sense of Indigenous place,” if he is elected.

21 COMMENTS

  1. Sure, Forrest. Trails are at the utmost importance to the residence of this city. Embrace a sense of an indigenous place? What in the hell does that mean? That is his platform? Forrest Dunbar has no substance. He gets a photo op with about every group he possibly can and then dashes off to the next one. Can someone enlighten me on anything he has actually accomplished? He will continue to run this city into the ground. Wake up everyone. You think things suck around here now, this clown will destroy any hope we have left.

  2. Once again he does not understand Law. ” Shall” means you will so maybe he should stop listening to the City Attorney because she must have gotten her Degree from a Cracker Jax Box

  3. As far as I’m concerned Anchorage has no mayor. If somebody is claiming to be the mayor thru an invalid process, and tries to impose mandates on the city, I will not regard them as valid.

  4. Anchorage is awash. First order on the agenda to rid ourselves of this blight is to do away with mail-in ballots.

  5. The assembly, not setting a special election is clearly an unlawful act. I do not expect liberal progressive democrats to follow the law, despots never do.

  6. Anchorage has delegated thinking to the unqualified and in Forrest’s case, the incapable. How hard is reading, really?

  7. Where are all the lawyers who are always suing somebody? This should be an easy win and the lawyer would be liked by the majority of anchorage residents.

  8. However, there exists no such method to reconstruct the meaning of 7.02 (B), wherein , it states, If a vacancy occurs on the assembly, the remaining members may appoint a qualified person to fill the vacancy within 30 days. The person appointed shall serve until the next regular or special election, at which time a successor shall be elected to serve the balance of the term. If the vacancy occurs more than six months before the next regular election, the assembly shall provide for a special election to fill the vacancy not more than 60 days after the occurrence of the vacancy. If less than 30 days remain in a term when a vacancy occurs, the vacancy shall not be filled. So, it would appear that, since the assembly has chosen to obfuscate the obvious language of the paragraph (C) of 7.02, they must have a special election to replace Quinn-Davidson.

  9. The only sound reason why Anchorage elected so many schmucks is its mail-in-ballots. Anywhere else still not using mail in ballots Dumbar and his colleagues dont stand a chance being elected without the aiding help using mail in ballots.

  10. Dunbar thinks the US Constitution is withered old document that needs be replaced with something shiny and more attractive, we need to replace Dunbar with someone who understands that “We the people” rule and they are just our instruments of direction.

    • I would argue that Alaska has been historically more liberal than it is now and has been infected by oil interests for decades. But sure, “the liberals” cause all the problems, then the state has been voting red for long enough that the current state of things is clearly caused by the conservatives.

      I realize you need someone to blame, but maybe not the libs?

  11. Time for the right-wing posse to pack their bags and get out of Alaska and the USA. Trumplicans are no good for Alaska or the other 49 states. Sensible voters proved this point November 3. Anchorage must be protected from the right-wing antichrist demon followers. Instead of donating I’d like to poop in your cup.

  12. He disgusted me about his plan to make this place be more Indigenous. Since the BLM movement, I am disgusted just for being considered separate by my Race. Every time I wear my beaded gloves and I have people admiring my work, I will start reminding them Alaska Native race is not a god stop singling me out, these gloves or that kuspuk or that mukluk or that parka is no different than picking up a coat or gloves from your local clothing department. There is nothing special about being born Alaska Native, Hispanic, Filipino, Russian, Samoan, Vietmenese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Italian, British, Turkish, Indian-India, Pakistani. When we are die, we leave our grandparent’s race behind and take only our color-less souls with us.

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