If you are among those deluded souls who persist in believing Anchorage city politics are nonpartisan, you may want to think again.
Assembly Chairman Felix Rivera posted a notice for six jobs for Assembly aides only on the Young Democrats Facebook group, and told the group to not share the information with anybody. The temporary contract positions, which will pay $11,200, are to be funded with federal CARES Act money.
The jobs are to focus on COVID-19 work and include constituent work, policy research and writing, drafting Assembly documents, working with affected community members and the public.
After the flap, which sprang from a complaint by the Sand Lake Community Council, the number of available jobs fell from six to two for the time being, and the hiring chore was given to Assembly Vice Chairman Austin-Quinn Davidson, and members Crystal Kennedy and John Weddleton, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
We are left to wonder: If Rivera is willing to play politics in hiring only Democrats for aides, what else is he willing to play politics with? His actions again show that politics in Anchorage are far from nonpartisan.
