At tonight’s special Anchorage Assembly meeting, Acting Mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson will ask the Assembly to approve the allocations for the $51.1 million in American Recovery Plan funds. The unelected mayor appears to be wanting to cut Mayor-elect Dave Bronson out of the process. Bronson, who appears to have won the 2021 mayoral election, won’t be sworn in until July 1.
The meeting starts at 6 pm. Public comment are at the beginning of the meeting, but will be limited because it is a special Assembly meeting, which is scheduled for just three hours. The public has not been made aware of the spreadsheet of expenditures, which are located here in the meeting packet.
Some of the planned expenditures include:
$500,000 for a multi-family unit for permanent transition for youth, for ages 18-24; it would house about 10 youth per year. The purchase of the building would mean operating funds would have to be found later to continue the program.
$3.75 million for housing and homeless support.
$1.6 million for House of Transformations support – vocational and apprenticeships.
$260,000 for the library (already has funds from bonds, operating budget, and CARES Act funds).
$300,000 for Shiloh Community Housing to help the homeless between 16-24.
$5 million for fast-track career certificates for University of Alaska Anchorage, to help people get skilled up for better jobs.
$56,000 for Northern Cultural Exchange, for an ad campaign for an “ecosystem assessment” for a creative economy and ancillary businesses.
$200,000 for Alaska Works Partnership (a union program) to fund two people to recruit high school students to trade schools.
$150,000 for Alaska Manufacturing Extension Partnership to jumpstart manufacturing businesses through virtual assistance. It’s an e-commerce webinar program.
$100,000 to Jasmin Smith, Business Boutique, to train people of color to communicate all funding opportunities.
$150,000 for economic stimulus for road map for vital and safe Anchorage services, through consultants SALT and Northern Compass Group – former Mayor Mark Begich.
$300,000 to Downtown Partnership for “way-finding with indigenous names.”
When Bronson is sworn in, Quinn-Davidson will return to her seat on the Assembly, which was saved for her by her seven liberal allies.
The Biden Administration, bowing to stinging criticism, has done a 180-degree turn on a decision it made that was deeply hurtful to Alaska Native veterans.
In the early days of the the new White House, Joe Biden had reversed the progress made by President Donald Trump that made good on a promise to Alaska Natives who were serving in Vietnam when the Alaska Native Land Allotment was passed.
After taking criticism for delaying the program for these aging veterans, the Interior Department on Monday said Alaska Native veterans from the Vietnam era can apply for and receive land allotments of up to 160 acres.
Other land orders from the Trump administration have been kept on hold by the Biden Administration, while it undergoes a two-year review of the Trump decisions to open land in Alaska for energy and mineral development.
The Department of Interior believes about 700 families are still eligible for the land program, but it has not been able to locate them. People who served between 1964 and 1971 who are Alaska Native, and their descendants may qualify.
If you know someone who is directly related to an Alaska Native who served during the Vietnam War, you can have them reach out to the Bureau of Indian Affairs at 907-271-4506. Due to privacy rules, the bureau cannot release the names of those it believes to be eligible.
According to a press release from the Anchorage Election Office, no more ballot counts will be released today in the May 11 mayoral runoff.
The election workers were busy logging in emailed and faxed-in ballots today. There are 195 ballots that were emailed in.
Observers from the Dave Bronson and Forrest Dunbar campaign are on site. The work seems to be going very slowly, according to observers. The pace is so slow, it appears to be deliberate. The staffing has been cut drastically to four workers, plus the municipal clerk and deputy clerk.
About 5,000 mail-in ballots remain to be counted. Evidently, counting will continue on Tuesday. The next set of results will be released by 5 pm on Tuesday, a week after the runoff finished.
For the mayoral runoff, 92,135 ballot envelopes are in, according to the white board at the Election Office.
The election commission will be in the Election Office later today to discuss the April election, including school board seats. A recount for one of the school board seats took place, which is the presumed topic of the meeting.
The Bronson campaign said it is committed to keeping its RV headquarters parked on the grounds of the Election Office and staffed overnight until the results are finished to ensure a fair election. Volunteers have been using the RV to take breaks and coordinate their observer efforts.
As of Friday evening, Bronson had a 1,116 vote lead.
Having second thoughts about signing the Recall Dunleavy petition during the past two years? Don’t want your name made public after the recall petition is filed?
You are not be the only one. So many people have contacted the Keep Dunleavy campaign about “signature regret,” that a few days ago it launched a quiet website: RemoveSignature.com.
The way it works is that if you enter your name, email, and birthdate at the site, it will send an official letter to the Division of Elections asking that your name be removed from the petition, if and when the Recall Dunleavy petition is ever filed with the office.
The recall group has acquired about 58,000 signatures of the 71,252 it needs to move forward with a vote of the people. Data analytics shows the group is gaining fewer than 50 signatures a day, and it has been at the signature gathering process for nearly two years. It looks like it will take the rest of the year for the group to get the signatures it needs to move forward, which would put the special election into Spring of 2022, a few months before the August primary, when Gov. Mike Dunleavy will be, presumably, running for reelection.
