Anchorage Municipal Attorney Anne Helzer penned a letter to the Assembly, in which she said she may have to rescind her “open door” policy with the Assembly after a meeting on April 4 in which a member of the Assembly behaved unprofessionally.
The letter said it was about “Expectation of Respectful Behavior Toward Municipal Employees by the Assembly and Outside Counsel.”
“This letter concerns behavior by an Assembly Member and outside legal counsel to the Assembly that occurred in the Municipal Attorney’s Office on Thursday, April 4, 2024. I am writing to let you know the effect of this inappropriate and unprofessional behavior in our office, how similar disrespectful and unsafe behavior affects our Assistant Municipal Attorneys and our staff employees, and how it has diminished trust in the Assembly and Municipal government,” the city attorney wrote.
“During that meeting, disrespectful and unprofessional behavior was displayed within the Municipal Attorney’s Office. This behavior included name calling, grimacing, yelling through the halls of the Municipal Attomey’s Office, and baseless personal attacks on an Assistant Municipal Attorney and on the department overall. This behavior was an apparent attempt to coerce an Assistant Municipal Attorney to comply with demands attempting to define the parameters of the visit. These tactics failed to intimidate the Assistant Municipal Attorney when she held firm to her ethical and professional duties in the face of this intimidation,” the letter said.
“On April 4, the Assembly provided our department with four hours notice that Assembly leadership, Assembly outside counsel, and Assembly counsel would arrive at 1:00 pm the same day to view confidential legal documents in our conference room. We accommodated this late-noticed demand for departmental time and resources and reprioritized other obligations. However, the conduct during that meeting lacked professional decorum, displayed significant disrespect, and created an environment that caused a Municipal employee to feel intimidated, belittled, and shaken in the workplace. Due to this behavior, I must reconsider my ‘open invitation’ to Assembly Leadership and their outside counsel to visit the Municipal Attorney’s office or meet with staff.”
“The conduct I witnessed yesterday was unprecedented, and I cannot allow it to happen again,” Helzer wrote.
“Accordingly, I am considering that future visits from Assembly leadership and their outside counsel take place only afier the Department of Law has been provided with adequate notice. An assigned Assistant Municipal Attorney will be present and will remain for all visits to this office. If Assistant Municipal Attorneys are invited by Assembly members or their counsel for meetings occurring outside of the Municipal Attorney’s office, Assistant Municipal Attorneys may bring additional members of the Municipal Attomey’s Office with them if they elect to do so.”
This is what happens when your city is run by Californian politicians.
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This is what happens when your city is run by demonically possessed politicians
That too.
Good for her to call them out on their BS! There are some assembly members that think they are the dictator of Anchorage.
Yes and who was it.
They think they are godly but they are just wannabes.
Toughen up. The attorneys are leaders. Democrats at war to continue their domination and possess land what Republicans couldn’t know how to do before they compromised with Southern Democrats for their support of Rutherford in exchange or sacrifice withdrawing federal troops from the South.
True. That compromise ended federal troops in the south and ushered in Jim Crow, a disgrace!
This is asinine babbling. Plus most of it wildly off topic babbling.
MA, reading your own postings?
P.s. Not Rep Allard, Republican a leadership act like they never been yelled at, bullied, ridiculed, criticized before. Lucky for all of you that you had “perfect” family and school lives that the two attorney’s would respond with shaking, crying, shock, and mental paralysis. The response depending on the preceding situation and person you either stand your ground ready for a fight or you ignore them. sometimes good to fight and sometimes your silence humiliates the bully. In a city that is majority blue that means control for Democrats still isn’t complete which they are working toward total dominance, the still residing Republicans, Conservatives, and Christians need to be tougher and smarter under these kind of bullying situations.
furthermore, their bullying and abusing tactics used doesn’t matter when their small voting side are the majority voters turning out because Conservatives, Republicans, and Christians don’t bother to vote. They complain whining “I don’t trust mail in ballots, I don’t trust R c v, its all corrupt, and Jesus is returning therefore I don’t need to vote.” Democrats today can act however they want when our side don’t vote.
