Was there a pre-meeting before Anchorage’s Assembly meeting on Friday night to determine who would be the acting mayor of Anchorage?
It appears that way. At least there were conversations between those dominating the liberal Assembly. They were conversations that were evident to many in the audience during the meeting that was to swap out Quinn-Davidson for Assembly Chairman Felix Rivera. Both are far-left radicals on the Anchorage Assembly.
Rivera was placed in the second slot — vice chair — and when Mayor Ethan Berkowitz’ resignation takes place on Oct. 23 at 6 pm, Quinn-Davidson will become mayor and Rivera will once again take the gavel in the Assembly as chair. A win-win for the Left.
The chamber was empty at 4:30 pm, but soon filled up with supporters of Austin Quinn-Davidson. Regular attendees found it hard to get into the meeting with all the newcomers who mysteriously arrived. Rep. Zack Fields showed up and sat right next to the microphone, so he could be first to testify. AFL-CIO boss Vince Beltrami showed up. The room was full of people unknown to these meetings.
There was no public testimony at the beginning of the meeting, but this was a “special meeting” called by Rivera, and he didn’t go by the usual agenda. It soon became apparent that the fix was in, and that John Weddleton, the moderate on the Assembly, would not have the votes. Quinn-Davidson had them before the meeting even started.
As soon as public testimony began, Rep. Fields was ready, and was first to the mic. He whipped out his phone to read from its screen his pre-prepared congratulatory speech to the new soon-to-be-acting mayor Quinn-Davidson. Boss Beltrami did the same — reading his already prepared remarks to praise the choice of Quinn-Davidson. They both knew before the meeting where the votes were.
The vote had taken place in secret, out of the eye of the public.
Activist Bernadette Wilson was having none of that, and when it finally came to her time at the mic, called the Assembly members “cowards” for voting in secret. She also noted that Rep. Fields’ had his comments already prepared.
“Ladies and gentleman, THAT’S Astro-Turf,” she said, referring to a remark Mayor Ethan Berkowitz had made recently calling protesters of his policies “Astro-Turf,” which means fake grassroots activity. Fields is heavily involved with union activities in his day job, when not working as a legislator.
Thus, the Anchorage Assembly’s far left continues to rule over Anchorage. Quinn-Davidson will become the first openly gay mayor of Anchorage on Oct. 23, but will be able to return to her Assembly seat after a new mayor is seated.
During the meeting, activist Dustin Darden sat with a box over his head. Some yelled. Quinn-Davidson warned they would be thrown out, and one man was. She had to take a break to restore order.
Many in the audience who testified after the vote were angry, and others who were not allowed into the chambers but remained outside also expressed anger.
Bernadette for Mayor. A breath of fresh air in the midst of the rest of the idiocy.
Yes
Who expects anything less from the politburo? Just wait until they rule from Juneau.
So basically nothing has changed and it will only het worse. Great. Not. Good luck Anchorage residents. Please be sure to get out and vote Red every election!
And if you bail out of the City for the Valley because you cant stand the Gestapo rule, please leave your blue voting records in the City. Don’t come out here and ruin the Valley too.
What has happened to this state?!? Get rid of a philandering idiot only to secretly vote in a gay liberal female with ZERO integrity, class or morals and knowledge of what it means to be Mayor?? Give me a break where is the voice of the people here? Why are these brainwashed immature babies getting into our government and how? Have lived in this state for 51 years….never have I seen such outright rigging. I refuse to watch it turn into a Seattle debacle…. What this tells me is something else is making the decisions here, not the people of this state obviously…. That must stop..if that means making laws unique to this state that prevent others with radical ideas from other states coming here making changes then so be it. This is ridiculous!!
Imagine that,,a rigged election. If you thought Mini-Me B was bad,wait until Miss Flower Power starts to rule. You will wish Sexy Texty was back on his booster seat at City Hall.
Look at Berkowitz like this: Lie to get in office- lie while in office- lie while apologizing – while getting out of office.
