To prevent Mayor-elect Dave Bronson from having input on how American Rescue Plan funds are used, the Anchorage Assembly approved $51.1 million in spending during a special meeting on Tuesday, including a last-minute amendment from Assemblywoman Meg Zaletel, to buy a building for the Alaska Black Caucus.
The American Rescue Plan Act poured trillions of dollars into communities across the country, and the Anchorage Assembly split much of the funds off for nonprofit groups. The funds for the Alaska Black Caucus building were stripped from an allocation for the University of Alaska Anchorage.
The nonprofit will get $437,000 to purchase office space, with the justification that the minority communities have been disproportionately affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Alaska Black Caucus will provide service in the areas of economic recovery, education, and community action to address systemic challenges. There do not appear to be any deliverables associated with the expenditure.
Another $500,000 has been appropriated to a building that will be purchased for Choosing Our Roots, a nonprofit that wants to provide congregate housing center for 10 or more gay or transgendered people from ages 18-24. The group is run by a board of directors who have various gender pronouns associated with themselves, including being referred to as “au/auto,” “they/them,” “He/Xe/Fae/Faer,” “Kin,” and a confusing assortment of other identifiers that describe their sexuality interests.
Assemblywoman Jamie Allard said she wanted to delay the $51.1 million in appropriations until the mayor-elect had a chance to take part in the discussion. The bulk of the expenditures were set by Acting Mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson, who will return to her empty Assembly seat in July.
Assemblywoman Crystal Kennedy also asked for a delay to allow more review of the amendments, a sentiment echoed by several people who testified that the amendments had not been vetted by the public process. But Assemblyman Pete Peterson said that no matter what they do, the Assembly gets criticism.
“We’re just gonna do it our way. Sorry folks,” he said in exasperation with the public. Peterson is in his last term on the Assembly.
The Department of Health and Social Services website has been taken offline due to a malware attack.
The attack comes three weeks after the Alaska Court System was shut down after a cyberattack. The court system website is now apparently functional again and the state didn’t indicate whether the attacks are related.
The DHSS website was taken offline May 17 while the investigation is being conducted and will be unavailable to the public until further details are known about the incident.
Some services, such as COVID-19 vaccine appointment scheduling and the data dashboards, are hosted by outside sources and can still be accessed through covid19.alaska.gov.
The list of affected services that are offline include:
AKAIMS – Alaska’s Behavioral Health and Substance Abuse Management System
DHSS public website
State of Alaska Vital Records System
DHSS Background Check System
Find A Childcare Provider
Case Management System – Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)Work Activities
IBIS – Indicator Based Information System for Public Health
ILP – Grantee Based System for Infant Learning Program
Grantee-based information exchange for the Infant Learning Program
Grantee-based reporting for the Infant Learning Program
SAGE – System for Schools to Report Vaccine Data to Public Health
YODA – Youth Offender Data Application for Youth Courts
GEMS – Grantee Portal for Grants Electronic Management System
AKVaxMatch – Alaska Provider Vaccine Exchange
Developmental Disabilities Waiver Online Form
DHSS Epidemiological Bulletins
Count of Available Beds in Various Behavioral Health Facilities
Review Process for Health Care Construction Projects and Equipment Purchases State Expends for Medicaid
Vital Statistics Online Data Request Form
For phone assistance during business hours (8 am – 4:30 pm), contact the department at 907-269-7800. For questions specific to Covid-19, the vaccine helpline is available at 907-646-3322 from 9 am – 6:30 pm on weekdays, and 9 am – 4:30 pm on weekends. You may also email [email protected] for help.
The Senate Finance Committee is sending to the Senate floor a $1,000 Permanent Fund dividend proposal, yet another arbitrarily determined amount that has nothing to do with is calculated by Alaska Statute. The Senate will meet and wrangle that amount during what is surely to be a lengthy floor session on Wednesday.
But the $1,000 Senate dividend and the zero-amount dividend from the House of Representatives’ means that the final dividend probably will be determined by conference committee. Will they split the difference and make it a $500 dividend?
