Sen. Tim Scott announced on Sunday that he is suspending his campaign for president. The South Carolina senator made the announcement on Fox News on Sunday, and it evidently was unknown to even his own campaign staff.
“I love America more today than I did on May 22nd, but when I go back to Iowa, it will not be as a presidential candidate. I am suspending my campaign,” Scott told Trey Gowdy on “Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy.
“I think the voters who are the most remarkable people on the planet have been really clear that they’re telling me, Not now, Tim,” he said.
Scott filed for president in mid-May. His withdrawal comes at the same time the Republican National Committee has increased its requirements for candidates to take part in the fourth Republican presidential debate.
To qualify for the fourth debate, which is Dec. 6 in Tuscaloosa, Ala., candidates must get at least 6% in two approved national polls, or 6% in one poll from two separate early-voting states: Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, according to the Republican National Committee. Participants also need to show at least 80,000 unique donors, with at least 200 unique donors per state or territory, in 20 or more states. Candidates have until 48 hours before the debate to satisfy the requirements.
Last week, Must Read Alaska ran a column I wrote about evil. I felt it necessary because too many of us on the side of common sense and traditional values have allowed a cultural shift to be ushered in where up is down and good is bad.
It’s not a small thing to call someone or something evil. It takes a firm commitment and even some courage because doing so brings out vile and vicious attacks, usually accompanied by what has become meaningless labeling; i.e., racist, sexist, misogynist, homophobic.
So it was with great delight that I read about Riley Gaines, the former All-American swimmer from Kentucky, calling out evil for what it is. Having competed directly against Lia Thomas, the male swimmer from the University of Pennsylvania who decided he was female and was allowed to transfer from the men’s swim team to the women’s swim team, Riley was the first female athlete to speak out against the gross injustice that was Thomas’ run as a female athlete.
Riley has made it her life’s mission to bring an opposing point of view on this issue. As the mainstream media, including Sports Illustrated and ESPN, were gushing over Thomas’ “groundbreaking” achievements and calling any statements to the contrary to be transphobic and hateful, Riley began speaking out.
And she has found an appreciative audience. Last week, she was speaking on the campus of UC Davis, near the California capital of Sacramento, when she referred to her cause as spiritual warfare and said it was no longer a battle of good versus bad, right versus wrong, but one of moral versus evil.
Further, Riley argued that the misogynist label belongs to those who disdain women so much they allow men to claim themselves as women and push true women aside in the process.
The woman has guts. She was out there all alone, but her courageousness has been infectious, allowing other female athletes to speak out against males competing as females. One of those is Paula Scanlan, who was on the UPenn women’s swim team when Thomas was allowed to join their team. Pressured into hiding her true feelings about sharing the locker room with a fully genitally intact male swimmer, Scanlan has found courage from Gaines.
Hopefully, there will be other female athletes who are willing to speak out against men competing as women and for keeping girls’ and women’s sports for girls and women.
Paula faces a gauntlet of criticism, as has Riley. What these two women need is to know that people support them, that the radical idea that a man can just decide he’s a woman and therefore compete against women is just that – a radical idea, and a deeply flawed and insulting one.
Whether it’s calling out the unfairness of men competing as women, or assigning blame for the October 7thattack on Israel to the actual Hamas terrorists who committed the atrocities, evil must be identified for what it is. Going along with outrageous theories because those who espouse them are loud and extraordinarily arrogant is not the right thing to do.
Riley Gaines and Paula Scanlan do not go along with those theories. They know truth –real truth, not some subjective truth – and speak it, and they are courageous for doing so.
Tim Barto is a regular contributor to Must Read Alaska, and is vice president at Alaska Family Council, the organization that is bring Riley Gaines to Alaska.
In a groundbreaking legal case in Boston, Mass., the transgender trailblazing clinic Fenway Community Health Center is at center of a controversial lawsuit that has implications for Anchorage.
In 2020, Anchorage Assembly banned conversion therapy for youth, which the extremists on the Assembly view as any attempt to dissuade youth from expressing themselves as gay or transgender. However, the practice of coercion continues in the opposite direction in Anchorage, with the group Identity Inc. as a lead promoter of transgender puberty-blocking hormones and therapies to lock-in youth and adults with non-biological gender expressions. The ordinance in Anchorage is vague and does not define what conversion therapy actually is, but it acts as a warning to therapists to not engage in counseling youth about their sexuality.