This is perfect. Ms. Quinn-Davidson can install a hot line connecting to her to the Antifa-woman mayor about to be elected in Portland. Maybe they can both establish embassies in Havana and Caracas. Or my favorite: Require all residents to undergo white fragility training before being allowed to vote, work or buy groceries. And we need a municipal ordinance prohibiting all firearms. All the good stuff. Now.
Mayor Begich wanted to make Anchorage “the Portland of the North:; Berkowitz wanted to make Anchorage “the san fransicko of the North”…….
I hope those in the leftist district rise up and take back their representation. I know mine is secure in Assemblywoman Allard. EAGLEXIT now.
EAGLEXIT is a well thought out plan but I don’t think Anchorage will ever give up JBER or Eklutna. Why not head out further north? The real estate market in Anchorage is hot right now, so sell high and find a nice properties in the Valley. I have never understood why so many companies don’t move out to the Valley. There is beautiful land there and cheap property. The Valley needs to lure more companies out there and then less people will have to commute to Anchorage. Now is the time before the Anchorage market tanks next year.
No mystery here ,,Soros said we need a Californian Loyalist to the agenda, Felix Bows low.. Shazzam.. Its just reloading the same old song and destroy Anchorage dance… We were given a gift from GOD By the Maria Athens ordeal to wake up and recognize the trouble we are in. Do not blow this moment of vulnerability. Conservatives have rare solidarity. They must not let this moment dissipate … Unite, for this is communism we are up against. If we hesitate, our society our children all will pay a horrible price.
Bernadette Wilson is an exceedingly effective speaker in pointing out inconsistencies in public policy matters. Dustin Darden, on the other hand, is an unmitigated fool. Whatever points he wishes to make are compromised by his self-centered, immature outlandish behavior. He clearly has no concept of our constitutionally secular separation of church and state and would certainly refuse to accept the concept if explained out to him.
Seems like it is time for Anchorage voters to put up or shut up next election. Put up with this horrible display of public service, or stand tall and vote them out.
What a mess. What exactly does the assembly do for the citizens of this city? Anyone?
Raise our taxes and give the money to their self righteous not for profit friends under the guise of helping the less fortunate but actually only enrich a few
Another Pension Plan claimant to saddle ANC taxpayers, for an assembly and city hall(sic) staffed with porn-puter-verts to be politically correct and prove compassion for deviant behavior in city hall(sic). Bend over ANC from the weddleton(sic) Rain Tax to the ethan(sic) Empty Building and Bag Tax — the sooner they bankrupt ANC the sooner we can rebuild ANC and send the political missionaries back to the LEFT COAST and Commie Hirono ISLE.
Someone stick a fork in Anchorage – it’s done!
It’s been done for a long time. I would never consider moving back there under any circumstance. And I avoid going there unless absolutely necessary.
Good ….. if you lived here then you are part of the blame…..no rain drop ever feels the blame for a flood….. do not fix it, run to a safe place and break “there” too.
“Quinn-Davidson will become the first openly gay mayor of Anchorage”
Good, I say, Maybe this will make all the closeted right consider that Larry Craig isn’t a role model. 1 sec, two sec, three sec before delete by her highness…
What is good about having an openly gay Mayor? How does being gay improve your ability to do the job? Please explain, as I just do not get it.
How does an inherent trait make someone a better choice for a political position?
Seriously, your comment seems to be based on an assumption about people on the right side of the political aisle that is, frankly, baseless. You seem to believe that somehow, conservatives will be aghast that a gay woman is Mayor? Frankly, I don’t care who she is attracted to, and I do not know of a single person who does.
In fact, it is the folks on the left that insist on making an issue of a person’s lifestyle, skin color, and religion. Most people on the right could not care less.
However, sorry about rambling on. Please answer the initial question. How exactly does Quinn’s sexual preference make her a better mayor?
Thanks
Hyphenated names are always a symbol of superiority through insecurity/inferiority. This is more of the missionary politic invading ANC, our city, from SEA, PDX, SFO, SAN, LAX, HON, asstin quinn(sic) is surely the best choice to stick the favored TOY’s to taxpayers in the back.
