The ANCHORAGE DAILY PLANET
The level of political pettiness on the Anchorage Assembly is disheartening.
Take, for instance, Downtown Assemblyman Chris Constant’s quick move Friday to have the Assembly finally remove Anchorage’s controversial and burdensome mask mandate.
Why did he do it? Why, to head off Eagle River Assemblywoman Jamie Allard’s amendment, already on the table, to do just that. Allard battled the mask mandate for months, often alone, and Constant, working for months on the Forrest Dunbar for Mayor campaign, made the move to ensure she could not take credit for the mandate’s demise, MustReadAlaska.com reports.
Constant was caught on a hot mic saying, “I just didn’t want to give Jamie the power,” the website reports.
He did not offer the motion because it was the right thing. Or because the public was lining up to pressure the Assembly. Or even that the Centers for Disease Control was abandoning mask mandates. Nope. He offered it to deny Allard any credit.
We get the government we deserve.
Disheartening, indeed.
