Let’s Flip the Assembly and Reclaim Anchorage

By Theresa Bird

Candidate filing period for Assembly, School Board and Service Area Board of Supervisors closed on January 30^th.  Anchorage, if you want lower taxes and conservative social policies, we have a phenomenal opportunity to flip our Assembly on April 7^th from a supermajority of radical Leftists to a conservative majority, and we shouldn’t let it go to waste.

The tax-and-spend policies enacted by “the Marxist Nine” – and good policies blocked by these same members – have driven the problems of crime, homelessness, and affordability into hyperdrive the last five years.  Residents are now afraid to hike and bike on our trails and use our public parks and library due to unchecked crime and vagrancy. Millions of dollars’ worth of materials purchased for Mayor Bronson’s navigation center are sitting at the Port housing sand.  But if you have the right connections, millions more tax dollars are being poured into the highly lucrative homeless industrial complex, with no lasting, positive impact on the chronically homeless.

How about a thriving, accessible Downtown?  Nope. Business owners and churches Downtown are forced to shell out tens of thousands paying for private security to keep their buildings intact and safe while crime goes unchecked (with the Berkowitz-era police station in the midst of it all).  That doesn’t include the police reports and insurance deductibles pastors and congregations shell out for the break-ins.  Yet property taxes continue to rise, new taxes are floated and voted without any debate (our Mayor is just full of surprises!), and mortgage and interest rates remain untenably high.

I once called Anchorage a dying city.  I hope not.  But if it is, the liberal Assembly is hastening its demise a la Jack Kevorkian.  Then again, Mayor LaFrance’s Big, Beautiful Assessment (except for Rich Folks Like Her) is probably the real intention of the Leftists: destroy the Middle Class and drive them out of Anchorage.  Those statistics are verified by the census numbers in the burgeoning Mat-Su Valley, and you can ask any builder whether they get better business, here or in the Valley.  Hint: it’s not Muldoon or Downtown.

While things look bleak at the moment, that could all change in a little over two months.  Assembly Members Jared Goecker, Scott Myers, and Keith McCormick are currently the only 3 reliable conservative members on a 12-member body.  Myers is not running for re-election, but his Eagle River seat is reliably conservative.  On the other hand, five seats held by Leftists are up for grabs in two months. If Anchorage voters fill these six seats with the strongest conservatives running, then the Assembly is suddenly a conservative majority of 8-4, and the city stands a decent shot at stemming the tide of regress.

Is Anchorage worth fighting for?  You bet.  And if you wish to remain in Anchorage raising your family, running your business, or living in relative peace and security, you’d better help get out the vote and flip the Assembly on April 7^th .  Here are my recommendations, and please share them with every registered voter you know and encourage them to vote:

If you live in District 1, North Anchorage: Vote conservative Justin Milette to replace term-limited Chris Constant. Website: miletteforalaska.com. (Nick Danger, Sydney Scout, and Max Powers are also running.)

If you live in District 2, Chugiak, Eagle River, JBER: Vote conservative Donald Handeland to replace conservative Scott Myers, who is not running again. Website: votehandeland.com. Handeland is endorsed by Goecker, Myers, and Jamie Allard, among others. (Kyle Walker is also running.)

If you live in District 3, West Anchorage: Vote conservative Brian Flynn to replace incumbent Anna Brawley. Website: flynnforanchorage.com. Flynn is endorsed by Goecker, Myers, Sami Graham, Mia Costello, among others.

If you live in District 4, Midtown: Vote conservative Dave Donley to replace term-limited Felix Rivera. Website: donleyforalaska.com. Donley is endorsed by Fred Dyson, Leigh Sloan, among others. (Janice Park and Kim Winston are also running.)

If you live in District 5, East Anchorage: Vote conservative Cody Anderson to replace incumbent George Martinez. Website: andersonforanchorage.com.

If you live in District 6, South Anchorage, Girdwood, Turnagain Arm: Vote conservative Bruce Vergason to replace incumbent Zac Johnson. Website: bruceforanchorage.com. (John Stiegele and Janelle Anausuk Sharp are also running.)

Anchorage desperately needs a sea change in order to flourish again. We have two months to make these candidates household names so nobody texts you asking, “who should I vote for?” when our ballots arrive in March. Please print this list, take a screen shot, and share it widely with your friends and neighbors. Know your district and your candidates.

Let’s seize the moment: get out the vote, flip the Assembly, and start to reclaim Anchorage.

Theresa Bird is a wife and homeschooling mother of nine. She earned her BA in Philosophy at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, NH. She lives in Anchorage.