Must Read Alaska launches a weekly show on Tuesday morning, Sept. 15, which will be available on Apple Podcasts,Spotify,TuneIn Podcasts, and other streaming platforms that can be reached via computers or smart devices. The show is not aligned with any radio station at this time.
Co-hosts Suzanne Downing and John Quick will talk about Alaska, politics, and feature Alaska communities each week in a show produced by Must Read Alaska Vice President of Media Scott Levesque.
They’ll have guests who are knowledge experts or interesting Alaskans, and they will keep it to one half hour or so. The link to the show is on the front page of the Must Read Alaska website, and subscribers to the MRAK newsletterwill often get a tip or two about what will be featured on the Tuesday broadcast.
“I’m excited about this, and it’s something I’ve pushed Suzanne to do for months, as I know Must Read’s readers are very interested in hearing from her as well,” said John Quick, who joined this year as vice president of business development. “I gave her the challenge of when we reach 10,000 followers on Facebook and 1,000 followers on YouTube, we’d launch the show. We’re now at over 12,000 on Facebook and 1,200 on YouTube, so it’s time.”
The website, thanks to readers, had over 1.3 million viewer impressions last month and 360,000 Facebook post engagements were logged in August.
On Tuesday’s inaugural show, the two will talk about an interview Suzanne just gave to a Washington Post reporter who is working on two big Alaska political stories, and also dive into what’s coming up with the Anchorage Assembly meeting on Tuesday and the mass “Footloose” dance protest that will take place in front of the doors at the Loussac Library, where the Assembly meets.
The Vice Chair of the Anchorage Assembly is in damage-control mode, after Chair Felix Rivera tipped his hand that he was trying to hire only Democrats for six key Assembly aide jobs through the end of December.
In a memo sent out Thursday afternoon, Vice Chair Austin Quinn-Davidson said that she is electing to notify the broadest number of interested applicants for two jobs she plans to fill to work temporarily for the Assembly. The new hires will be made with CARES Act funds the city has received.
“While the Assembly is not obligated to publicly list these positions, Vice Chair Quinn-Davidson has elected to do so to welcome the broadest group of applicants. The Vice Chair will lead the hiring process with two of her assembly colleagues, members Crystal Kennedy and John Weddleton,” she wrote. She did not mention the hiring process for the other four positions that Rivera had mentioned.
Rivera had posted a notice for six jobs for Assembly aides in a private Facebook group, telling the Alaska Young Democrats to not share the information outside the group.
According to Quinn-Davidson, the temporary jobs that will focus on “COVID-19 related work and inclu
de, among other things: constituent work; policy research and writing; drafting Assembly documents; working with affected community members and the public; and other duties as may be required by the members.
Those interested in applying to be an Assembly aide should email applications to [email protected].
Applications should include a one-page (and no longer) resume and a one- page cover letter describing their qualifications. Applications are due by 5 pm on Thursday, Sept. 17. Those received after this date or not in compliance with the two requirements will be disqualified. After the deadline has passed, Vice Chair Quinn-Davidson, Member Kennedy, and Member Weddleton will review applications, conduct interviews, and select individuals for the two positions.
Those with questions may contact Austin Quinn-Davidson, Assembly Vice Chair, [email protected], 907.343.4116
At Tuesday’s Assembly meeting Chairman Felix Rivera and member Forrest Dunbar plan to push a measure dictating to “large” hotels they must offer to rehire workers laid off because of COVID-19 or retain them after changes in owership.
Their proposed ordinance, AO 2020-84(S), would provide “protection for hotel workers’ employment by amending Anchorage Municipal Code with a new chapter requiring large hotel employers to offer rehire to employees laid off in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, and to retain eligible workers for a period of time after a change in ownership or control, and thereafter consider offering them continued employment….”
Since when does government get to tell employers large or small what they will and will not do when it comes to employment? Is that not the realm of unions and owners? Where is it written that city officials can require employers to rehire workers or keep them on the books, not just after the COVID-19 pandemic, but after a sale or change of ownership?
Perhaps some of our august Assembly got used to the heady notion of dictating policy during their silly ban on plastic bags that also had private businesses charging 10 cents for a bag – and then ordering them to show that on a receipt.
