By PAM MELIN
After Tuesdays theatrics at The Palmer City Council, the public has a clear indication that the recall of the three council members who violated the Open Meetings Act has reached a boiling point.
I was the intended target of those theatrics from an incoherent Councilman Brian Daniels. Why? I stood up for local businesses during the attempt by the Chamber of Commerce and a group called Moms for Social Justice to rebrand the Colony Days and Colony Christmas festivals. I asked for prayers of civility during that debacle, so we as a community could find a path forward.
But that wasn’t good enough for the Palmer Three. The anti-recall group interpreted my call for civility and prayer as blasting the volunteers and board members who attempted to, by fiat and with no public input, change the name of Palmer’s signature festivals to “Braided River Festival” and “Hometown Holidays.”
In a previous council meeting, the deputy mayor had called for the code of ethics to be brought forward, as I had heard from six businesses in Palmer who came forward, asking for anonymity, reporting about extreme intimidation from members of the MatSu “Moms For Social Justice” group, and the four sitting council members (one is now gone), pressuring council members to get onboard with the mask mandate or be labeled and boycotted by the group.
The deputy mayor asked, “Why would these businesses be so afraid to come forward with their names? Please explain this to me.”
The recall of the Palmer Three has brought out truth, and people have become more confident, fed up, and are speaking their minds about events that occurred. This is precisely how we got here two year later.
After reading through all 2,000 screen prints provided by a whistleblower, it’s clear to me this recall of Sabrena Combs, Brian Daniels, and Jill Valerius has merit. What they did with this private Facebook group, “MatSu Moms For Social Justice,” was not innocent or an accident. It was calculated and manipulative. I didn’t want to believe it. I never thought they wanted to harm or damage Palmer and were acting simply as just citizens being involved. But then it became very clear.
During their attempt at a mask mandate, Julie Berberich, who was on the council (and who is now gone from the council), jumped down the throat of anyone in opposition, in that Facebook group. Even after being told by business owners that they did not support being the enforcement arm of the mandate, the four council members pushed it forward anyway.
There was blatant contempt in the Facebook group posts and a collective agreement that conservatives are brainless scum. If you had Christian values, the vitriol against you would only ratchet up.
Here’s what wasn’t in the attorneys’ report in relation to over 2,000 screen prints from the exclusive Facebook group that the council members were part of. You can read more about this at the RecallPalmerThree website and decide for yourself.
1. Councilwoman Sabrena Combs posting her proposed mask mandate into the private Facebook group (before was even on the agenda) and telling the group members to wait for it to be “set” before sending letters in that would be read into the record. This was Sabrena Combs holding secret strategy meetings with other council members outside the public process, a violation of the Open Meetings Act.
2. The post from one member tagging the four council members to get help with how to proceed with the police oversight commission. Additionally there were Sabrena Combs’ comments about the Open Meetings Act and the administrators responding that they would facilitate serial communication. Serial communications are an explicit violation of the Open Meetings Act.
3. Julie Berberich’s post about the need to fill up the boards and commissions with progressives, and subsequent serial communications about that endeavor.
4. Julie Berberich’s asking a group member to get businesses to sign the pro-mask mandate letter and subsequent serial communications about that topic, which was a policy discussion held in secret.
5. The post in which the group talks about “it all comes down to 4 votes.”
6. The post in which they recap the meeting on police oversight and say a council member was advising them on the subject.
I think back to the chaos created and constant front page stories in the news over a two year period, and it’s clear to me that power and influence were brokered through the four council members within an ideological group on Facebook, who had their woke tentacles operating in very impressionable organizations across the Valley.
I’m done with the one-sided publications, with whom these remaining council members have created a cozy relationship and that try to steer the narrative in their favor. It’s time for truth, as painful as it may be.
As long as I am in a position to fight, I will do so. We must never let this happen again. Not in our town and not on my watch.
Pam Melin is the deputy mayor of the City of Palmer.
