A dispute between the Anchorage Mayor’s Office and the majority of the Assembly over whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency will reimburse more non-disaster, shelter-related expenditures ended with the Assembly overriding the mayor’s veto of a $2.8 million appropriation the Assembly had made.
City Manager Amy Demboski said guidance from the State of Alaska was very clear, and was even put in all capital letters: There are sideboards on items that could be reimbursed with FEMA funds. She said there has to be a local emergency declared, and there is none at the present time.
Assemblywoman Jamie Allard warned her colleagues that the appropriation would end up on the back of Anchorage property taxpayers. It will not be reimbursed by the federal government, she warned.
City Attorney Mario Bird advised against taking the risk on the appropriations, backing up Demboski’s assessment that the expenditure won’t be reimbursed.
But that fell on deaf ears. On a vote of 9-3, the Assembly overrode the veto of Mayor Dave Bronson of a “loan” from the General Fund to the Covid fund of the $2.8 million for emergency sheltering costs due to Covid-19. The Assembly majority seems to think that associating the funds with Covid will somehow trick the federal government into reimbursing it. Voting against the veto override were Allard, Kevin Cross, and Randy Sulte.
Assemblyman Forrest Dunbar cautioned the Mayor’s Office, the city attorney, and the Assembly minority members against using language to describe the expenditure in such a way that it would become a “self-fulfilling prophecy” and result in the federal treasury not reimbursing the municipality.
In other words, Dunbar implied, he didn’t want anyone to say on the record that the Assembly is trying to defraud the federal government because that might cause FEMA to take notice and decide against reimbursement.
The liability for requesting a reimbursement falls on whoever signs the request for reimbursement from FEMA, and they can be held personally liable for the fraud. That likely means no one in the Administration will actually want to sign a request for reimbursement, since it would be such a great personal risk.
Except for a couple of folks, our assembly is slime.
They have absolutely no interest in making Anchorage livable for tax paying citizens
and are the antithesis of good governance.
I concur, excellent observation!
Fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, larceny, yeah I can see the headlines in a few weeks, sleep will be evasive to them now. LOL!
A few few people could go to jail over this, like 9.
Defrauding the Federal Government is a No-No!
The Leftist Assembly Members have finally dug their own grave….thank you for doing it for us.
Two America’s. Democrats don’t do time.
The vote to override the Mayor, override legal advice and override advice from State of Alaska must be the basis for recalls of the tyrants. Fraud is fraud and they must all be removed ASAP. Enough is enough! Taxpayers have been defrauded and we won’t participate in fraud against FEMA! Legal proceedings should start immediately!
There is a process for removing an Assembly member for criminal action or breach of public trust.
Step 1: Send your accusation and supporting rationale to the Assembly.
Step 2: The Assembly will decide whether the accusation has merit. If they determine your claim has no merit, the process ends.
.
This is codified in Muni law. The Assembly gets first crack at deciding if a claim against them is valid.
And Dunbar is a officer in America’s Army, looks to me like he needs some remedial ethics training,. This young man fails to meet standards?
Comrade Dunbar is an officer in Xiden’s Army and fully complies with its standards.
The assembly has effectively defrauded the Anchorage property owner to the tune $100 million. There is no way it will be reimbursed by FEMA, the idiots on the assembly know it. And they will attempt to blame the administration for not getting the money after they have BLOWN through it all. Then they gave the alcohol tax money to their buddies at United Way and to Zaletel’s employer to make sure she keeps getting the big checks. This is blatant colluding to defraud and the attorneys in this town are right in there with them or there would be some people going to jail, at this point.
More than half of the people voting for this are up for election next year. I think they can read the writing on the wall, and want to screw over the city as bad as they can before then.
The 9 have crossed that bridge, and burnt it down behind them long ago. The addiction of prideful arrogance eventually collects its dues.