One of the ban’s sponsors said at the time the 10-cent fee was designed to “coerce people to change their behavior.” Now Assembly members are mandating business hiring and retention practices.
We suggest that if Rivera and Dunbar really want to stick their noses into the whozits, whatzits and howzits of hotel hiring and firing they should buy their own hotel and have a field day.
But micro-managing hotels should not be an Assembly function.
The Anchorage Daily News has gotten the full story about what former Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott said that made him quickly resign from office in October of 2018. They’ve got it on paper and on tape. From one side. And the newspaper has declared it the truth.
The story told by Jody Potts, former Village Public Safety Officer, is that Mallott propositioned her. Or rather, he said some things that made her uncomfortable, because it wasn’t that much of a proposition. There were no witnesses to that event and Mallott died of a heart attack earlier this year.
The story that made its way around AFN and finally to Must Read Alaska in 2018 was different. Mallott had attended the Elders and Youth conference, which is the opening act for the AFN annual convention. Something happened — he made an inappropriate comment to a female who was said to be a teenager, and daughter of his alleged paramour. None of it was confirmable, but today Potts says she barely knew Mallott.
That’s not what the record shows. Although photos of the two together have been scrubbed from the internet, it’s known in political circles that he was her protector. She emerged out of nowhere to take a lead role in public safety in the Walker Administration, invited to every meeting and thrust into leading positions. She had been brought into the Administration by Mallott, who was running a lot of the administration while the governor focused on building a gasline.
The event described by the ADN happened before she ended up becoming decertified as a law enforcement officer in Alaska. For what? Not telling the truth about an accident she was involved in. She can no longer serve in law enforcement roles in Alaska at any level, MRAK has learned.
There is also the matter of the nondisclosure agreement she had with the Mallott family. Readers can only assume that Potts has not broken the agreement. She has presumably not told the ADN reporter anything that is contained in that agreement. And her daughter did not sign the agreement, so she was free to fill in the details.
Even stranger is that one single utterance in a five-minute conversation with the lieutenant governor, unwitnessed and without an investigation, was enough to cause his best friend Gov. Bill Walker to accept his resignation within 48 hours. Walker never even knew the details of what happened, the story goes.
That story requires Alaskans to suspend disbelief.
But history is written by the survivors, and dead men tell no tales. Alaskans will never truly know what happened at the Elders and Youth Conference in 2018. We have to take Jody Potts’ word for it. There will be other versions of that story that float around Native and political circles, but she was the only one in the room.
It’s a cautionary tale for men in high places: No matter how high up you are, and how protected you are, you can be brought down in a heartbeat by saying the wrong thing. In the end, it will be “he said, she said,” and she will prevail.
(When contacted by the ADN for the Mallott story, this writer asked if it was on or off the record. Writer Kyle Hopkins said “I’m not going off the record with you.” His description of our subsequent conversation was accurate.)
Rep. Zack Fields will likely sail to victory in November, having faced neither primary nor general election challenger for the House District 20 seat he won in 2018.
But even without any work to do to get reelected, Fields has not taken the time to file his required financial disclosure form with the Alaska Public Offices Commission.
That form was due on March 15, and it’s how Alaskans know where Fields and other lawmakers are getting their money, or where they may have conflicts of interest with their family investments.
Fields filed the form properly in 2019, when he showed that he had worked for the Bill Walker Administration the previous year, and had also worked for a labor union. He was a freelance writer for the Anchorage Press, his report shows.
He also filled out a financial disclosure as a candidate before he filed for reelection in 2019. That is required by the Division of Elections before it can certify him as a candidate.
But in 2020, he filed no disclosure as a state legislator — a serious APOC violation that comes with penalties. It’s also breaking the law.
The Sand Lake Community Council has lodged a written complaint against the chairman of the Anchorage Assembly over a social media post in which Assembly Chairman Felix Rivera posted a job opportunity to the Facebook page of the Alaska Young Democrats, and asked the group to not share it outside the group.
In the posting, Rivera said, “ANCHORAGE JOB OPPORTUNITY — please don’t share publicly. The Anchorage Assembly will be hiring 6 full time (40 hour) aides from mid-September to December 30 to assist us with our COVID-19 response. Duties will be varied, including constituent outreach, policy research, to policy development and more. All focused on COVID-19. It will be contract job (so pa attention to this for tax purposes) and will be a $11,200 contract for these approximately 3.5 months. Please message me if your (sic) interested or know others who might be interested. I’m trying to get these positions filled ASAP. Thanks all!”