All that is required to remove your name from the petition is the letter that is automatically generated and submitted by the RemoveSignature.com page. It’s the exact same form people can use by going directly to the Division of Elections.
But the key is that your letter must be received by the Division of Elections before the recall petition is filed. Once it’s filed and the names are certified, the names remaining on the petition become public record.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy declared a disaster for the City of Buckland and Native Village of Buckland after an ice jam on the Buckland River caused severe flooding in the city.
The declaration activates the state’s Individual and Public Assistance disaster recovery programs.
“I have directed all state agencies to provide assistance in the most expeditious manner possible,” said Governor Dunleavy. “The flooding caused significant damage to homes, roads and utility infrastructure so a declaration is warranted to get the community back on its feet as soon as possible.”
The City of Buckland and the Northwest Arctic Borough had both declared disasters in response to the flooding that began May 12. The flooding brought more than five feet of water and river ice into the community and inundated homes, forcing evacuations. A “boil water” notice is in effect because of impacts to the water treatment plant. Displaced stove oil barrels have left some homes without heat.
“We’re sad to see this happen to the people of Buckland, but the city, tribe, and borough’s response to this event has been incredible,” said Bryan Fisher, Director of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. “This community had a Small Community Emergency Response Plan and enacted it immediately. Coordination between Buckland, the Northwest Arctic Borough, and the state has been seamless.The leadership and residents of Buckland should be commended for their preparedness, quick actions, and resilience.”
The water level has dropped in the community and responders are beginning a more thorough damage assessment.
The Supreme Court today agreed to hear a Mississippi case that is a challenge to Roe vs. Wade, the historic Court decision in 1973 that legalized abortion.
The case, Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, will be heard in the session that starts in October, and is a challenge to Mississippi’s ban on elective abortions when the fetus is 15 weeks old. A decision is not expected until next year.
The abortion case comes as the Supreme Court is now more conservative, with the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett making the 6-3 mix of justices less hostile to the unborn.
The law passed by the Mississippi Legislature bans abortion if the unborn’s gestational age is determined to be more than 15 weeks, with exceptions for medical emergencies or severe fetal abnormalities that would indicate the baby would not survive.
Mississippi’s Attorney General Lynn Fitch said in a statement, “The Mississippi Legislature enacted this law consistent with the will of its constituents to promote women’s health and preserve the dignity and sanctity of life. I remain committed to advocating for women and defending Mississippi’s legal right to protect the unborn.”
The last time the high court faced an abortion question was before Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, when the court struck down Louisiana’s abortion restrictions. The vote was 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts siding with the pro-choice members, Ginsberg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
The level of political pettiness on the Anchorage Assembly is disheartening.
Take, for instance, Downtown Assemblyman Chris Constant’s quick move Friday to have the Assembly finally remove Anchorage’s controversial and burdensome mask mandate.
Why did he do it? Why, to head off Eagle River Assemblywoman Jamie Allard’s amendment, already on the table, to do just that. Allard battled the mask mandate for months, often alone, and Constant, working for months on the Forrest Dunbar for Mayor campaign, made the move to ensure she could not take credit for the mandate’s demise, MustReadAlaska.com reports.
Constant was caught on a hot mic saying, “I just didn’t want to give Jamie the power,” the website reports.
He did not offer the motion because it was the right thing. Or because the public was lining up to pressure the Assembly. Or even that the Centers for Disease Control was abandoning mask mandates. Nope. He offered it to deny Allard any credit.
In an editorial by the Anchorage Daily News on Saturday, the largest newspaper in Alaska sniffed and talked down its bespectacled nose to the winner-apparent of the mayoral election in Anchorage.
Although Dave Bronson has had the courtesy not to declare himself the winner prematurely, it’s evident that he has won that election and that the newspaper editorial board has lost. The writer of the ADN editorial is clearly grieving, just like the liberals on Twitter, where there is the expected wringing of hands, wailing, and gnashing of teeth.
Mind you, we are talking about a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper that did not have the courage to take a stand on who should be mayor of a city that represents over 38 percent of the state’s population. It remained neutral, after having endorsed Bill Evans in the April 6 election. Evans got less than 10 percent of the vote. For the runoff, the ADN played dead.
Now, ADN management has decided it better give Bronson a shot from its editorial bow: He will have to be the mayor for all of Anchorage, including those who didn’t vote for him.
Thanks, ADN, for stating the obvious. This is a slap at Bronson, rather than a handshake, from the ineffectual intellectuals.
The editorial might have been: “Congratulations, Anchorage. We have a new mayor. This city has been through a lot without even having an elected mayor for eight months, and for having a terrible disgrace of a mayor before that. Remember that Ethan guy who couldn’t keep his pants on? Let’s get behind the new mayor and help him be successful. The battle is over, so let’s move on to brighter days ahead.”
