Fairbanks leftists seek to quash free speech of conservatives through bogus ethics complaints

By SUZANNE DOWNING

The use of ethics complaints as free speech suppression is taking place in the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly, where efforts to stifle the opinions of conservative members are underway. Think of it as ethics “law fare.”

At the July 25 Assembly hearing, the Assembly will take up an ethics complaint brought against Assemblywoman Barbara Haney by pro-Hamas activist Kristin Schupp, who is the wife of school board member Bobby Burgess.

The ethics allegation involves the words and opinions regarding an actual official position of the borough Assembly.

Borough code is clear on what is an official statement of the Assembly in 3.04.130. It states that (A) The official position of the Assembly is that taken as a result of debate and vote, with the prevailing majority forming the official position.  Provision (B) states that Views and Opinions of individual members of the Assembly are not the official views of the Assembly.  

Thus, anytime an individual is giving an opinion, it is simply that, an opinion. One would think that this is particularly so if it is in an opinion column that is clearly labeled, “opinion.” 

An opinion column by Assemblywoman Haney in the local newspaper apparently spurred the complaint.

It started back on Feb. 20, when a column by Haney was published by the Fairbanks Daily News Miner. It referred to the events around the vote for a special election to raise the tax cap and spend more taxpayer money. In that vote, Assemblywoman Liz Reeves Ramos cited capital projects, such as crumbling stairs at Lathrop High School and asbestos contamination at Tanana Middle School as projects that needed to be addressed and required raising the tax cap.

The projects had not been vetted by the Assembly, nor were they part of the Capital Improvement Project list. Tanana Middle School asbestos abatement was suppose to be part of a remodel project a few years ago and Assemblymember Haney wondered how that could still be an issue. 

Haney further asked why there was no stairwell replacement program at Lathrop High School in the Capital Improvement Project list, and if the stairs were indeed faulty, why were classes still being held at Lathrop. 

The Assembly then voted to hold the Special Election on May 7, and the proposal was resoundingly rejected by voters of the borough.

The story does not end there. 

According to the Schupp complaint, the column written by Haney in the News Miner failed to use the specific phrase “in my opinion as a private citizen,” in an opinion column and did not clearly state she was not writing on the behalf of the Assembly. 

Borough code 3.04.130 is very clear: “Views and opinions of individual members of the assembly are not the official position of the assembly.” Haney wrote the opinion piece from her private email and signed it, “Barbara Haney, North Pole, Alaska.” The newspaper is the entity that added that she was an member of the Assembly.  

By borough code, the matter should never have even been referred to the ethics committee by the borough clerk.  Curiously, a part of borough code that is aimed at public testimony, 6.12.010(O)(2) was applied to the opinion writer even though this had never been done before.

In a subsequent editorial by Assemblywoman Haney regarding the animal shelter, she began the piece with “In my opinion as a private citizen.”  Schupp then wrote a response:

“In Ms. Barbara Haney’s recent community perspective she states that she is commenting in her capacity as public citizen. However, Ms. Haney is still an elected official on the FNSB assembly. Which means that she should still act as would be fitting for a representative, with decorum and truthfulness. Ms. Haney however seems to relish being dramatic and bombastic. She repeatedly demonstrates that she is either willfully ignorant to facts or willfully misleading the public. Both are unacceptable in her position,” Schupp wrote in the Fairbanks News Miner in May.

Schupp is intent on silencing Haney.

The Ethics Committee, with new members appointed by Presiding Officer Savannah Fletcher (now running for state Senate), determined that Haney violated borough ethics, but recommended no punishment.  However, Haney will now have that ethics violation on record. 

Under the new interpretation of borough code given by the ethics committee, several current members of the Assembly have also failed to include the “in my opinion as a private citizen” language, and that none of the training materials of Assembly members included coverage of the need to use that language in opinion pieces as well as in public testimony. The Assembly majority can impose any punishment they want, and the seven member majority will do as they wish. 

But it’s clear that only Haney was selected for enforcement of this provision and is selected for ethics violation. 

Presiding Officer Fletcher could have chosen to leave the matter and move on to matters that are important to citizens. Instead, Fletcher decided to give the phony charge oxygen at the Assembly in order to give Schupp and her allies an opportunity to bash Haney publicly.

This is the same Savannah Fletcher who prosecuted Rep. David Eastman and attempted to remove him from office, and the same Savannah Fletcher who prosecuted Sen. Lora Reinbold and who ridiculously litigated the Mat-Su library book review case. 

Ultimately at issue is the right of free speech.

Under the recent Supreme Court decision of Linke v Freed, elected officials do not lose their rights to the first amendment.  Another Supreme Court decision, Houston College, also codifies the right of public officials to write, publish editorials and opinion pieces. That ruling clarified that censure and other measures are reserved for actions at the dais, and not for expressions of public sentiments. 

While it may be that stating something is an opinion is appropriate for testimony before a board or commission or press releases, it is pretty clear that opinion pieces in an opinion column in the opinion section of the newspaper are simply that, opinions.  

Members of the public can submit comments on this matter at the next borough assembly on July 25. Emails can be sent to [email protected] or one can testify in person or electronically. 

To testify, a person can sign up by calling the clerk at 907-459-1401, sign up at the assembly chambers, or can sit through the Thursday evening testimony and wait for an opportunity to speak.