Anchorage municipal elections are the only ones in Alaska that are held in early April, and the campaign signs are an indicator that the ballots will be sent out in the mail soon to qualified voters in Alaska’s biggest city.
In Spenard, where one hotel gets millions of taxpayer dollars from the Assembly to house homeless people and vagrants during the winter, a sign for Assemblyman Kameron Perez-Verdia shows how it works. Perez-Verdia, a Democrat, signs off on the appropriation for the Alex Hotel and Suites. And the Alex allows the assemblyman to put up a large campaign sign.
The money doesn’t go directly to the Alex, but is appropriated to Henning, Inc. and MASH Property Management. That group has been paid over $6 million to operate the Alex as winter shelter for homeless since 2023.
Henning and MASH use a portion of the taxpayer money to pay for the hotel rooms, and the Alex is named in the contract with Anchorage to provide the rooms. Henning also provides these services at other hotels, such as Merrill Field Inn and Henry House.
Ballots will be mailed to voters on March 11 and the drop boxes for the ballots will be unlocked on March 12. Perez-Verdia has two challengers for his West Anchorage seat: Jonathan Duckworth and Amie Steen.
Of course, the question is, which is better, if at all: Jonathan Duckworth or Amie Steen