Anchorage Assembly member Christopher Constant has accused Must Read Alaska publisher Suzanne Downing of trying to get the Assembly “killed.”
In a bizarre Twitter response on Wednesday, Constant replied to a criticism by a left-leaning commentator who was critical of a Must Read Alaska story detailing Dustin Darden’s arrest at the Tuesday Anchorage Assembly meeting.
“She’s literally trying to get us killed,” Constant wrote in his response. Literally.
The article in question focused on Assembly Chairman Felix Rivera’s double standard when enforcing rules of decorum in the Assembly meeting room.
During the summer, Chair Felix Rivera tolerated two transgenders who conducted a lie-down protest in front of the dais.
The report on the incident involving Darden provided readers context for the Assembly’s liberal majority cracking down on conservative viewpoints and criticism.
The tweet sheds light on Constant’s continuing lack of self-awareness, extending beyond his behavior at Tuesday’s Assembly meeting, when he complained that the public was using his name in testimony and pointing.
On numerous occasions, Constant has shut down public testimony critical of his job performance or public policy positions, only to criticize the public sanctimoniously.
In June, he badgered a rabbi in Anchorage by asking him if he agreed that putting the homeless behind a fence would be a good final solution to the Anchorage problem of homelessness. He later apologized.
Now, Constant is accusing a citizen journalist of provoking murder. It’s not the first time he has singled out Downing. Years earlier, he called her the C-word on Facebook, apologizing a few days later after being criticized by women on Facebook.
Anchorage activists Dustin Darden and David Nees today completed legal filings on two recall petition applications that were denied by the Anchorage Municipal Clerk.
The two are challenging the rejection of their request for petitions to recall Assembly members Austin Quinn-Davidson, who is now the acting mayor, and Kameron Perez-Verdia.
“The recall rights in the Alaska Constitution are a basic right and the clerk has infringed on it,” Nees said. “The Constitution states that all political power resides in the people.”
One of the main gists of the recall allegations is that both Quinn-Davidson and Perez-Verdia were derelict in their fiduciary responsibility as it pertained to the federal CARES Act funds the municipality received.
Austin Quinn-Davidson, Kameron Perez-Verdia
Darden and Nees allege that Kate Vogel, the Municipal Attorney, advised the Assembly how to do a workaround of federal prohibitions on spending CARES Act funds.
“The Inspector General was very specific on how the money could be spent, and it had to be spent according to the guidelines (See exhibit 3). Assembly member Quinn-Davidson in conjunction with other members decided to reallocate the funds to skirt the prohibition. They revised the Ordinance to funnel the funds into the Police and Fireman Reserve and use the reserve money to purchase the buildings. (See exhibit 4)”
According to the complaint, the courts have numerous times stated that the review of the grounds for a recall is to be construed liberally. In this aspect, the complaint cites the case against Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai by the Recall Dunleavy Committee, when Judge Eric Aarseth concluded:
“… noting that the recall is a political process and that prior recall cases show that the current claims are sufficient to get the issue in front of voters.” As for the damage done by the governor’s actions, Aarseth said that’s something for the voters to weigh if the recall reaches a vote.
“This is a political process. Neither side, as you would be at trial, is limited to a particular day or a certain number of hours or even limited to evidentiary rules as to what they can present when they campaign, if the recall ballot is eventually issued. In that campaign, they have the ability to explain to the public what the allegations and defenses mean, and what the evidence is or the lack thereof to support each sides’ position. The point is, is that it really only takes a single sentence with a few words to adequately put a person on notice of the conduct that is being alleged.”
According to Nees, the failure to include the implications from Recall Dunleavy v. State of Alaska in their review is a fatal flaw in the advice given to the Municipal Clerk by Municipal Attorney Vogel.
“The attorney also relied on the current, and probably unconstitutional review process” for the Municipality of Anchorage, Nees wrote.
Darden is the activist who the Anchorage Assembly Chair Felix Rivera had hauled out of the Assembly Chambers on Tuesday in handcuffs. The Municipality of Anchorage had the police arrest him and is charging him with trespassing during a public meeting; he has an arraignment date of Jan. 12.
Case numbers 3AN-29-09618 and 3AN-20-09636 have been assigned to Anchorage Superior Court Judges Gregory Miller and Josie Garton.