Must Read Alaska was alerted by several readers about the posting, which was making the rounds on social media today. And the Sand Lake Community Council sprang into action:
“By law, all elected positions to the Municipality are nonpartisan positions; how is it legal (or ethical) to solicit applicants for Assembly Aide positions from a limited and certain subset of Alaskans?! Why did Chairman Rivera only solicit applicants from the Alaskan Young Democrats Facebook group??” wrote Parker Haymans, Sand Lake Community Council president.
It appears the Anchorage Assembly intends to use about $70,000 of the municipality’s federal CARES Act money to hire a political crew that can help it through the end of the CARES Act spending cycle, which ends Dec. 30, and that Rivera wants to make sure the new hires have the right Democrat credentials to serve the Assembly. There is every indication that this crew of six will be assigned political tasks.
The Municipality’s code of ethics prohibit such activity:
D. Limitations on Political and Partisan Activity:
1. Elected officials and board members may use their titles when engaging in political or partisan activity, but shall not state or imply that they are acting on behalf of the assembly or the municipality.
“The SLCC is outraged to learn that during a pandemic, where hundreds if not thousands of people in Anchorage have lost their livelihoods, Chairman Rivera has the audacity to attempt to limit a pool of applicants for well-paid municipal positions to a politically aligned Facebook group. Again, isn’t the municipality supposed to be nonpartisan?! How in the world is this legal?! Or better yet, how is this ethical? Why did Chairman Rivera attempt to limit his pool of applicants to just Young Democrats? “
The Sand Lake Community Council has asked that the positions be filled through a nonpartisan hiring process.
“We are shocked, appalled, saddened, and disappointed by Chairman Rivera’s action. Shame on the Assembly for letting their Chairman attempt to fill much needed employment positions through a partisan hiring process.
We respectfully request your due consideration to this email and welcome any input or response you may provide.
The chair of the Kenai Borough Assembly has offered a resolution to request that this year’s school funding be based on last year’s enrollment numbers, rather than this year’s. The annual student count takes place between Sept. 28 and Oct. 23.
Many districts in the state are reporting drastic drop in enrollments, as parents decide not to have their children enroll in the various districts’ distance learning programs, but choose instead to homeschool. Parents are engaging in choice — they see the homeschool programs as superior to the district online learning, for whatever reason.
On the Kenai Peninsula, some civic leaders are estimating that one-third of the students have gone to the homeschool model, while according to other sources, it could be as high as half of the overall enrollment.
Homeschool students typically are not enrolled in the local school district but sign up with homeschool programs, such as Denali PEAK, Fairbanks B.E.S.T., or one of a dozen other choices in the state or, in some cases, out of state. This means the district doesn’t get funding for them.
During the last student count last year, Kenai had 8,881 students. A drop of enrollment of one-third could mean over 2,900 students may be already enrolled in homeschool programs, leaving around 5,981 students in the district.
The Kenai Borough budget passed in the spring gave $50 million to the Kenai School District. But funding from the state is always predicated on enrollment.
Voting on the resolution at the next Borough meeting on Sept. 15 will require two Assembly members to decide if they have conflicts of interest: Jesse Bjorkman and Tyson Cox.
Bjorkman is a teacher in the district and Cox’ wife is a part-time teacher. Any reduction in the budget could impact their family budgets, critics have warned.
Both of those Assembly members have already voted on the $50 million school budget in a decision earlier this year, putting them in an awkward position if they now recuse themselves from voting on the Kelly Cooper resolution, which is asking the State for more money than the student count would allow.
Those who view America as a vile racist and oppressive nation are not interested in hearing otherwise. Challenge them. Go ahead and try. You’ll see what I mean.
They demand you see it their way. If you don’t? You become the problem. You become racist and oppressor.
It’s an arrogant posture. Agree or you’re evil. But that’s how the cultural Marxists roll. They’re opinion tyrants. And if they gain power, they become more than opinion tyrants, they become full-blown tyrants.