Ignorant comments that have nothing to do with the subject in the MRA post.
Do you expect your rulers to act like adults? Know your place, serfs.
This piece rings hollow without names of the miscarent assembly members and their counsel.
DS – I am in Canada and am working remote. I’ll look into it when I get back. – sd
Thank you, Suzanne!
To keep it Professional names should not be disclosed through a public communication forum. If you want to know who then you should submit a public disclosure request to the Municipality Attorney’s Office. There is no need to drag this out through public display. This should and has to be keep Professional or the Assembly will continue to act like babies why should the Municipality Attorney step to their level and carry this on i public display.
SC – In this case, someone on the Assembly leaked the document, and the municipal attorney did not. She wanted it to be handled professionally, according to MRAK sources. – sd
I can’t wait to hear the other side of the story, Lord knows that you’ll never print it though.
You must be either 1. A Democrat or 2. New here and have never seen or been to an Anchorage assembly meeting.
Agree!
Been saying this about the assembly for years now, it’s about time someone stood up to those clowns on the assembly and their accomplices.
Who was the assembly member? Sounds like ole’ Constant?
I could say a lot more, but folks should understand that most of the members of the Assembly know very little about this community other than the names of people in various unions, environmental groups and assorted other special interests. Fundamentally, most on the Assembly care little about the future of Anchorage, other than the need to be woke and Left. These are not good people. That said – was it Constant, Rivera or Zalatel? Or maybe all of them?
Good for her! Its about time somebody calls out the assembly on the toxic environment THEY are creating and, as usual, are blaming on the administration and staff.
Wonder which one of these communists lost it?
And why?
Disrespectful, unprofessional, and inappropriate behavior? Name calling, yelling, intimidation? This is just another normal day with Democrats.
And they don’t like it when the assembly meets and people get angry with them they are thrown out.
This is a harbinger of what is coming as the Assembly descends into it’s dystopian universe. I have been here almost 30 years now and it is sad to see what was once a friendly and welcoming city collapse into the progressive cesspool.
Were you here in the 80s? The former city of Anchorage was one of the best places to live in America.
i was and agree with you. AK in general was a better place back then. people still did the stop and ask, “do you need assistance” by the side of the road. much more civilized place.
seems normal human communication supplemented by crass pollitcal name calling, lacking an educational component in the reasoning skills
Think things are bad now, imagine what’s coming if Assembly members succeed in installing their former leader, LaFrance, in the mayor’s office.
Absolutely correct. And, with only 30% of Anchorage voting next month, the teachers’ union, labor unions, state, federal and municipal employees, the “non-profits” and all their families and friends will swing the election for her. She’ll promise to promote their pay raises, increase their numbers and raise taxes.
If all the registered voters in Anchorage voted, Bronson would walk away with it.
But, sadly, most of us are too lazy.
With a leftist mayor and a radical assembly, we’ll soon be indistinguishable from Seattle and Portland.
With respect, Steelhead 68, how can anyone outside the Assembly-employed Vote Counting Club be certain about how many voted or for whom they voted, especially when “… nearly 10% of all ballots… sent out to Anchorage voters for the April 2 citywide election have been returned to election headquarters as ‘undeliverable ballots.'”?
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(alaskawatchman.com/2024/04/04/anchorage-election-official-says-nearly-20000-undeliverable-ballots-have-returned-so-far/)
Anchorage Assembly is truly the definition of human excrement.
Hence the name “assembly”, which consists of “ass” plus “-embly” (meaning “representative of”).
That’s why they support it (excrement) in the camps, on our streets & in front of our children.
I did ask for a little train to run it around in circles thinking perhaps in error it would bring joy to them and tourists alike thus adding an accoutrement to the neighborhoods. But no! They wouldn’t do one thing to improve the neighborhood.
