Anchorage activists Dustin Darden and David Nees today completed legal filings on two recall petition applications that were denied by the Anchorage Municipal Clerk.
The two are challenging the rejection of their request for petitions to recall Assembly members Austin Quinn-Davidson, who is now the acting mayor, and Kameron Perez-Verdia.
“The recall rights in the Alaska Constitution are a basic right and the clerk has infringed on it,” Nees said. “The Constitution states that all political power resides in the people.”
One of the main gists of the recall allegations is that both Quinn-Davidson and Perez-Verdia were derelict in their fiduciary responsibility as it pertained to the federal CARES Act funds the municipality received.
Darden and Nees allege that Kate Vogel, the Municipal Attorney, advised the Assembly how to do a workaround of federal prohibitions on spending CARES Act funds.
“The Inspector General was very specific on how the money could be spent, and it had to be spent according to the guidelines (See exhibit 3). Assembly member Quinn-Davidson in conjunction with other members decided to reallocate the funds to skirt the prohibition. They revised the Ordinance to funnel the funds into the Police and Fireman Reserve and use the reserve money to purchase the buildings. (See exhibit 4)”
According to the complaint, the courts have numerous times stated that the review of the grounds for a recall is to be construed liberally. In this aspect, the complaint cites the case against Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai by the Recall Dunleavy Committee, when Judge Eric Aarseth concluded:
“… noting that the recall is a political process and that prior recall cases show that the current claims are sufficient to get the issue in front of voters.” As for the damage done by the governor’s actions, Aarseth said that’s something for the voters to weigh if the recall reaches a vote.
“This is a political process. Neither side, as you would be at trial, is limited to a particular day or a certain number of hours or even limited to evidentiary rules as to what they can present when they campaign, if the recall ballot is eventually issued. In that campaign, they have the ability to explain to the public what the allegations and defenses mean, and what the evidence is or the lack thereof to support each sides’ position. The point is, is that it really only takes a single sentence with a few words to adequately put a person on notice of the conduct that is being alleged.”
According to Nees, the failure to include the implications from Recall Dunleavy v. State of Alaska in their review is a fatal flaw in the advice given to the Municipal Clerk by Municipal Attorney Vogel.
“The attorney also relied on the current, and probably unconstitutional review process” for the Municipality of Anchorage, Nees wrote.
Darden is the activist who the Anchorage Assembly Chair Felix Rivera had hauled out of the Assembly Chambers on Tuesday in handcuffs. The Municipality of Anchorage had the police arrest him and is charging him with trespassing during a public meeting; he has an arraignment date of Jan. 12.
Case numbers 3AN-29-09618 and 3AN-20-09636 have been assigned to Anchorage Superior Court Judges Gregory Miller and Josie Garton.
Nees, a retired math teacher who is acting as his own counsel, split the cases into two to prevent the Municipality from objecting that the cases are combined, thereby further delaying the recall effort and frustrating the applicants, but the cases will likely be joined into one by the court, as they are identical.
They need to do some “judge shopping” and get Garton off the case as she will most certainly be a blockade to the recall effort.
How do you file trespassing charges on an individual during a Public Meeting at a Public location i.e. Public Library
That was my thought!
Ha ha! Indeed, Steven, I had been wondering that myself..
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The cheating, lies, chicanery and generally ethics-free behavior of radical and intolerant leftists are utterly boundless. If these tyrants keep pushing more and more people, they will eventually start getting more and more extreme action in response.
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable”.
— John F. Kennedy
Everyone on the municipal assembly, aside from Crystal Kennedy and Jaime Allard, should not only be recalled, they each deserve a LONG prison sentence for their multiple crimes against the people of this municipality.
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To say that I have nothing but utter contempt for our municipal government would be to understate my feelings towards these criminals, tyrants and traitors.
How is this not a conflict of interest for Vogel. In reviewing the cause of the petition Vogel is giving her opinion on the legality of her own legal advice. Under the code of ethics Vogel should have recused herself. Honestly the city should have hired outside legal council since no attorney in the Municipal Attorney’s Office is without conflict since the issue at question is the legality of the Office’s own legal advice.
This needs to go to he bar immediately. Vogel should have to answer to the bar why this is not an ethics violation.
Tom, you are absolutely correct. In the real world, this would be already happening.
Excellent points, Tom!
Because Anchorage is a Banana Republic. The law doesn’t matter anymore.
Happy Anchorage? This is what you voted for.
Really Avenger?
Mail in balloting voted for this! Just like pandemic fear promoted statewide mail in balloting (re: late counts/sans the verifying signature – authorized judicially) = a liberal state legislature = fraudulent outcome. Consequences few are strong enough to fight. But for those who do, God’s speed. And those who hide their heads in the sand thinking this will all just go away if they don’t pay attention… your wake up call is on hold, not hanging up until you pick up.
How can they have ethics if they are Democrats ?
If leftist extremists (who now constitute nine of the 11 members of our municipal assembly) did not have double standards, they would have no standards at all.
Tom, you are absolutely correct. In the real world, this would be already happening.
Suzanne, please use that masked photo of (badly) Acting Mayor every time you need to include a photo of her — it minimizes the trauma inflicted on your readers.
Yes the city attorney should not be in this discussion. She is conflict of interest big time.
Don’t think this one will fly. I don’t even see a copy of the original recall petition within the lawsuit filing. In fact I can’t find a copy of the petition anywhere on-line, including reference to it from this source (MRA). All we have are journalistic opinions on how to interpret the petition. I’m pretty sure Dardin/Nees are misrepresenting Recall Dunleavy court opinion in their lawsuit. Tate court’s interpretation referred to allowing broad sources of factual information and proof regarding a supposed violation of the law. But the petition still had to describe “in particular in not more than 200 words” a “specific illegal act in order to give the defendant a chance to understand and defend against the accusation.”
And that lack of specificity, that “particular alleged act is no so impermissibly vague that the official cannot respond” is probably what the recall petition is lacking. Any decent lawyer would have seen that flaw a mile away. But, again, we don’t know because its not available for review.
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