Kimberly Waller’s an opinion tyrant. She works in the nonprofit sector and is currently director of Sultana, the Foraker Group’s fiscal sponsorship program. According to Waller’s LinkedIn page, she’s also the CEO of an organization, Women’s Power League of Alaska.
She posted a 1,752 worded open angry letter to me on her Facebook page on Wednesday. Waller didn’t like my recent Must Read Alaska column: “Saying America is systemically racist is a destructive lie.”
My column challenged the take of most speakers at the “March on Anchorage” Labor Day rally at Townsquare. One after another made the case that Alaska is a deeply racist state. I disagree.
“Your claim that racism fundamentally doesn’t exist in our state is an area in which I simply must enlighten you,” wrote Waller.
The most common denominator among social justice warriors is the confidence they hold in their beliefs. They own the truth. If you’re lucky, they’ll enlighten you. But don’t ask questions or challenge their ideas in any way. Just listen, accept their truth. Otherwise, you’re a racist.
“Your piece was so over the top that I had to take the time out of my night to share a few truths with you. Yes, truth! I know you are one who believes in the concept,” wrote Waller.
I do believe in truth and it’s my contention the truth is America is not the deeply racist country Waller and her fellow social justice warriors claim it is.
“You attacked the speakers, who – in your words “complained repeatedly about America’s embedded systematic and structural racism”. Sharing = complaining for you?” wrote Waller.
She then goes onto complain about the widespread racism in Alaska.
“Racism lives on running trails, on playgrounds, in schools, in downtown Anchorage, in the MatSu, online, in our damn private driveways, on the job – right here in the beautiful state I call home,” wrote Waller.
Waller also challenged my belief the only way to reach true equality where all have the same is to redistribute wealth, take away freedom, reward bad decisions and punish good ones.
“You show your true face, writing ‘equality for all…is impossible without stripping us of our freedoms.’ Who is ‘us’? Are you speaking in code? You should know, “we” (aka “other”) can read code,” wrote Waller.
And there it is. The accusation you knew was coming. Challenging Marxist wealth redistribution is a racist act in and of itself. But it’s undeniable different decisions produce different results leading to inequality. Good decisions – good consequences. Bad decisions – bad consequences.
“Are you saying only wealthy (do you really want to say white??) people make “good choices” – and have rightly acquired their fortune through all of their “good choices”?” wrote Waller.
And there’s the “racist under every bush” prism in full display that typically drives social justice warriors like Waller.
Waller received glowing reviews from her followers praising her for having the courage to write such a thing. The bubble Waller lives in was secure as she enjoyed accolades from her like-minded Leftists.
But then I shared her open letter Facebook post on my page with the caption: Thoughts.. Some took issue with Waller. Social justice warriors don’t cope well with resistance.
“Dan you’re soliciting thoughts in regard to this? Do you have your own thoughts, formulated on your own?” posted Waller.
As the day rolled on Waller grew increasingly impatient with my lack of response to her open letter.
“Dan Fagan you’re a coward – hiding behind your computer, from a land far far away, sending random folks from your page to mine to post hate / conspiracies. You need backup? Do you need a lifeline? Aren’t you a writer, a journalist? You have your First Amendment rights but your words don’t come without a consequence. How does someone like You, residing in New Orleans, as I’m told, come to have a platform where you’re marginalizing the very feelings experiences of ALASKANS?! How do you feel it’s in any way conducive to the art of your craft (using “craft” loosely) to “report” so negatively and with such ease on an event in which you were not present, and target the peaceful people who were there – but leave out the fact that those same people were subject to intimidation for gatherings peacefully. WITH THEIR CHILDREN. Is this world we’re supposed to just swallow and accept. How can you justify? You cannot! And neither can your employer. You’re sharing “news” which is inaccurate, hurtful and wildly biased – about a place you don’t even live. Do you have children? Do you care? Enjoy your paycheck hope it’s worth it,” wrote Waller.
Such is the life of an enlightened, joyless, angry leftist, full of rage, indignation, judgment, and utter contempt for anyone willing to challenge their view that America is a deeply racist nation.
The woke mob will settle for nothing less than silence, compliance, and obedience. It’s why they’re winning. People are afraid to stand up to them, challenge their rhetoric.
It’s time to stop being intimidated.