In other words, once again Alaskans will watch their Legislature pick an arbitrary number out of a hat for the Permanent Fund dividend, something the Legislature has done since Gov. Bill Walker made it a fad in 2016, destroying the traditional formula in law.
Wednesday’s Senate debate will be over the behemoth operating budget that has been combined with the capital budget and the Permanent Fund dividend into a 150-page document that Sen. Natasha Von Imhof dubbed a “turducken”: A chicken stuffed in a duck stuffed in a turkey. For many legislators, they’ll have to pass the budget to see what’s in the budget. It’s big, and with many moving parts.
How the goose comes out of the oven on Thursday will say a lot about how the Senate will approach the special session called by Gov. Mike Dunleavy for the very next day to work on a constitutional amendment that would allow the people of Alaska to vote on locking down the PFD formula once and for all. Dunleavy’s proposal would end the yearly extended fights over the PFD, and keep it from being held hostage.
Dunleavy’s proposal, by its very definition, would also not allow an overdraw of the earnings reserve account, but some in the Legislature want to tie this PFD decision to a tax or two, and there’s the rub. Will legislators say they don’t have enough time to figure this all out?
Alaskans will see whether legislators are serious about handling the PFD question now that they have a viable alternative in front of them, and take up the revenue question later; or will they just gavel in and go home without considering the governor’s proposal? Will the 50-50 PFD split proposal get pocket vetoed?
Wednesday will prove to be a long day for both the House and the Senate. But rarely, if ever, in Alaska history has the entire package — Operating, Capital, and PFD — been left to the 11th hour on the 121st day.
The Anchorage Municipal Clerk released a new ballot count today: Her election office counted another 2,600 ballots in the Anchorage mayoral runoff election between Dave Bronson and Forrest Dunbar.
Bronson has pulled ahead with a 1,212-vote lead, with 45421 votes for Bronson, to Dunbar’s 44,209 votes.
According to the “white board” at the Election Office, Clerk Barbara Jones has another 1,900 ballots to count. An additional 1,100 ballots have problems with them and need to be “cured” by Friday. The “white board” has frequently been inaccurate but is the only solid information Must Read Alaska has, as of Tuesday evening.
The Bronson campaign has had an aggressive curing program in place since last Wednesday, with dozens of volunteers working the phones, but the Dunbar campaign was slow to the process of reaching out to voters whose ballots didn’t get counted and helping them fix the errors.
Bronson’s attorney Stacey Stone sent a letter to Jones today, asking for greater cooperation with the Bronson campaign, which has felt harassed and snubbed by Jones and some of her staff in the Election Office. Jones has brought up grievances about Must Read Alaska to various volunteers.
Stone wrote that on Monday, Jones issued a press release saying no results would be released that day.
“This, in spite of the understanding that there are at least a few thousand ballots in the Clerk’s possession. As I’m sure you can appreciate, uncertainty in the results of the election breeds distrust. Therefore, we would appreciate notice as to when the ballots currently in the Clerk’s possession will be counted,” Stone wrote.
Volunteers on the Bronson campaign say they cannot get information from the Clerk about which ballots have already been cured, so Stone asked that the Clerk provide that information daily.
Jones may be slowing down the count in order to give the Dunbar campaign more time and encouragement to get its curing program going. The ballots must be cured by Friday.
Indeed, volunteer observers reported to Must Read Alaska that they had the distinct impression the election workers had slowed down the pace on purpose.
The majority of the ballots that need curing are from Democrats, which would mean Dunbar may be able to help cure enough ballots and bring his total within one-half percent of Bronson’s, which would trigger an automatic recount.
Curing ballot isn’t a problem in a normal election, but in this mail-in election, more than one out of every 100 ballots cast in the mayoral race needed to be cured. Most of them will probably go uncured because of the short time period to finish the task, and the fact that some voters whose ballots didn’t count never received a letter from the Clerk about their status. Others were out of town and are not available to go through the curing process.
I, too, was surprised at the tone the Anchorage Daily News took toward Mayor-elect Dave Bronson this weekend, telling him that he doesn’t have the support of half of the people of Anchorage, so he’d better learn to get along with the leftist Assembly.