Nees, a retired math teacher who is acting as his own counsel, split the cases into two to prevent the Municipality from objecting that the cases are combined, thereby further delaying the recall effort and frustrating the applicants, but the cases will likely be joined into one by the court, as they are identical.
MUNI ATTORNEY EXPLAINS: NEW COURT HAS NEW FOCUS ON RIGHTS
By SCOTT LEVESQUE
Anchorage’s acting mayor retained her authority on Tuesday to keep the city’s economy locked down for the rest of the month.
Emergency Order 16 is on the books until at least Dec. 31 after an effort by Assembly members Jamie Allard and Crystal Kennedy failed to wedge open the strict business and personal freedom sanctions from the Administration.
Assembly members directed questions at the Austin Quinn-Davidson Administration about EO 16 and its effectiveness. After all, Assembly member Kennedy pointed out, Quinn-Davidson appears to have followed all of her own mandates and protocols, but she still came down with COVID-19.
When asked by Assembly Member Kameron Perez-Verdia whether the virus can be even controlled, Heather Harris, the director of the Anchorage Health Department, said it can, in fact, be controlled.
“Yes,” she said. “There’s ample research that shows that some of our primary mitigating factors is around wearing a mask, maintaining a distance, and washing your hands.”
“And so, as we evaluated options in these emergency orders it was really important to come back to that, and these measures are all informed by that baseline context around being able to maintain mask usage, keeping our distance, and washing our hands,” Harris said.
Harris’s explanation aligns with the CDC’s recommendations for reducing transmission in densely populated areas: Hand washing, masks, and social distancing are the main preventatives to lowering transmission.
If hand washing, masks, and distancing are the most critical factors in controlling the virus, why is Anchorage locking down its businesses? Assembly member Allard probed that riddle in a number of her questions of the Administration.
Allard, an opponent of the lockdowns, also asked the Administration why churches are allowed to be open (which Allard supports) while many congregations are clearly not following the restrictions outlined in Emergency Order 16. She was pointing out the regulatory dissonance in the order.
Harris summarized the emergency order’s recommendations for churches. Municipal Attorney Kate Vogel interjected during Harris’ response to expound on why the municipality is easing off of churches — it’s because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s shift back to the constitution, she said.
“With the new makeup of the United States Supreme Court, they did change course a little bit from where they’d been in the spring when they had Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the bench,” Vogel said.
“There is a new makeup of the court, and they elevated, as I said, the importance, the constitutional importance, of being able to gather for the purpose of worship.”
Assembly member Kennedy followed up with a comment that controlling the virus is not apparently working, arguing that closing down businesses within the Municipality only drives Anchorage residents to spend their money elsewhere — including the Valley — further damaging Anchorage’s own economy.
Attorney Vogel responded, saying it is Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s fault that people in Anchorage are going to the valley to shop and dine:
“I think, from a legal standpoint, I can only say we have a certain jurisdiction, and we can do what we can to stop spread within our jurisdiction. The governor could be taking stronger action. It [mask mandate] would be statewide, and it would alleviate some of these concerns about people going to the lowest common denominator in terms of finding the place with the least restriction and doing their shopping there.”
With that, the Municipal Attorney of Anchorage had just called the Matanuska-Susitna Borough the lowest common denominator because it doesn’t have a mask mandate or business closures.
Among other edicts, EO16 mandates that everyone in Anchorage limit their outings and physical contact with those outside their households. Gatherings are limited and people are to wear masks when in public.
Most damaging to livelihoods is that restaurant and bars are closed except for curbside pickup and delivery, and all businesses are ruled by EO 16’s reduced occupancy mandates.
Assembly member Meg Zaletel, who is the subject of a recall attempt, said she could not support the amendment to remove a number of restrictions, because it “doesn’t feel strategic in nature.”
A group of voters in House District 27 has filed a challenge to the recount that was done in the General Election race, where UAA Professor Liz Snyder won over incumbent Rep. Lance Pruitt by 11 votes.
The group also filed a separate lawsuit challenging the decision of the Alaska Supreme Court to order an injunction prohibiting the requirement of a witness signature on absentee ballots for the General Election, due to COVID-19.
In the first case, the group alleges that a voting location in Precinct 915 was suddenly changed from Muldoon Towne Center to Begich Middle School. It was the second change of polling place. There was little notice and many voters were confused about where to vote. This precinct typically has been supportive of Rep. Pruitt over several elections.
