Dave Bronson dashed to three campaign fundraisers in 24 hours between Dec. 29-30. He raised over $30,000 between the three events before the end of the year — cash that will help him buy signs, bumper stickers, and radio spots.

After a fundraiser in South Anchorage, attended by over 80, and an equally strong fundraiser in Chugiak, Bronson ended up in front of a fireplace, facing a camera, for a Facebook Livestream telethon fundraiser, hosted by one of his key supporters, Bernadette Wilson. The event was supposed to last an hour, but the donations kept on coming.

Candidates like Bronson, who is running for Anchorage mayor in the April 6 election, can only raise $500 from each individual donor in a calendar year, and so finishing the year strong is a strong priority for any candidate.

The third fundraiser was a first — perhaps in history: A live telethon with guests, a bell that was rung after every donation came in, and after the two-hour live event was over, and everything was tallied, Bronson had raised $17,000. The goal had only been $10,000.

Telethons are old-school devices used by charities, such as St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, or the old MDA Labor Day Telethon, featuring comic Jerry Lewis. Public television also does telethons each year, as well, to support public broadcasting. But candidates using it for fundraising on Facebook, where costs were kept to zero? That’s out-of-the-box thinking.

In fact, campaign strategists may be studying how this event got pulled off so well, who made it successful, and how it can be replicated for other campaigns in Alaska and the Lower 48.

Wilson, who once had a radio talk show and who is a rising political star in her own right, brought on several guests to tell viewers their stories of how government mandates have affected their lives.

The life stories began with Paul Berger, owner of the Carousel Lounge in Spenard, which is among the dozens of establishments in Anchorage that were shut down by order of the current mayor and the former mayor Ethan Berkowitz, who resigned in disgrace.

The Carousel Lounge has been open for two years, but the establishment has been in existence since 1967. Berger described how 16 of his employees were let go due to the mayor’s shutdown policies, and there were strokes, suicides, divorces, and other horrific life events among those laid-off workers, which he blames on the shutdowns.

Brittany Tompkins told viewers about the passing of her grandfather, who had been locked in a care facility, with his family unable to visit him for months, even while employed caretakers would come and go daily. They could have all the commercial and societal interactions and then go back to work at the care facility, but the family, including her grandmother, was locked out. Brittany’s story was heartbreaking and relatable.

“We weren’t there in the final moments to advocate for him,” Tomkins said. “The solution is worse than the virus.”

Trina Johnson, who owns LaMex Restaurant on Dimond Blvd, was a guest who used her time to complete the few words of testimony that had been cut off by Assembly Chair Felix Rivera during a public testimony opportunity in December. Her restaurant had been in existence through six generations and now has a “for sale” sign on it.

https://www.facebook.com/bronsonformayor/videos/428289004963763/

The donations came in with comments that they were in honor of people’s grandchildren, or in honor of an Assembly member who has been the most outrageous or callous. One donor said her gift was in honor of “all the restaurants that have been closed down.” Another said it was “in honor of Perfect Cup,” a restaurant that had been shut down by the mayor’s edict. One donor noted hers was in honor of “Condescending Constant,” referring to Assemblyman Chris Constant.

The event drew more than one donor a minute, over 550 Facebook comments, 5,300 viewers, and ultimately over $17,000 net.

The key to the telethon’s success was that it was not as much focused on the candidate, but on the people of Anchorage who have seen their families and friends crushed by the current administration.

While some Americans grouse about the small direct payments coming from the federal government to help out with food and rent, the bill passed by Congress and on Sunday night signed by President Donald Trump, includes prisoners among those who will receive $600 payments within days. That’s a big help for prisoners to pay for sundry and personal care items and phone calls home.

The bill follows the prior CARES Act stimulus package in March, which contained up to $2,000 per eligible American, including prisoners. The CARES Act contained no prohibition on stimulus payments for inmates.

Congress started crafting the second round of stimulus in July, and at the front-end of negotiations, prisoners were excluded from the list of those eligible. But the exclusion language didn’t survive the final bill, a sign that it may have been a sticking point in negotiations.

Also included in the massive stimulus package is a measure that resumes Pell grants — a form of federal financial aid for students — for prisoners. In 1994, a crime bill that was sponsored by Sen. Joe Biden, banned Pell grants for inmates. Education grants can pay for training and education that prisoners need in order to return to society as functioning contributors. An extensive study by the RAND think tank in 2018 found those prisoners enrolled in classes have a 48 percent lower chance of recidivism.

Federal judge Joshua Kindred, a Trump appointee, has issued an order that is not likely to please some conservatives.

Judge Kindred ordered Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s press office to treat political writer, candidate, campaign manager, and unofficial lobbyist Jeff Landfield as a member of the media, including notifying him of all news conferences the governor has. At least on a temporary basis, until the case is heard in full.

Kindred wrote in his order that Landfield was likely to prevail in the suit against the governor, who has not been inviting the blogger to press conferences, or who has not taken questions from him when he shows up uninvited. Kindred said it is in the public interest that bloggers like Landfield are given adequate notice so they may attend press conferences, and that Landfield had previously been on the notification list, therefore it was no trouble for the Governor’s Office to restore him to that list.

Unanswered is whether the governor must take questions from someone who is not only a political writer, but who runs campaigns for candidates, is a candidate himself, and serves as a secret surrogate for certain lobbyists. Governors in the past have not taken questions from those who are not part of the media. At times, Democratic lawmakers used to crash press conferences of Gov. Sean Parnell and attempt to ask questions of him in front of reporters, which he refused to answer, telling them that they were not members of the press.

Creating an order that demands a governor must take questions from people may infringe upon his own free speech rights. Kindred’s order does not go that far, however, but it may mean an end to traditional press conferences and a return to Facebook town hall-style meetings for a while, a move that would bring loud braying from the legacy media.

Judge Kindred is the son-in-law of the late Sen. Chris Birch.