The Boston case is based on civil rights. The plaintiff, a gay man, accuses Fenway Health of engaging in what he describes as “gay conversion” practices by approving him for transgender hormones and surgeries. This lawsuit is unprecedented in the United States, marking the first time “gender-affirming care” is being legally challenged as a potential form of anti-gay discrimination.
At the heart of the Boston case is a complex clinical reality surrounding gender dysphoria, which the lawsuit argues has multiple developmental pathways.
The man’s legal team is using Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which prohibits discrimination “on the basis of sex” in healthcare settings. They are drawing upon the 2020 Supreme Court ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, which expanded the definition of “discrimination because of… sex” to include discrimination based on homosexuality.
The lawsuit asserts that federal law offers specific protections to gay men and lesbians, which are allegedly being undermined by clinics that are operating with a bias towards transgender care, an argument that opens a new frontier in the debate over gender identity, sexual orientation, and medical ethics.
The case, Shape Shifter v. Fenway Health is explained by the plaintiff himself at his legal team’s website:
Ever since I was a young kid, I exhibited gender nonconforming behavior. Even before I hit puberty, I knew I was romantically attracted to males. However, as I grew older I realized that my femininity and homosexuality were not accepted by society and by my parents. I was constantly bullied in school. My parents were ashamed of my femininity. My dad told me that I will never be a real man because I am too emotional and soft. My mum told me that she wished I were taller and more masculine like other boys my age. All of that made me hate everything about myself including my body, my height, and my feminine manners. I just was “not masculine enough.” No matter what I did, I could not hide my feminine mannerism or grow any taller. So, when I came across transgender ideology in grad school I quickly became convinced that I was a ‘straight’ woman trapped in the wrong body. Suddenly, everything made sense. Transgender ideology seemed to explain why I never fit in and felt uncomfortable with my own body. It was finally my chance to escape all the bullying and torment I faced my whole life for being an effeminate gay man. But, after fully transitioning, I realized that my issues had not resolved, and after deep self-reflection, I came to understand that I suffered from internalized homophobia,” he wrote.
“Fenway sold me a hardware fix for a software issue,” the man said.
The complaint summary notes that Fenway knowingly and willfully removed safety procedures known as “gatekeeping” from its transgender healthcare practice. This shows that Fenway was pursuing the goal of acquiring more transgender patients.
Under the “gate-keeping” model of care internalized homophobia is a contra-indicator to transition, because studies have identified it as the leading cause of transition regret, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit states that Shape Shifter was rapidly medicalized, and his sexual orientation and symptoms of internalized homophobia were treated with deliberate indifference.
Under Fenway’s “undifferentiated care and undue influence Shape Shifter underwent a number of surgical procedures and fully transitioned. Shape Shifter should have been treated for internalized homophobia, instead he was converted to transgender. The lawsuit alleges that Fenway’s apathetic attitude toward Shape Shifter’s sexual orientation and its associated distress violated his civil rights, and caused him irreversible, irreparable physical and mental injury. As a result of transitioning, Shape Shifter cannot express himself as a gay man, and must live with dissonance between who he is and how he appears.”
With quiet concern for anti-Jewish actions from supporters of Hamas terrorists, the 18th annual Alaska Jewish Cultural Gala went off without a hitch on Saturday night, under high security — both seen and unseen — at Anchorage’s Dena’ina Convention Center. The historic snowfall in Anchorage also did not deter men and women from donning their finest for an evening to support the Jewish community.
The annual gala is one of the dressiest events of the year in Alaska, a time when men sport bow ties and tuxedos and women wear gowns.
Political leaders in attendance included Sen. Dan Sullivan, wearing his Marine dress blues, Sen. Lisa Murkowski in a classic gold gown, and Mayor Dave Bronson. All three were recognized for their friendship to the Jewish community.
This year, the gala honored Providence Alaska CEO Ella Goss, who began as an emergency room nurse and is now the chief executive officer of Alaska’s largest medical provider. She was introduced by Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Zink.
Kenai former Rep. Kurt Olson of Soldotna died Thursday after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer.
Olson was a Republican from the Kenai Peninsula. He moved to Alaska and lived in Anchorage from 1977 to 1982, and then moved to Kenai, where he lived until 1995, before moving to Soldotna.
