Mayor Dave Bronson on Friday filed a lawsuit against the Anchorage Assembly, asking for a court judgment about an Anchorage Municipal Code that prohibits the mayor from firing someone on his staff — the chief equity officer.
Mayor Bronson did fire Clifford Armstrong. Armstrong was hired by former unelected acting mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson, after the adding of the position of chief equity officer was approved by the Assembly on the request of former Mayor Ethan Berkowitz in the summer of 2020. The code says the Assembly must agree with the decision to fire the person who holds this position, and the Assembly majority does not agree with Armstrong’s dismissal.
Bronson’s team maintains the municipal code is invalid and not binding and that its passage was a breach of the principles of separation of powers, which is a fundamental doctrine of the Alaska Constitution nd the Anchorage Municipal Charter. Bronson says the Mayor’s Office has authority over people in the Executive Branch, while the Assembly says it has carved out this position to be different from others.
“Despite repeated attempts to resolve this matter without the need for litigation, recently Assembly Member actions show that judicial intervention is the only option. Like other executive mayoral appointees, the Chief Equity Officer can be dismissed at will for any reason or no reason at all. Attempts by the Assembly to insulate previous administration’s mayoral executive appointees with ‘for cause’ limitations and durational term limits clearly violate the Charter and Constitutional separation of powers doctrine. This Assembly has exceeded their authority, and are attempting to take power from the Executive Branch and control personnel matters, which are clearly an administrative function. I will not cede the authority of the executive branch to the legislative branch; the Assembly does not control both branches of government,” Bronson said.
The lawsuit was not unexpected. Armstrong stopped showing up for work shortly after Bronson became mayor. The chief equity officer position is one of the many new expenditures of the Anchorage Assembly that has put the city on the downgrade list from bond-rating agencies. Hired out of Tacoma, Washington, Armstrong made more than $115,000 a year and was supposed to develop and implement a Critical Race Theory policy to redistribute power in the city workforce to those seen as not seen as holding enough power in municipal jobs. His job deliverables were somewhat undefined and subjective, but he reported directly to the mayor, who was given no authority to replace him by the leftist Assembly.
Bronson replaced Armstrong with Uluao “Junior” Aurnavae in October. The Assembly does not recognize the Samoan-American as the legitimate chief equity officer and Assemblyman Chris Constant said on the record that his hiring was intended by Bronson to sow discord among racial groups in Anchorage.
Shortly after being fired, Armstrong published a cartoon of himself being fired by the Ku Klux Klan. Armstrong has since sued the Municipality for what he says is an illegal termination of his employment.
The Assembly liberal majority is on Armstrong’s side: “We do not recognize Mr. Armstrong’ s dismissal as complete nor valid and are advised by Assembly Counsel that it is not legally complete,” wrote Assembly Chair Suzanne LaFrance and Vice Chair Chris Constant in October.