The plaintiffs say that state law mandates that the Director of the Division of Elections must publish notices when voting locations are changed, putting the notices in a newspaper of general circulation, and in other places as well, and include the information in the final election pamphlet. That did not happen.
As a result of of the change of voting location, voters were disenfranchised, not given equal protection guaranteed by the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.
The other lawsuit, an election integrity complaint, says at least one voter had returned two ballots, one using his first name and one using his middle name. The lack of a requirement for a witness signature is a case of the courts making election law, something that only the Legislature can do.
Following what the plaintiffs are calling an unconstitutional elimination of the witness signature by the courts, the suit says the Division of Elections failed to develop a procedure for review of the signatures to ensure that the person casting the ballot signed the certificate.
The group is hinting it was unconstitutional given the recent Texas lawsuit against four states — Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin — where similar mid-election changes were made. The group has not sought review or injunction for the witness signature requirement.
The group, represented by elections lawyer Stacey Stone, is asking for a new election to be held in the District.
For the State of Alaska, Margaret Paton-Walsh has been assigned to defend the State.
The election integrity case will be of high interest to conservatives in Alaska, and may find its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Mat-Su Valley Reps. George Rauscher and Colleen Sullivan-Leonard today requested Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Acting Attorney General Clyde Sniffen, Jr. to join in a lawsuit with Texas against the states of Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, due to violations of their own election laws that led to a win for Joe Biden.
That makes five Alaska lawmakers altogether who have put in a request to Gov. Dunleavy to join the lawsuit.
“There are major concerns by the people in the great State of Alaska regarding the recent elections. Irregularities in the election process in other states have … stripped all U.S. citizens of their constitutional, and legal, right to fair and just election for the presidency of the United States of America,” the two wrote.
“As pursuant to our oath of office to defend the Constitution of the United States of America and that of State of Alaska we, the undersigned, ask that you do the same, and support Texas in suing the States of Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for unconstitutional irregulates in the recent election process.
“Amongst other items, the suit asks the Supreme Court of the United States of America to extend the December 14, 2020 deadline for certification of presidential electors so that investigations into the irregularities can be completed by asking the court to ‘enjoin the use of unlawful election results without review and ratification by the defendant states’ legislatures.”’
The election statues were disregarded by courtrooms not only before, but also while the election was already in progress, which resulted in opportunities for fraud, the letter stated.
On Tuesday, three lawmakers from the Kenai Peninsula sent a letter to the governor — Reps. Sarah Vance, Ben Carpenter, and Rep.-elect Ron Gillham.
Seventeen states and Donald Trump have joined in the lawsuit, which University of Texas Law Professor Texas Steve Vladeck calls a stunt “relying on an obscure source of the Supreme Court’s power — its ability to hear disputes between states immediately without having them go through lower courts, known as “original jurisdiction.” But the claim at the heart of the suit has nothing to do with interstate relations — like a border dispute or litigation over water rights. Nor does it have anything to do with fraud. Rather, Texas is arguing that coronavirus-related changes to election rules in each state violate the federal Constitution, never mind that most states (including Texas) made such changes this cycle.”
Neither Assembly member realized their mics were still hot.
And so he was removed. Dustin Darden, activist and frequent candidate for office, was ejected from the Loussac Library’s Assembly Chambers.
Darden was not only removed, he was taken away in handcuffs by armed police after an outburst at the public podium, in which he blasted the Anchorage Assembly for not honoring the wishes of the public concerning economic sanctions on businesses.
Darden has been a participant at Assembly meetings for many years. He has never cussed while at the podium. He has never gotten violent. When the mask requirement was enacted in the chambers, he simply wore a cardboard box over his head in protest.
Darden is active as a sponsor of two petitions to recall members of the Assembly.
No one ever remembers him being kicked out, much less in handcuffs. Former Mayor Ethan Berkowitz used to take a time-out and chat with Darden in the back of the room, man-to-man.
But during the dire shutdowns and the new behavior rules the mayor and Assembly have imposed in recent months due to its fear of the COVID virus, Darden has become more strident at times.
On Wednesday night, he was agitated because of the way the Assembly had treated a previous member of the public, who had yielded a portion of her three-minute time to Darden.
Assembly Chair Felix Rivera had lectured the woman about being respectful. Here’s the tape:
Rivera shut the mic off immediately after Darden started yelling from behind the Plexiglas screen that has recently been installed to protect the assembly from the spittle of the public. That triggered Darden.