Olson graduated from Cupertino High School in 1966, obtained a bachelor’s degree from California State University Long Beach in 1977, worked as an Alaska legislative aide, insurance broker for Commercial Lines, and custom seafood processor in Kenai. He also served in the United States Air Force. He served on the Soldotna City Council and in the Alaska House of Representatives from 2004 to 2016.
Sen. Dan Sullivan issued the following message for Veterans Day:
Today, across Alaska and across our great nation, American communities throughout our country will be taking the time to recognize, celebrate and honor their veterans and those who continue to serve.
For our state, this is a really important day, and I’m looking forward to spending time in Anchorage and in the Mat-Su Valley on Veterans Day.
Why is this so important to us? Because we are the state with more veterans per capita than any state in the country. That is a special patriotic element of our culture and heritage in Alaska, and it means so much to everybody.
Speaking of Alaska veterans, we just had the opportunity here in D.C. to honor Alaska veterans from World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam, who came to Washington, D.C. as part of the Last Frontier Honor Flight. This is such a great organization, and they’re just celebrating this year, their 10th anniversary. They do incredible work for our great state.
I have tried to make sure, whenever the Honor Flights come to Washington, D.C., and I’m here, I am ready to greet these great American and Alaskan heroes at the monuments. And we always bring donuts! “Pogey bait,” as we call it in the Marine Corps. But our veterans love the Dunkin Donuts that we bring.
My message to all of our veterans on this Honor Flight and to all veterans today is this: Thank you for protecting our liberties and defending our nation.
And, importantly, it’s not just what you’ve done to protect America. Think about this fact, and it is a fact that is not often repeated: Whether you’re a World War II, Korean War, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, War on Terror—any veteran, any American who has put on the uniform of your nation, you are part of an incredible heritage. And that heritage is this: The U.S. military over the years has done more to liberate men and women and children around the world from oppression and tyranny than any other force in human history. Hundreds of millions of people are free today because of America’s military. That is an incredible legacy. That is one of the many things that makes our nation, America, an exceptional nation.
On this Veterans Day, I want to again thank all of our Alaska veterans, all veterans across the United States, and, of course, their families who, in many ways, sacrifice as much, if not more, than so many of our veterans.
I tell my wife, Julie, and our three daughters, even though they’re not wearing the uniform, they have sacrificed for their country so much in support of someone who has worn the uniform.
So for all Alaskans on this very special day, thank you to our veterans for their service. God bless our great state and God bless our great country.
There’s no sugarcoating it — this has been an historic snowstorm.
In some parts of Anchorage, the power went out late Tuesday night and just came back on Friday night, after a major snowstorm walloped Alaska’s largest city this week.
One resident in the Turnagain neighborhood reported all of his freezer and refrigerator contents had to be tossed. The Chugach Electric Association power outage map is at this link.
Those with electric cars in some neighborhoods were out of luck With power out, there was no charging up, unless they had gas-powered generators.
About 1,500 in Anchorage were without power on Friday afternoon. As of Friday night, nearly 1,000 customers were still dark, including some on the Hillside, where snow depth reached 30 inches.
For the second day in a row, there was more than 9 inches of snow in Anchorage, and the snow depth of 21 inches exceeds the greatest for so early in the season, according to the National Weather Service. The season-to-date snow of 27.4″ already exceeds the 25.1″ for all of 2014-15, NWS said.
In other areas of Southcentral, outages are still reported in Halibut Cove, a few outages are current in Homer, and 341 in the Kenai area.
Mike Johnson opened his tenure as Speaker of the House with a speech citing the creator God mentioned in the Declaration of Independence. The speech drew criticism from columnists in the Washington Post, Time, PBS, and the New York Times, among others. Much of it shifted between Johnson’s support of Trump, his church affiliations, and his penchant for employing biblical language.
Each of the columns raced to the accusation that Johnson is a Christian nationalist. Yet none of them offered a counterargument to the fact that the Declaration of Independence actually does reference God in the course of justifying America’s separation from the British. The Declaration in fact makes four references to God, using the parlance of the 18th century.
The first reference is in its opening paragraph, which appeals to “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God,” thus grounding the legitimacy of the new “thirteen united States of America” in natural law and its divine author. This nation endeavors to conform to God’s moral order from its inception.
The second reference comes in the first sentence of the next paragraph and is the most famous: “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” The securing of these rights concisely expresses the American understanding of government’s purpose. Government derives its “just powers from the consent of the governed.” But both government and the people are subordinate to the Creator, who stands outside the material world and brought all things into existence.