A great city needs a great newspaper. The newspaper even in today’s world of declining readership and alternative sources of news is critical to a city’s sense of who it is. Clearly based on the writing this weekend, our local paper has decided to take the same approach as many of the national media: Caustic, divisive, and out of touch.
What ever happened to respecting the wisdom of the electorate? What ever happened to the idea that Anchorage residents really do wish success for their next mayor, because the success of the entire city depends on it? Regardless of party or beliefs we are all Alaskans. We have always prided ourselves on being able to have a good political dust-up, shake hands, roll up our sleeves, and get to work.
My hope is that our Assembly will realize and understand that is their charge as leaders in our city, a fact that has obviously escaped the Anchorage Daily News.
The voters in Anchorage decided in April that they wanted a clear choice for the runoff, and they got one. They created a May election that posed two very different philosophies:
Forrest Dunbar represents a Marxist vision for Anchorage, where work and self-reliance isn’t valued, and where critical race theory is the driving force. He represents a vision of a community where the Constitution is diminished because the founders of the nation were imperfect people. Most of the Anchorage Assembly represents this vision for Anchorage, and it’s terribly sad that they have been put in positions of power.
Dave Bronson brings a different vision and a new direction after six years of progressive politics: A return to personal freedom and responsibility, smaller government, getting and keeping this town open for business; no more hard-hearted shutdowns. Most importantly, a town that welcomes and supports its small businesses, and has an environment that encourages development and growth.
The voters – more than half of them – remember former Mayor Ethan Berkowitz standing with the protesters last June, declaring, “I look out and I see a crowd full of revolutionaries, and it makes my heart glad.”
They remember him as the bathroom nude-selfie mayor, and they remember his enabler Forrest Dunbar, who rose quickly to defend Berkowitz against the accusations of a television anchorwoman, whose accusations — some of them — were quickly proven.
Anchorage has seen where so-called progressive policies have taken this community – empty storefronts, homeless cities within our city, with people literally defecating on our streets, a school district that’s not educating our children, and all of this causing more and more Anchorageites to migrate to the valley. Progressivism is, at least in Anchorage, regressivism.
The Anchorage Daily News clearly didn’t get the memo: Anchorage wanted to balance out the Assembly with a mayor who displays common sense and compassion.
It’s telling that a person such as Dave Bronson, with literally no name ID among the people at this time last year, could overcome the household name of Forrest Dunbar: We want to go in a different direction. We expect better of our community.
What the editorial writers at the Anchorage Daily News also missed was the deep pain experienced by so many people in Anchorage, and how they felt dismissed by their local government this past year.
The ADN mentioned a woman who burned her mask at the Assembly, evidently missing the point she was making: The woman is deaf, and she was giving clueless Assembly members a real demonstration of the pain and isolation she experienced while unable to read lips, with everyone in the city forced behind a mask.
People came and wept in front of the Assembly about their lives being ruined by the policies of the mayor, approved every other week for nearly a year by the Assembly.
The public spoke about businesses going under, children depressed and suicidal, and they rightfully objected to a wrongheaded policy to develop a poorly planned homeless industry in Anchorage.
What so many of them told me, while I was campaigning this winter for mayor, is that they want more certainty, less seesaw. I listened and I heard: They felt whiplashed by government telling them one thing one week, and going in a different direction the next.
Even now, restaurant owners are worried about ordering inventory, because they have been burned by government policies that led to spoilage and losses in 2020, which they hope and pray they can recover from.
I wish this mayor-elect well. He has an enormous job turning our economy around and giving the business community confidence again.
Unlike the Daily News, I believe Dave Bronson gets it, he understands that he is Mayor elect of all of Anchorage, that he needs to listen to all voices and work to make life better for all of us. It will benefit the newspaper if he is able to do so. They ought to not only give him a chance, but they should give the voters a pat on the back for voting for change.
Mike Robbins is a businessman in Anchorage, owner of the Robbins Agency, who ran for mayor this year.
The Alaska Court System’s Courtview website, which was offline for about three weeks after a cyberattack, is back.
That means the public has the ability to search cases, pay fines, and access other court services.
The court system has been working with a cybersecurity firm to investigate the breach, and said that no confidential documents or credit card information was compromised.
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.