That hardly seems fair to excrement. At least it serves a function.
It sounds like a couple/several people are off their MEDS and can’t handle the stress that comes along with their responsibilities and IT IS NOT THE MAYOR!!. They think they’re the ones that’s suppose to control everyone else and is to bow to them.. I think they’re learning the HARD WAY, They have their duties and the MAYOR has control over HIS duties. The Assembly does not outrank the Mayor in their duties.
Looks like the assembly member took a page out of the jr high school kids from Clark,,,, bullying it works!!!! NOT, if we don’t put an end to this it’s only going to get worse.
The City Assembly has been one of a bullying mentality for quite some time and it carries forward with all they do. It is time to get an Assembly that represents the majority of the City and not just a certain segment of the population.
Look out Fairbanks! That same behavior will soon be here as well.
Has she ever seen an Assembly meeting? They act like that all the time. This behavior should not come as a surprise to her.
Another GREAT reason to support the emancipation of the Chugach Regional Borough or Eaglexit as it is currently known. Educate emancipate liberate and donate to the cause. Making Anchorage smaller for our collective good!!!
Drafting a letter like that w/out naming anyone in particular is a weak response.
The way you do it is to state that on x date a short notice meeting was requested. In attendance were…
And then say whatever’s on your mind.
When you’re dealing w/ societal detritus don’t expect to make progress by making vague assertions. When a shot is fired across your bow it is critical that you respond in kind. Without consequences there’s no accountability. Pull on the big girl panties, Heizer. Do not allow a real estate agent to be disrespectful of the effort you’ve taken to educate yourself in contrast to the effort he’s taken to avoid same. Let’s roll.
There is no reason to step down to their level just to try and make a point. If anything the Municipality Attorney should or maybe has sent notice to the Alaska Attorney General on this matter. By getting into a slugfest in the eyes of the public does nothing more than embolden the terrible Assembly to react and start slinging mud. Better to keep it professional.
These people are dirt bags. Complete bafoons. Good job Anchorage how about you elect a few more.
Alaska is the most unprofessional state in the whole USA and duno where this red neck behavior came from. Even the white folk are getting rough around the edges. It’s everywhere not only in the assembly. The homeless this spring look like they just walked out of the Apocalypse. I mean it was a remarkably cold and dark winter maybe everyone needs time to thaw out. 💁🏻♀️
Just about the nicest thing you can say about the assembly is that it, with an exception or two, is a bunch of jackasses.
“I am writing to let you know the effect of this inappropriate and unprofessional behavior in our office”. This statement made me think of the disruptive and juvenile behavior in the Assembly chambers by the right wing wackos regarding masks and naughty words in the library.
My money is on Felix. He’s an idiot.
The assembly feuding with the prosecutor’s office behind closed doors is probably just another thing we get a hint of and never hear about again. Here in Anchorage, shadows hold sway and truth is a rare commodity.
It WAS Rivera. And he hates being called a homosexual.
Anne is such a gem, truly the right person to be running the Municipality Dept of Law. Kudos to Mayor Bronson for recruiting her. She has grown into the job beautifully and serves Anchorage with dignity and grace.
Perhaps some assembly persons feelings may have actually have been hurt again!. Oh dear! Call the cops and imprison someone immediately.
Harms and fouls are our form of specialty government.
She’s whining because he was……wait for it…….. “grimacing”!!?. My don’t we have a little snowflake here.
I guess you didn’t read the whole paragraph or you just ignored it, like most liberal snowflake. So here is the rest of the story:
“During that meeting, disrespectful and unprofessional behavior was displayed within the Municipal Attorney’s Office. This behavior included name calling, grimacing, yelling through the halls of the Municipal Attorney’s Office, and baseless personal attacks on an Assistant Municipal Attorney and on the department overall.”
Why is there no mention on this news site of the new chief?
You apparently missed the story. – sd
Mama o man put some Lafrance glasses on her and run her for mayor!