Here’s what the ADN said: “And for the past year, it has been some of Bronson’s most ardent supporters who have showed up en masse to Assembly meetings, delivering invective testimony, protesting and even burning a mask during the proceedings. As mayor, Bronson will have to balance the wishes of those supporters with those of the rest of the municipality — including the nearly 50% who supported a candidate Bronson and his supporters vilified.”
This is not the advice the newspaper gave former Mayor Ethan Berkowitz, who ran the city into ruin with the complete gutting of the downtown economy, and with the now-historic vacancy rates in Class A real estate. It’s also not likely that the editorial board would have lectured Forrest Dunbar, had he won. No, the writers would have popped the champagne and lauded Dunbar as the future of Anchorage.
Here’s what the ADN said: “It is that responsibility — to govern for all of the city, not just one’s own supporters — that makes holding the office so much more difficult than running for it. It’s possible to act as though those supporters are the only constituents who matter, and some politicians do. But the sharp ones realize that to move a city forward, that’s the wrong tack. And not just because being responsive to all residents is the right thing to do: The political reality is that Bronson will accomplish little if he isn’t willing to work with the Assembly. And the Assembly much more closely resembles the half of the municipality that voted for his opponent.”
Really. The newspaper is telling Bronson he’d better get on board the leftist agenda. He shouldn’t try to make good on his promise to voters.
The newspaper without the courage to take a stand now has shown its cards: It was always all-in for Dunbar.
The newspaper continued with its nose held high and its eyebrow raised, but we’ll summarize: Bronson has no experience. He had better lean on the experience of the extremists on the Assembly. This will be a steep learning curve for him. He should not settle scores with those who didn’t support him on the Assembly (Dunbar, Quinn-Davidson, Perez-Verdia, Peterson, Constant, Weddleton, Rivera, Zalatel, LaFrance).
What the newspaper could have said is it’s time for the Assembly members who didn’t support Bronson to drop their destructive plans for ruining Bronson before he is sworn in. They, too, need to act like leaders and not further damage the once-great city of Anchorage with their anti-business policies.
Those supporters of Bronson that the newspaper disparages? Those are business people. Showing up en masse? When was that ever a crime in America? Petitioning the “government for a redress of grievances,” as expressed in the First Amendment? How is it that the free press is now criticizing the people of the community and protecting the power of their lords?
This election was as much a referendum on the Assembly as anything else, which is why the Assembly quickly removed its mask mandate; they know that four seats are up next April, and that the citizens have been activated. They are already looking at those four assembly seats that will come up in 2022.
Meanwhile, soon-to-be Mayor Bronson will have to get used to the beatings from the ADN editorial board, which has now given a dog whistle to its writers that they can unleash the hounds of hell on Bronson and there will be nothing but support from the top. There will be no repercussions from management for unfair reporting.
The ADN had it right on one sentence of its diatribe against Bronson and those whom the newspaper finds to be his distasteful supporters, who comprise 50 percent of the Anchorage bowl: “In order for Anchorage to move forward, we’ll need a mayor and Assembly who can work with one another, regardless of ideological differences. That work should start today, because there’s plenty of ground to cover.”
We can agree on that much: Leaders need to work together for the common good. But politics is about ideology and elections have consequences. We’ve seen those consequences for the past six years. Anchorage is ready for a new direction.
Suzanne Downing writes for Must Read Alaska, Must Read America, and NewsMax.
During the 2021 American Association for Political Consultants Awards this year, Art Hackney Communicationswon nine awards — four golds, four silvers, and one bronze Pollie Award.
Hackney won top awards for Best Overall Radio Campaign of the 2020 cycle: Gold for the campaign for Troy Downing for State Auditor in Montana; and Silver for the US congressional campaign for Congressman Don Young. He won Gold awards for Best Regional Radio, Best Negative/Contrast Radio and Best Newspaper ad – for Don Young.
The newspaper ad that won the Gold award was the one pictured above, which declared that hell had frozen over with an endorsement for Young by the Anchorage Daily News.
The other Silver awards were for Best Regional Radio, Best Non-Federal Radio and Best US Congressional Radio ad in the US for the 2020 cycle.
The Bronze award was also for a newspaper ad campaign for Congressman Don Young.
Esquire magazine has dubbed the Pollie Awards “…the Oscars of political advertising.” Hackney has walls and walls of Pollie awards lining his Spenard eighth-floor offices.
Founded in 1969, the AAPC is a multi-partisan organization of political and public affairs professionals, with over 1,500 members from all corners of the globe. It is the largest association of political and public affairs professionals in the world.
Hackney also won several awards at the Reed Awards, named after Campaigns & Elections founder Stanley Foster Reed.
Hackney won five Reed trophies – for Best Legislative Radio for James Kaufman for House, Best Congressional radio for Don Young, Toughest Radio and Best Overall Radio of the 2020 cycle for Troy Downing race in Montana, and Best Newspaper ad for Congressman Don Young.
Hackney remains the winningest writer and producer of political radio ads in America for the past 20 years. A lifelong Alaskan, he is based in Anchorage.
In 2016, when the Must Read Alaska website was launched, a profile on Art Hackney was its first story. It’s at this link: The art of being Art Hackney.
