Not to be outdone by the local alternative press, the Anchorage Daily News found Sunday a slow-enough news day that the social media comments of the governor’s outreach director, Dave Stieren, became front-and-center political fodder.
The newspaper wanted to know why Stieren, who is known for his outspoken ways, had encouraged people in Anchorage to live it up on Monday, the last day before Anchorage Acting Mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson put the city back into an economic deep freeze.
As of Tuesday, restaurants, bars, bingo halls, and theaters are closed again, and capacity at other establishments has been drastically curtailed by order of the acting mayor. Schools in Anchorage have been closed for over 260 days since the coronavirus panic took hold.
“Monday night, go to your favorite bar and party like it’s New Year’s Eve,” Stieren wrote on his personal Facebook page, which caught the attention of the alternative press. “Dress up. Uber. Whatever. Do it.”
In other words, do what’s legal until Tuesday, Stieren was saying. Help restaurants use up their inventory so it doesn’t all have to be thrown out, along with their livelihoods.
Stieren is not a spokesman for the Administration, but he does interface with the public and at times facilitates town hall meetings with the governor.
The ADN wanted to know if Stieren’s personal views are the official position of the Dunleavy Administration and asked a litany of questions of Stieren, including comments Stieren once made about the coronavirus being a “beer virus,” on social media.
– Does the governor agree with the above statements you made?
– Do you speak for the Office of the Governor when making political statements on your social media pages?
– If not, why should the public view your statements as separate from the state’s public health advice?
– Has the governor talked with you about these posts?
– If so, what was said?
– Does your encouragement run counter to the state’s advice on COVID-19?
– What were you trying to accomplish with those posts?
– This is not the first time you have downplayed the coronavirus or suggested that governments are overreacting by enacting mandates. You in March, the same month the state declared a COVID emergency, referred to the coronavirus as the “beer virus” on social media, stating “this is why I yawn over the beer virus.” Was the governor aware of that statement?
– Did the governor agree with that statement at the time?
– Does he agree with it now?
– More recently on Twitter, you have suggested that mask mandates don’t work because of the prevalence of COVID cases in Anchorage. Is this also the governor’s view?
– Is that Dr. Zink’s view?
– Have you advised the governor to resist enacting a statewide mask mandate?
– Has Chief Medical Officer Anne Zink advised the governor on whether to enact a mask mandate? If so, what was her recommendation?
– Does the state, or the governor’s office, have a written social media policy that applies to posts made on employee’s personal accounts? If so, can you please share that policy?
The ADN has never published a story about former Mayor Ethan Berkowitz’ appointee of the Anchorage parking authority, Andrew Halcro, who is on Twitter on a daily basis with political commentary aimed at Gov. Mike Dunleavy.
Stieren joined the Dunleavy Administration after years of hosting a popular talk show in Anchorage, where he was well known for throwing sharp elbows at liberal politicians.
For now, Stieren says he has deleted his Facebook page due to the level of vitriol and threats he was receiving on the page from shutdown supporters and Dunleavy haters, language that he felt his family didn’t need to be exposed to over the holidays.
At least one restaurant in Anchorage took the idea about New Years Eve and ran with it, which got the media’s attention, too. AlaskasNewsSource did a story on it. Altura Bistro held its New Years Eve dinner on Monday night.
That’s the state of journalism in 2020.
Well, I admit he is an easy target, but what the hell was he thinking?
Of course – woe be to those who use personal satire in the woke liberal news dynasty we are bombarded with every day. No humor unless the media rulers agree with it.
Sorta like the media recommending that people don’t shoot up bleach to prevent Covid?
Dave,
Somebody has to retain a sense of humour about this stuff. Hang in.
Interesting information that I just came about. One family member of a private wedding ceremony later came up positive. Many of the other family members got tested, and within several days had symptoms. The ones who never bothered to test never became ill. Where is it those test squabs are manufactured? No, the Reds would never do that, right?
The ADN has to make up news. As if there isn’t anything else going on in the world? I suppose this is what you do when you don’t have any journalism skills. People have gone completely mad. Ray Charles can see the bias in their so called “reporting”. MRAK is a conservative outlet – and is upfront about that. You know what you are going to get. Why doesn’t ADN just come out of the closet and announce what they actually are? A liberal rag that is dying a slow death. Or, they will deem themselves “independent” and still die a slow death.
Until this year, the word “lockdown” only pertained to prisoners in maximum-security facilities. That alone tells you what our overlords think of us, and where we actually find ourselves today.
Well its more than we hear out of AWOL Mike and Governor Anne Zink when it comes to the burgeoning tyranny of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Anchorage.
Halcro is the king of petty and vindictive, so I don’t see how his directing his criticism at the governor should receive any notice what so ever. As for Stieren, he has every right to voice his opinion and the putzs at the Daily Rag are just constantly stirring the pot because they know the virus is a non event that continues to be hyped to promote the agenda of the tyrants in city hall. Any logical person would look at the data and recognize the only danger that the virus presents is to the small businessman. The mandates are the real killers, not the virus.
Folks are going to have to decide how supportive they are going to be of the new thought police. I refuse to provide any support. The “wokeness”, “cancel culture” and “political correctness” ends here and now.
Here’s a thought — how about Big Mike does his own “community outreach.”
Thereby saving the state +$100k/yr, and Dave could go find something useful to produce.
Am confused. Since March, the city of Anchorage and the State of Alaska has been doing this on and off again shut downs. All in hopes of lowering the Covid-19 numbers. We have gone from a 35 cases a day average to a 700 a day average. Why do the numbers keep climbing on lockdowns? Shouldn’t the numbers be dropping? Maybe it’s just me but I’m sure not holding my breath for a decline in cases. By the way, thanks to these shut downs. I have lost 2/3 of my monthly income, my $20,000 car has been repossessed, and am currently being evicted from my apartment because I can’t pay rent. Am sleeping in my truck. And it’s starting to get colder and colder each night. The month of December is going to get really interesting. Since I have been denied unemployment benefits and only have twenty hours on my pay check. Let’s see how long it takes before I end up in the obituary section of the newspapers.
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