Darden raised his voice louder. He was shouting, pounding the podium and demanding the Assembly reverse the crushing shutdown orders against the Anchorage business community.
Rivera called security to have Darden removed. And then, as if by magic, the police arrived. They approached Darden, who had taken his seat, and they talked to him. Then Darden rose, put his hands behind his back, and was escorted out the side door.
The government-controlled audio of the meeting was shut off for several minutes while the incident took place. There is no question that Darden was out of order for a public meeting, but did they need to call the police, the members of the audience wondered.
After all, Rivera this summer allowed two men to lie in front of him during an entire meeting. The men were protesting. And Rivera allowed a Black Lives Matter protester to yell profanities at the Assembly in a loud voice this summer, and only thanked the man for his testimony.
But Darden is someone Chair Rivera has no tolerance for.
“Every business owner in Anchorage owes Dustin Darden a thank you. He consistently shows up every single meeting fighting for them when they won’t even show up for themselves,” said Bernadette Wilson, a civic activist who also shows up at meetings and who has organized rallies, and who has also pointed at the Assembly members and yelled at them without being called out of order.
Darden was never booked, and it appears he was not charged either. But the speed that police showed up to haul him out of the Assembly Chambers was impressive to those witnessing the spectacle.
During another section of testimony by the public, Assemblyman Chris Constant also objected to citizen Tim Rooney, who was making fun of the Assembly, as he described the types of themed sandwiches that local restaurants have made in honor of them, such as “Recall Rivera Sandwiches,” and “Curmudgeon Constant Croissants.”
Creating a 20-20 split between Democrats and Republicans, Rep. Louise Stutes, a Kodiak Republican, once again chose to go with the Democrats.
She says they are in the majority.
The news was broken first by the Cordova Times, an online newspaper in her district. Must Read Alaska’s newsletter reported it soon after. Then a press release followed from the House Democrat-led majority.
Stutes told the House Republicans during a Zoom call meeting that she was staying with the Democrats. She appeared for a portion of the meeting to evidently make the announcement to the participants, and there was no persuading her, as she had a long list of must-haves for her district, which included fully funding the ferry system, fully funding power-cost-equalization for rural communities, and more.
“If you know me, you know that during my time in Juneau I’ve never lost sight of where I come from. Although a proud Republican for 50 years, I am first and foremost a representative of my district,” she said in her press release.
“Kodiak, Cordova, Yakutat, Seldovia and all District 32 communities in between are reliant on a healthy Alaska Marine Highway System, robust fisheries management, quality K-12 schools, public safety, community revenue sharing, and investment in infrastructure. It’s no secret that services rural Alaskans depend on have been disproportionately targeted for cuts. As a result, I’ve prioritized working with legislators who support those services and my district, regardless of party affiliation,” she wrote.
“It is critical now, more than ever, that we stand our ground to protect and restore our coastal communities.” – Louise Stutes
Notably, she did not mention her desire to protect the Permanent Fund or the dividend Alaskans are statutorily guaranteed each year.
“After giving it careful thought, I’m making it public that I’ll be caucusing with my colleagues in the current House Majority Coalition who share my vision for a vibrant rural, as well as urban Alaska.”
“By working together, I am confident we can build a bright future for all Alaskans,” Stutes wrote, before wishing everyone a merry Christmas.
It’s not a new betrayal. Stutes has caused for the past four years with the Democrats. But during the last two years, she had Reps. Bart LeBon, Tammy Wilson, and Steve Thompson of Fairbanks, Jennifer Johnson, Gabrielle LeDoux, and Chuck Kopp of Anchorage, and the late Gary Knopp of Kenai by her side.
LeDoux, Kopp, and Johnston were voted out of office, Wilson left early for a state job, and Knopp died in a plane crash and his and Wilson’s replacements are staunch Republicans. Which means all eyes are on Reps. Bart LeBon and Steve Thompson of Fairbanks, who have repeatedly promised they would not return to the Democrat fold this year.
And that means the House is still at a 20-20 split with neither group able to claim a majority.
The University of Alaska Anchorage will award Democrat Gov. Bill Sheffield an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters at the Fall 2020 commencement ceremony on Sunday, Dec. 13.