Thomas Jefferson and the Second Continental Congress presumed a common (although not coerced) belief in God. Without God, the fight for independence was unjust. Without God, the new nation had no duty to protect life and liberty. Without God the people’s right to pursue happiness, understood by the founders as the classical pursuitof goodness and virtue, would deserve no mention. Without God, the Declaration’s claims become sophistry, because the very concepts of justice, goodness, and truth are subject to constant redefinition based on the whims of the moment.
This understanding of God-given rights is why another body of representatives, including six who had signed the Declaration, enshrined religious liberty in the Constitution. Some things belong only to humanity’s Creator and must remain untouched by human officials. America’s limited government might assert faith in God, but it would not trample on conscience or coerce belief; even those citizens who deny the existence of God deserve life, civil liberty, and religious freedom.
The Declaration then moves through its specific condemnations of Britain’s monarch, explaining how the king has violated the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God and the liberties granted by the Creator. The concluding paragraph then makes a logical shift to the final two references.
It opens with the representatives’ appeal “to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions.” This bold invocation asks God to judge not only their words but their motives. This appeal hearkens back to the medieval concept of a trial by combat, where God will vindicate the just and punish the evil. Using an Enlightenment framework, Congress was arguing that virtuous citizens using their reason could achieve a victory by acting in accordance with the moral framework of the universe.
The closing sentence reiterates this belief in God as the cosmic judge. Congress pledges its “firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence,” knowing that if they are proven wrong they will lose their “Lives,” “Fortunes,” and “sacred Honor.”
Even the least religious of the founders feared the judgment of God. Jefferson references God throughout his “Notes on the State of Virginia,” once again describing God as the Creator of the earth, man, and animals. Man is unique because he is the only animal that can create like the Creator. This sense of humanity as being created in the image of God prompted Jefferson to fear God’s “wrath” on a country that still allowed human beings to enslave one another, for liberty is “the gift of God.” Jefferson, a man deeply troubled by his own guilt in perpetuating slavery, wrote: “Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever.” The same perfectly ordered and just being whom he believed would protect America during the Revolution would punish America if it did not end slavery.
So why does exploring the founders’ reliance on God in the Declaration matter today? Because it is the most fundamental matter at the root of every political question. Why are humans equal? Because God created them so. Why do all humans have dignity? Because they are created in the image of God. Why can government not solve every problem? Because it is not God. Why can our magistrates wage war or kill criminals? Because God delegated authority to civil government to punish evil and promote good. Why is governmental power limited in society and why must it protect human liberty? Because God distributed power to other human institutions (such as the family and the church), and every human being has a unique soul.
Civic theism for the authors of the Declaration moved beyond a narrow set of religious practices or beliefs. Individual founders differed in their doctrines, and yet they unanimously advocated for a theistic republic. It was built on the premise that a good God not only created the world but demanded justice, liberty, and equality from those who govern it.
Remove its foundation, and a republic such as this is doomed to fracture and collapse.
Steele Brand is Professor of History at Cairn University. He serves as a residential scholar at the John Jay Institute and is a faculty fellow with the Jack Miller Center.
This article was originally published by RealClearReligion and made available via RealClearWire.
Part Two: The story of how Alaska’s property tax assessment process has failed the Haines community
By BRENDA JOSEPHSON
The first part of this story was published in Haines, we have a problem. Details were provided on the implementation of the first phase of a new mass appraisal methodology for Haines Borough’s 2023 property tax assessments.
In the name of “uniformity and equity,” an exotic hybrid valuation model of replacement costs with some market data that ignores actual market sales conditions, resulting in inflated assessment values in excess of full and true value.
What happened in Haines was a perfect storm of process failures combined with unjust actions from government officials. While these issues have come to light at a local level, the catalyst was due to a failure of Alaska’s municipal taxation statutesto protect individuals’ rights and the public interest from bad actors on a local level.
Haines municipal elections last month brought forth considerable change in leadership. Haines now has a new mayor and half of the assembly seats are now held by newcomers who were sworn in on Oct. 24.
The new assembly’s first action was to schedule a property tax workshop to research what went wrong with the 2023 assessments. Their second action was to introduce an ordinance in a special meeting to delay penalty and interest on property tax payments for two months.