Is that lawful what they did? I mean voting in secret and without allowing public testimony? Is Weddleton an outspoken person or is he a ‘corner observer’ for his party affiliates? This all seems a bit sketchy to me like they had outside Dems helping sway the votes into secrecy and behind closed doors!!
It’s likely lawful, but there are only a few Alaska court decisions to guide anyone on this. The members probably didn’t hold a secret meeting or vote together in secret. If they did, one or two of their own colleagues would object, because the violation would be clear. This was more likely a poll taken by someone with political influence prior to the meeting. (It’s perfectly legal for you or I to call each member separately– a conference call with a full quorum would be illegal.) Such polling is called a “serial meeting” and can take place by meeting in pairs, or a series of phone calls or via email or message boards. It skirts the law because Alaska lawmakers do not want to update the law or to make a stricter law.
This isn’t even close. Votes for the purpose of organizing a municipal body are exempt under the plain language of the Open Public Meetings Act and have been for decades. There isn’t much case law on this section because you’d have to be five kinds of stupid with a willingness to risk your Bar card to argue that an organizational vote should be public.
AS 44.62.310. Government Meetings Public.
(a) … This section does not apply to any votes required to be taken to organize a governmental body described in this subsection.
The Anchorage Municipal Code mirrors this exception and explicitly calls for a secret ballot and has for decades as well. AMC 2.30.010
Thank you. I’ve seen some elected boards use secret paper ballots and just read the rules into the record before voting. That’s probably as transparent as one could hope for, but I also think it would be legal to just announce an executive session and come back afterward with a new organization. I don’t believe the secret ballot clause gives them the right to reorganize in an unannounced serial meeting — a phone-tag or email scheme, in this case orchestrated by conductors from the Alaska Democratic Party and the unions. I am a realist about the secret meetings, though. They were convened decades ago and they never adjourn. The law won’t stop the secret meetings because lawmakers don’t want them to stop
Elections aren’t won by votes. It’s won by who’s counting the votes
Mail in voting has to go if were ever to get off this fast track to begin SanFran North.
Voting is a duty just like jury duty. Do they let you mail in a verdict.
Didn’t Weddleton vote to approve the cabal’s plan to install homeless shelters for drug and alcohol addicts into otherwise well established thriving communities in Anchorage. Oh yes, Weddleton did vote against a shelter near Tudor, but that was nothing more than to keep a buffer zone between his own voting area in Anchorage South. I don’t consider Weddleton a “moderate” any more than I consider Lisa Murkowski is “showing signs of political maturity”…
Love you, Bernadette!
But really, I don’t care about whether someone in public office is gay. I care about whether they can do the job. Let’s just focus on that, please. Thanks.
Hyphenated names are always a symbol of superiority through insecurity/inferiority. This is more of the missionary politic invading ANC, our city, from SEA, PDX, SFO, SAN, LAX, HON, asstin quinn(sic) is surely the best choice to stick the favored TOY’s to taxpayers in the back.
No surprise here Anchorage goes from pervert to abomination all behind closed doors that alone tells you about the political cesspool Anchorage has become!!!
It seems like Conservatives these days do little except complain about how “rigged” things are against them. So unfair!!
Considering an unethical SCOTUS confirmation, that I’d say that this barely registers on the payback scale.
Buckle up for a landslide on 3 November, folks. It’s Karma time.
Let’s hope citizens in Anchorage are paying attention.
Actually, the SCOTUS confirmation was ethical and lawful.
The only hope for the GOP is young intelligent people that understand demographics. There is little utility in further scaring boomers because we’re all gonna be dead or incapacitated soon. Youth is the only way out and the GOP ain’t doing so hot with that cohort. We’ve officially entered OMG! the socialism zone. Cash your checks!
OTOH, the good news is that it is all out in public, on the table, with both the unions and democrats in ANC involved. They no longer feel the need to hide. Now it is up to us to remove them from the political gene pool. Cheers –
Well, they either violated the Open Meetings Act by having a closed meeting with a majority participating or the violated it by someone conducting a serial meeting to count votes. Clearly the fascist bloc of the Assembly and their supporters don’t like that messy democracy stuff and involving a bunch of deplorables in their decision-making.