The “angry man” Forrest Dunbar speaks of caution for what? He leads to destruction and mayhem for all of Anchorage to prove his points? What are those? That he is angry for not being elected Mayor or is the anger left over from the congress run against Don Young? Whichever it is, the borough has had to pay a price for voting against him and his position now is still as destructive as the talk sessions that led to his not having those jobs. What now? Lying to the Federal Government and making an effort to commit fraud or make it look like someone else is working that end out of fear. And he is in the National Guard? Do you want this man to be in a position to protect you or go to war for you? Think again, and this is the best time to take a real good look.
Now will City Attorney Mario Bird ask for a federal grand-jury investigation into possible RICO Act violations by the Leftist 9?
So the crooked 9 are at it again. They need to be held responsible for this money not the taxpayer who is already being overtaxed.
The Feds have been denying significantly better justified claims than this nationwide. But, for some reason our Assembly thinks they will get reimbursed? Sure… good luck with that.
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2023 taxes are set to rise because the Assembly is placing the wants of the homeless before the needs of the taxpayers. If you do not reach out to your neighbors and friends and tell them exactly what these measures are going to cost them, you are just as much at fault for LaFrance, Davidsons, Rivera, etc… getting re-elected as the people who voted for them.
The assembly nine are in YOLO mode.
will nothing happen with our Liberal Judges ? Answer NO
Sure. Why not? It’s only other peoples money.
The Biden govt won’t care. They are just furthering the Bolshevik agenda.
Time to follow the money trail. Who are the true beneficiaries of these misappropriated funds? If it really is the homeless, then they should already be set for life. Do the math. More is spent on the homeless per person per year than any of us have ever earned in the private sector. These people on the assembly are going to get caught with their hands in the cookie jar, hopefully before us taxpayers are not broke from their woke. Time for a federal investigation.
Very little I am sure…
Hopefully everyone who voted for this will be held personally responsible. It appears there are nine members of the assembly who are drunk with power. Thank God for the three who are kind and reasonable.
Anchorage assembly is a lawless, unethical, corrupt group of California type of democrats. They don’t belong in Alaska.
Perhaps a concerned citizen could alert FEMA about the misuse of these funds, just a thought.
The communists on the Anchorage Assembly are confident that the communists in Comrade O’Biden’s government won’t disallow the expenditures so long as they went to communist, excuse me, Democrat constituencies. Since that money had to be appropriated through State appropriation processes, if Dunleavy had a spine or had anyone competent working for him he could audit them at the State level and take action, but that ain’t going to happen.
So our dunbar is reading joyce meyer and gregory dickow by his statement? his words are straight from these two t.v evangelicals authors books on positive thinking. Speaking something aloud could make it affirmative, It could be also be superstition. Our leaders should be honest.
Petty and vindictive as the communist 9 are, Bronson would be better served at getting his agendas past them by using reverse psychology with them.
Whatever he wants, he just needs to tell that he does NOT want, and they will run him over as is their MO, and voila’……he gets what he wants.
Where are the lawyers? This is illegal.
The latest poll numbers show that Bronson is distrusted and disliked by Anchorage residents. He has appointed his political allies to position they are incompetent to fill. His staff have been caught making blatant lies. And his handling of the homeless situation has been an unmitigated disaster. So few people trust him.
July 20-25, 2022
589 sample Anchorage registered voters
+/-4.0% MOE
Fielded text-to-online
Positive 29%
Negative 48%
Neutral 13%
Never heard 11%
Rick did you text 589 of your closest face book friends? There are a considerable number of readers on this site, who would dispute your assertions and conclusions as assembly propaganda.
So true. Most Anchorage residents see how the executive responsibities are taken by the legislative branch. We not want nine executive mayor wanna’be’s deep diving into the departments as is now the case. The Assembly is not an executive! Why is everyone so damned stupid. Stop deforming the republic form of government, servants.