The public was encouraged by the responsiveness of the new assembly. Mayor Tom Morphet even listed the assessment issues as top priorities in his Mayor’s Corner blog.
However, hope of any real change appeared fleeting during the property tax workshop. Assembly Member Debra Schnabel called for delaying corrective action and instead hiring an outside company to “audit” the fiasco that has caused so much public distrust of their government.
If the insult of spending taxpayer funds to delay action was not enough Haines Borough fiscal officer, Jila Stuart stated at the end of the meeting that the new methodology in 2023 created winners and losers and those that are upset and speaking out are just the losers. Her words are memorialized 2 hours and 46 minutes (2:46) into the audio recording of the assessment tax workshop.
The issues that plagued the 2023 property assessments started with the implementation of a systematic reevaluation not authorized by a public act of the assembly. The exotic cost-based hybrid valuation model was implemented under the guidance of contract assessor Michael Dahle. But the true injustices came to light during the appeal process. Instead of receiving serious inquiries and site visits in response to their appeals many appellants received intimidating emails that indicated that if they pursued their appeal their assessment would be increased even further.
Alaska’s property tax assessment process has been set up to protect the municipality’s interest not the residents. Even the State Assessor’s mission statement identifies his mandate is “to advise and assist municipalities on assessment and tax issues”. There is no advocate to protect the rights of citizens from the heavy hand of their local government.
Alaska’s property tax assessment process fails to protect individual rights due to the following:
Board of Equalization– When the elected officials are siting as the Board of Equalization, ex parte communication restrictions prevent the citizens from contacting their assembly members while they are an appellant in advance of the BOE hearings. If process errors or unjust actions from bad actors are occurring an appellant is thereby denied their first amendment right to redress their grievances with their representatives. Statute does not protect citizens by establishing a pool of unelected members to serve as BOE members.
BOE Hearing – Statue establishes that appellants bear the burden of proof but fails to protect due process to guarantee appellants their right to a fair hearing. Alaska Statutes have no provisions to require:
Sufficient notice of appellants’ hearing date for continuation hearings.
Assessor’s office staff reports to be provided with sufficient time for an appellant to prepare for the hearing.
The ability to reject a BOE panel member which is a normal part of the selection of jurors.
Assessment to be based on recognized uniform standards of appraisals.
Protection for public from punitive actions of an assessor with threats to increase assessments if appeals are not withdrawn.
Licensing– Alaska does not protect the public’s interest by requiring licensing for assessors. Licensing would provide a pathway to assure the public that the assessor has met eligibility requirements, maintains proficiency through required continuing education, and provide a process for reporting violations of standards to the licensing board.
Full and True Value – By statute property assessments are required to be at full and true value. However, statute fails to specify that an appeal must be treated as a single-property appraisal. Clarification of the intent of this statue must make it clear that the mass appraisal method shall fade into the background when valuation is contested by a property owner.
Assessment Notice – Statute stating “sufficient notice is given if mailed by first class mail 30 days before the equalization hearings” fails to consider that receipt of notices mailed from out of state can be significantly delayed for Alaska’s rural communities.
Each one of the failings listed above played a part in the failure of the 2023 property tax assessment process in Haines. This failure has created a loss of trust, respect, and goodwill of the people toward their government.
The assessment fiasco started with the implementation of a new mass appraisal cost-based hybrid valuation model implemented under the guidance of contract assessor Michael Dahle. Dahle was hired by Haines Borough Manager Kreitzer without holding a certification as an assessor or an appraisal license. Keitzer defended hiring this contract assessor without professional assessment credentials in a memo dated October 28, 2023.
Kreitzer’s justification was because “In the State of Alaska, there is no licensing for assessor’s, other than a business license (same for Haines Borough). Although some municipalities require certain levels of certification with the Alaska Association of Assessing Officers, the Haines Borough does not.”
The statement that the State of Alaska does not require licenses for a contract assessor is correct. This is shocking given the fact that in a BOE hearing the assessor’s opinion is valued so highly that appellants bear the burden of proof to overturn an assessed value. In Alaska the real estate profession is highly regulated. You cannot sell, appraise, or even inspect real estate without a licensed issued by the State of Alaska.
Licenses are so commonplace in our society even the person cutting your hair or giving you a massagemust be licensed. But the State of Alaska fails to require the person that is presumed to be correct in a quasi-judicial BOE hearing to maintain credentials.