Born in Silverdale, Washington, Sheffield served in the United States Airforce during World War II, worked as a sales and service representative for Sears Roebuck, and was transferred by Sears to Alaska in 1953. He went into the hospitality business, establishing the Anchorage Inn. Eventually, Sheffield bought out his business partner, expanded his hotel holdings and grew his hotel empire to 19 properties in Alaska and the Yukon territories.
He was elected the fifth governor in 1982, and served one term. During his tenure, he oversaw massive infrastructure projects, including roads and water systems. He pushed through an unpopular bill that consolidated the state’s four time zones into two and is responsible for creating Alaska Standard Time. Sheffield also helped facilitate the purchase of the Alaska Railroad from the federal government and commissioned the construction of Spring Creek Correctional Facility in Seward.
During his tenure, he faced Senate impeachment hearings over an award of a $9.1 million noncompetitive lease to a company that was partly owned by a friend of Sheffield’s, Lenny Arsenault. In 2018, he authored a memoir, Bill Sheffield: a memoir, from the great depression to the Alaska governor’s mansion and beyond.
Sheffield is 90 and lives in Anchorage at a home that has been the location of many a political fundraisers for candidates from both sides of the aisle. He was recently spotted getting exercise at the Midtown Mall.
Many people have speculated that the Alaska Natives Claims Settlement Act, or ANCSA, was an experiment in federal Indian policy.
In 1971, Congress authorized Alaska Natives to select and receive title to 44 million acres of public land and $962 million dollars as a settlement of their aboriginal claim to land in the State of Alaska.
The ANCSA framework was unique because it mandated the creation of for- profit corporations – both at the regional and village level – to be the legal vehicle by which the government would compensate Native people in Alaska as well as return ownership of their land.
There has always been a negative connotation surrounding the idea of corporate ownership. Federal Indian policy prior to ANCSA involved settlements and treaties that created the reservation system– which meant that the land and assets were held in trust by the federal government and were therefore controlled by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
While ANCSA corporations are for-profit corporations, the mission and guiding principles by which they operate is ultimately influenced by the Alaska Native values of their shareholders.
This means that ANCSA corporations are the ultimate decisionmakers when it comes to deciding if and how their land and natural resources should be managed to achieve economic prosperity for their shareholders. That is why I do not view ANCSA as an experiment. Instead, I view it as the ultimate framework for self- determination.
I say this because of the insight I have received from people who actually took part in the implementation of ANCSA. I am an original shareholder of Iliamna Natives Ltd. (INL), which is a village corporation that formed following the enactment of ANCSA. INL was conveyed 69,000 acres of land in and around the village of Iliamna.
Obviously, we are one of the closest landowners near the Pebble Project. My parents were one of the original founders of INL who decided that INL land should be protected until there is a project that we can use to leverage our land for the good of our shareholders.
A project didn’t come along until 2004 when Northern Dynasty approached us with the plans they were working on and they asked my parents to form a subsidiary of INL that could partner with Pebble to provide jobs to our shareholders in the region. That is when we formed the Iliamna Development Corporation (IDC), a wholly owned subsidiary of INL. I have spent the last 16 years of my life as a sitting board member of both INL and IDC, as well as working as the CEO of IDC.
I am still proud to say that IDC – because of the work we accomplished with Pebble – went on to hire hundreds of employees from the region. At one point, IDC was the single largest employer in the Lake and Peninsula Borough. The pride I felt stems from the fact that I believed this project was the opportunity we needed to fulfill the intentions of ANCSA for our shareholders. That is why INL signed a rights-of-way agreement with Pebble in 2019, allowing them the right to build a transportation corridor on our land.
INL submitted a comment asking the U.S. Army Corps to select an alternative that put the transportation corridor on our land. INL carefully selected the route for the transportation corridor because it avoided three things: culturally sensitive areas, subsistence use areas, and critical salmon spawning habitat. INL did this not only with our shareholders in mind, but also the general public’s interest. When the Army Corps announced their record-of-decision (ROD) for the Pebble Project, INL shareholders were shockedto read that the Corps denied the permit because “the proposed project is contrary to the public interest.”
I believe this statement is contrary to the core principles of ANCSA, which transferred decision the making authority regarding resource and land development to the corporations and their shareholders. Who is to say that the Army Corps won’t use public interest to deny a project on ANCSA land in the future?
Lisa Riemers is CEO of Iliamna Development Corporation.
