Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance announced a series of key staffing updates Friday, including the appointment of Susanne Fleek-Green as her new chief of staff beginning in June.
Fleek-Green, held the same role under Mayor Ethan Berkowitz from 2015 to 2017, was state director for Democrat Sen. Mark Begich, and has, since those days, been the superintendent at Lake Clark National Park and Preserve for the National Park Service.
She replaces outgoing Chief of Staff Katie Scovic, who lasted less than a year in the role. Scovic came from Agnew::Beck, an Anchorage consulting firm that gets lots of contracts from the city to study things.
Another addition to the mayor’s team is news writer Emily Goodykoontz, who will be press secretary.
Goodykoontz comes from the Anchorage Daily News, where she has been covering City Hall since 2020. She was previously in Oregon, and her time at the ADN has been marked by the newspaper’s signature left-leaning slant in support of the progressive agenda, and against all conservatives.
Goodykoontz has essentially been doing public relations for LaFrance and the liberals on the Assembly since she arrived from Oregon. Now, it will be her official duty.
The ADN provides a proving ground for leftists in politics in Alaska. Former ADN writer Aubrey Weiner spent a brief time at the newspaper before going to work for Assemblyman Chris Constant and then Agnew::Beck, and then drifting over into running a leftist political group backed by dark money, the 907 Initiative, which attacks conservatives. He, too, came from Oregon; like Goodykoontz, he is a graduate of University of Oregon Journalism School. Former editorial page editor Tom Hewitt landed a job with Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Grier Hopkins, another hard leftist.
Also joining the mayor’s team is Diana Bo, who will become the staff assistant to the mayor in mid-April. Bo has worked in the Municipality’s Human Resources Department since 2023. She will be the first point of contact for visitors to the Mayor’s Office.
In September, Mayor LaFrance sent out a press release saying her office was fully staffed with the hires of Thea Agnew Bemben [principal at Agnew::Beck] as special assistant, Berett Wilber as creative director, and Ronni Weddleton as executive assistant. But apparently the office was not “fully staffed,” as these new hires indicate.
I was a hard, hard leftist long before any of these cub reporters found work at ADN. ADN even got rid of me because I was so far left. Now, I just go to my own blog and spit out any damn thing I want. Being a communist isn’t such a bad gig either. I just count on the meager donations from my far left readers. It keeps the beverage shelf stocked and that’s the only thing that actually makes me smile.
Good for you, Dermutt. That’s what Alaskans need more of today, another commie Democrat blogger who spews propaganda out to their best friends in hopes of agitating the electorate and causing hate amongst the population. Cheers to you and your bottle.
How did Anchorage turn into Portland? Sad to watch!
Perhaps by design. I don’t know, but I’m almost fed up enough to sell the house and move back down south with the snakes and natural vermin. At least the weather is more bearable there. Yes I know, tornados and hurricanes, but I wouldn’t be freezing my butt off for 7 months of the year. The State of Mississippi is phasing out the state income tax, and the cost of living is much lower. I lived there for the first 14 years of my life, so I know what to expect with the weather, etc. My sis in California said “you can get an upscale penthouse and air conditioner and enjoy the beautiful gulf coast”. SNORT!
Elections and left coast migration. Mail in voting – cheat by mail, messy voter rolls and the good ol’ rigged choice voting. All pushed and embraced by the Anchorage left. Add in the voter apathy and we have what we have.
Great summary. That pretty much tells it: Liberal Marxists: Mayor, 9 of 12 Assembly, 5 of 6 school board seats, 1 inexperienced Woke ASD superintendent. The transformation is nearly complete.
“Suzanne Green-Fleece” is more apt.
A radical leftist fifth columnist couldn’t be better named.
As for Emily Goodykoontz — that choice is hardly surprising — the tight and incestuous relationship between radical leftist extremist politicians like LaFrance, and the radical leftist extremist corporate media like the Anchorage Daily Worker, is too well known to bear further comment.
John Weddleton divorced his wife and married Ronnie.
Ronnie, who had her own small business, needed a good (government) job
John, a small business man & more of a centerist, played ball w/ the progs.
Nice club to be in …….. nepotistic though.
Sharon (Weddleton) Lechner here:
Ronni is a great lady. Gov’t needs more like her.
This is the person whom you have chosen to lead you Anchorage? This woman could not lead her way out of a paper bag. Look at her.
Check the bios of these folks, including Mayor LaFrance, and ask yourselves where the dark money to fund their progressive agenda (other than the taxpayer) is originating. I use the word “agenda” as singular because they seem focused to destroy this once lovely city where I’ve lived for 65 years. The creep is getting “creepier”.
Looks like the best crew for ramming the sales tax through and throwing a monkey wrench into Eaglexit.
I am seeing a serious lack of diversity on the Mayor’s staff. Or is only a problem when there aren’t enough women? Is there a national shortage of beta males?
Fleek-Green is on the Chugach Electric Board of Directors. Would her as LaFrance’s Chief of Staff constitute a conflict of interest given the Muni’s dabbling in renewables, government to government relations with the Eklutna tribe, and AWWU’s Director on the Board overseeing the Eklutna power project? Maybe someone ought to file a conflict of interest complaint with both the Muni and Chugach like they did to force the sadly departed Chris Birch off the Chugach Board when he was elected to the Assembly so many years ago.
Will it be successful? Who knos, given the current view of conflicts of interest we’ve seen with Meg Zaletel and homelessness in recent years? But someone ought to ask the question. Cheers –
Goodness! Can anyone tell me what mayor ‘do-little’ has done to help Anchorage so far? Crime, homelessness, businesses closing, and out migration all are the same- or worse!
The far leftists/Marxists have discovered how to solve the housing crisis.
Drive all conservatives out of Anchorage with higher & more taxes and their agendas…