During the appeal process a disturbing trend of misdescriptions of property resulting in excessive assessments and threats of increases in assessments came to light. One homeowner went on the record about the threats he received from the Assessor’s Office that all four of his assessments would be increased if he refused to withdraw his appeals.
You can hear the appellant’s BOE testimony yourself from the Haines BOE hearing on October 11, 2023, starting at 26 minutes and 10 seconds (26:10) at this Haines BOE Oct. 11, 2023 link.
In response to appellants expressing a feeling of extortion Haines Borough attorney provided a legal opinion. The municipal attorney confirmed that statutedoes indeed allow for the contract assessor to adopt a tactic of threatening to increase assessments if relief is pursued to the BOE.
Dahle was able to do this not because it was just and fair, but rather just because. It is allowable because there is no check on an assessor’s power in the Kangaroo Court, that the BOE hearing process allows under State of Alaska statutes.
The public’s frustration was compounded with borough administration’s refusal to address appellants’ concerns about process errors. Instead of addressing issues, the borough administration acted in bad faith by unilaterally changing the BOE rules for the hearing procedure which required the assessor’s staff report to be made “available to the appellant at least five working days prior to the hearing”.
An appellant pointed out that he was denied due process at his BOE hearing for a variety of reasons including failure to be provided with the staff report on a timely basis. The response from the administration was to simply change the hearing procedure to eliminate the five day requirement. The new BOE hearing procedure only requires the staff report to be made “available to the appellant prior to the hearing”.
This creates an unreasonable standard of delaying the information to the appellate in a quasi-judicial proceeding right up to the moment before the hearing begins.
My journey through this year’s assessment process began in April when I received a corrected assessment notice with a building value for a single-family residence on a vacant lot. It was my expectation that this obvious error would be easily resolved. Instead of receiving resolution I received an email on April 29, 2023 stating that the assessor closed the appeal and issued additional corrected assessment notices.
The corrected assessment notices included a 45% increase on the vacant lot and the transfer of the value of a single-family residence to the adjacent parcel that already was assessed with a residence. The assessor’s office ignored the information submitted with the appeals in June and did not perform a site visit to the properties.
When my appeals were heard by the BOE on October 18, 2023 we were able to successfully articulate the following:
Intentional misdescription for the purpose of excessively increasing the tax assessment in appeal 2023-226 by valuing an outbuilding as a single-family residence.
The regressive nature of the hybrid cost-approach with inappropriate manipulation of costing and depreciation factors.
The failure of the new insurance-based replacement cost computer program for homebuilt and rural buildings common in remote areas. This was stated directly by Dahle during the hearing and can be heard on the hearing recording at approximately 1 hour and 36 minutes (1:36) BOE October 18, 2023 audio.
The lack of professionalism and use of intimidating techniques. There was no effort by the assessor’s office to approach the appeals with honest inquiry, a desire to find truth, or to properly correct the tax assessment record.
Although truth and justice prevailed in these cases they exposed a systemic problem with process failures, retaliatory increases in assessments, and intentional misdescriptions. It showed by example the inherent flaws that can be exploited in Alaska’s property tax assessment process.
Most appellants did not receive justice in their cases. Many were intimidated into dropping their appeals and others were less successful during their BOE hearings.
It is well known that ‘you can’t fight city hall’. Statewide policies and statutes must be written to guide the process and protect the public from the heavy hand of local government that can occur due to unintended consequences and bad actors.
Often it takes failings of this magnitude to raise enough awareness to make our public officials understand that action must be taken. We need to prevent this from happening again throughout the State of Alaska.
The appeal process for property tax assessments should not be adversarial. If public officials demonstrate that they are unable or unwilling to conduct themselves responsibility, then there ought to be a law.
We can and must do better.
Brenda Josephson has held elective office on the Haines Borough Assembly and Haines Borough School Board. She also served her community as a Haines Borough Planning Commissioner and as a member of the Haines Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. She is licensed by the State of Alaska for real estate sales and is a federally licensed tax professional authorized by the US Department of Treasury to practice as an Enrolled Agent before the Internal Revenue Service.
Brenda Josephson is a resident of Haines. The information provided in this article is what she believes to be true and accurate after months of research and personal experience. Hyperlinks to source documents are provided throughout for independent verification of information. People have been called out by name and dates have been provided to tell the full story. The intent is to raise awareness of the systemic flaws in Alaska’s property tax assessment process.