Dan Fagan hosts the number one rated morning drive radio show, weekdays between 5:30 to 8 am on Newsradio 650 KENI. He splits his time between Anchorage and New Orleans.
Civil liberties and representative government are dying in Anchorage, being taken away by despotic elitists determined to ruin our city by instituting progressive laws destructive to a healthy and safe community.
I submit as evidence Assembly member Meg Zaletel’s Ordinance #2020-80. Her ordinance proposed a series of restrictions on the Anchorage Police Department (APD) to provide “restrictions and limitations on APD Officers use of force in response to resistance in the Anchorage Municipal Code”, blah…blah…blah.
As my grand-dad would have said “Suffer’n cats…What blather.”
As a result of public outcry and a strong Back the Blue demonstration at the assembly chambers on Aug. 25th, the ordinance was postponed indefinitely.
Don’t for a minute think she has backed off on regulating our law enforcement officers from the political diose. This is just a bait-and-switch approach by the Assembly to get the same results using a different method. In fact, her next attack has an even more onerous objective.
Word is, Zaletel is going to introduce a resolution that directs proposed changes to APD policies and procedures be reviewed by the Public Safety Advisory Commission (PSAC).
Any PSAC recommendations would then go to the Assembly Public Safety Committee for adoption. Take a guess. Yes, Zaletel is on the Assembly Public Safety Committee.
Bingo, in fact it is a “committee of the whole.” I guess this just makes it easier for the Assembly to erode any opposition by having drawn out day meetings by the “committee” and wear down any opposition, before bringing to the Assembly for approval. I’ve seen this trick used before when I served on the Assembly.
But you say, it’s just a resolution, not an ordinance, so no big deal.
Hogwash! Under the municipal code resolutions can be directive. This resolution is just a backdoor approach to reaching the same goal that was offered in AO 202-80 to set up a process for the Anchorage Assembly to control changes to the APD Policy and Procedures manual.
And to rub salt in the wound, under municipal code, a resolution does not need a public hearing. Our comrades on the Assembly can implement this process without hearing from you.
Anchorage has one of the finest police departments in the nation, with the least amount of corruption and fewest number of bad-actor officers. It is one of the most transparent in existence, dedicated to protecting our community from bad stuff. If you don’t believe me, go to the APD web site and check it out yourself. Their Policy and Procedures Manual is available on-line.
As I have previously asked…What problem are you trying to fix, Assembly member Zaletel?
Zaletel has provided zero examples of excessive use of force by APD. As a person who has never served in the military or in law enforcement, she wants to regulate a well-run department with imprudent restrictions after having “community conversations in recent months about law enforcement in Anchorage.”
Let’s honestly discuss what she is trying to accomplish with her past ordinance and forthcoming resolution. She is dog-whistling to the progressive Left that Anchorage can be taken over by Marxists, starting with constraining law enforcement.
Anchorage must never become Portland, Oregon north.
If you don’t believe me, go back and look at the news from Aug. 25, 2020 where protesters against the police (wink, wink), in red shirts, with red flags (sort of reminds me of the Communist red of the Chinese and former USSR flags) demonstrated at the Loussac Library supporting her ordinance. Her sinister actions are clear and must be defeated!
“Political power, properly so called, is merely the organized power of one class for oppressing another.” ― Karl Marx
This is no game, folks. The radical Left is trying to fundamentally change our government. Hand-cuff the police, restrict the Second Amendment, curtail Freedom of Speech to only speech the Left approves, and finally establish a “one think” autocracy based solely on their values, not the collective values of the community.
Local elections are as important as state and national elections. Assembly members seriously interested in improving law enforcement should ride with the police during routine patrols (I did), listen to the officers on the street, and open a conversation with APD Chief Doll and the senior leadership of APD to learn ways they can positively contribute to improving our community by supporting our police officers.
Please stop trying to fix something that ain’t broke. This shameful attempt to over-regulate and micro-manage APD by the Assembly must be stopped and those Assembly members supporting it should be removed, either by recall or at their next election.
Craig E. Campbell served on the Anchorage Assembly from 1986 to 1995 and as lieutenant governor in 2009-2010. He was chief executive officer of the Alaska Aerospace Corporation and achieved the rank of lieutenant general (Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs), major general (Air National Guard).