What’s the source? Oh I know, ADN? lol
This was a text message poll where people are typically invited to join and then participate in the poll. So, tell me, how many conservatives do you think did this? Or have the time/patience to participate in this type of stuff? Traditionally conservatives don’t participate so the actual audience is skewed. Unlike traditionally polling, where the numbers with the different groups can be adjusted to get a fair representation. These type of polls are traditionally very inaccurate because people ignore them. Now with that said, the left media, like ADN, is extremely biased and I don’t doubt they have clouded people’s perspectives. Where is the article in ADN discussing this issue and how this slight of hand is most likely going to fall on tax-payers to fund it? If the Bronson Administration had been the ones to do this, it would be all over the news. But then again, I suspect you are also one of those people that think our country is headed in the right direction under Biden.
Whose poll? The Assembly? Define the source or it is irrelevant.
The poll was conducted by Alaska Survey Research. Established and credible local pollster. But in todays polarized world, I understand that most of the readers of this blog won’t accept any information that challenges their preconceived ideas. When Bronson is crushed in the next election, I am sure ya’ ll will claim the election was rigged and fraudulent.
So I looked up Alaska Survey Research. In essence it is the rebranded Ivan Moore Research. Ivan Moore has done polling in AK for a long time with, in my opinion, middling success, as he generally over-samples the left. According to FiveThirtyeight ASR accuracy is about 44% and they give them a provisional B/C rating. Taking all of that into consideration I still dispute your assessment that”so few people trust him”. Your point would also have been better presented if you had not regurgitated useless talking points and listed your source from the beginning.
No pollster is perfect, and all polls have margins of error. But I don’t think you can explain away a 29% approval rating by questioning the poll, especially when it was conducted by a professional pollster. But it is fair to say that you should never rely on just one poll. Other evidence that most people in Anchorage do not like Bronson is the fact that his endorsed candidates for the assembly and the school board have not won (with few exceptions). The lack of trust results from well-documented instances when he and his senior staff have done things and then blatantly lied about doing them (I.e ordering the live feed of an assembly meeting to be cut off, ordering that the city stop flouridating water). I could go on, but I realize that those who read this blog aren’t interested in any views that contradict the far right views expressed here,
Ivan Moore is a communist, excuse me, Democrat shill who does push polls. What you meant to say is that most of the lefty idiots that you know don’t like Bronson; real people with real jobs and real property tax bills do. When you hang out with lefty punks, you become a lefty punk.
Rick, I understand that you have preconceived notions about readers on this blog and that this is important to you, but in this particular article the mayor’s approval is a total side show. Are we to understand that in your opinion the illegal and under-handed behavior of these 9 assembly members, is acceptable because Mayor Bronson in your opinion is a bad mayor?? What does one have to do with the other. You should be outraged that against legal advice and protest from the executive, “the 9” think they are above the law (and are probably secretly hoping that the mayor ends up holding the bag)
“If we pretend and deny it’s not reality, it’ll magically happen!”
The Politburo has to understand they have to kick money back to Biden through hunter for things like this to happen.
This should be NATIONAL NEWS…anything to stop A crime of fraud the taxpayers should be up in arms!!!! Yes, elections have consequences but can the voting taxpayers afford the cost of the 9????
It’s not news; it has been done in every communist, excuse me, Democrat run jurisdiction in the Country and the US isn’t at all interested in the waste, fraud, and abuse so long as it is providing walking around money for Democrats.
Time to report Fraud NOW
Time to get these “9” convicted and Dunbar dishonorably discharged.
“If you suspect fraudulent activity involving FEMA, you can report it to the FEMA Fraud Branch at: ‘[email protected], fax: (202) 212-4926 or write to: FEMA Fraud and Internal Investigation Division, 400 C Street SW Mail Stop 3005, Washington, DC 20472-3005.”
Want to do something contact Attorney General Treg R. Taylor
email: ‘[email protected]
1031 West 4th Avenue, Suite 200
Anchorage, AK 99501
tel: 907-269-5100
fax: 907-276-3697
Report the Defrauding of the Federal Government.
I would hope that FEMA would be interested in this. To ensure they are aware, As many of as possible should email the link to FEMA
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