Reference the Open Meetings Act I doubt they were foolish enough to hold a closed meeting or secret conference between more than three of them. I suspect a serial meeting arrangement, however, with all the subtle gossipy nuances of “do you think its a time for something difference, something we haven’t had before?”
Arty, try reading to the end of the first paragraph of the Open Public Meetings Act. That last sentence exempts exactly this type of action, hasn’t been amended since 1994, and has been in some form since at least 1976 (if not earlier, but I got tired of looking at session laws).
AS 44.62.310. Government Meetings Public.
(a) … This section does not apply to any votes required to be taken to organize a governmental body described in this subsection.
The Anchorage Municipal Code mirrors this exception and explicitly calls for a secret ballot and has for decades as well. AMC 2.30.010
A very dark plague of locusts has descend on our city and have almost consumed it. Like the w**** of Babylon, and the false prophet, the new mayor will bring even more destruction and perversion. How sick is all of this?
Well, fat Albert was obviously gonna die before he was 22 and his pal is in jail. Some day you might lift that rock that’s holding you down.
The voters can fix this, soon.
The two steps necessary first is the recall process, on November 7 we will know if West Anchorage can recall their 2 Assembly members, one of which is new Chair soon to be Acting Mayor.
The second is to request every Legislator move to amend that the reorganization exemption be removed form state law for all public meeting, so we can see who voted.
Anchorage voted for this mess. That majority of voters made the bed, now sleep in it. Those that had disagreed and were too lazy to vote….. guess the lesson is being learned.
Guess again.
.
The Anchorage Assembly forced an easily corruptible mail-in vote system on productive residents just so crap like this could be started and sustained.
.
What, Anchorage’s mail-in vote system can’t be easily corrupted?
.
Guess again.
I deliberately voted for Berkowitz and Weddleton. The sooner the city goes bust the sooner we can fix Anchorage. The stupid GOP ran how many candidates against Begich’s hip-replacement? Now they whine about street-rats and porn-stars in city hall. You are right, Magnificent Johnson, now the stoner-voter troop will see how lowering your standards and being to lazy to kick the trash out of town costs more to fix, than taking out the trash to begin with .
The fix has been in on Anchorage for several years. In this case the Outcome was pre determined the day Berkowitz punched his exit ticket.
Perception is everything and this is a victory for the Uber Radical Fringe Left of Alaska.
Make no mistake the closer Anchorage appears to be heading along the same path as Portland or Seattle, the better.
HEY !!! If the SEA,SFO, LAX and the PDO potheads can bring the astro-truf and Leftcoast Politics here to ANC then valley should should soak them up, and help light up. The valley needs ALL the out-of-state plates and the TWN’s.
She looks just like Portland’s proposed new mayor, sans the Che, Mao, and Stalin skirt. Good luck with this one Anchorage. Just like the Wuhan flu, the cure is worse than the disease.
The City Open Meetings Act has been ignored. Private gathering are prohibited by the Open Meetings Act.
The Open Meetings Act even applies to Democrats, etc.
Indeed a communist takeover attempt is happening in our city. The liberals and most of this assembly are defying the residents with complete distain and hubris with this pure evil attempt. It’s been much easier for them using Covid as a crutch under the guise for our safety and well being.
It’s time for strength in numbers to extinguish this diabolical push to destroy our city. If we don’t, we become Seattle, Portland and San Francisco ( or even worst).
” Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves. ”
— Henry David Thoreau
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
— Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson warned us about this.
The fix was definitely in! Rep. Zack Fields was the first person to offer prepared congratulatory remarks after Austin Quinn-Davidson was voted in by secret ballot as the new assembly chairperson (en route to becoming the acting MOA mayor). Before the special assembly meeting started, Fields sat quietly in the front row until Quinn-Davidson took a seat directly next to him. They had what appeared to be a lengthy, happy conversation. She smiled like the Cheshire Cat!
The Municipality of Anchorage will succeed in these difficult days only if there is new competent and representative leadership from the mayor’s office down to the Assembly. So, we must work together 1) on the recall efforts currently underway against Felix Rivera and Meg Zaletel AND 2) to ensure a special mayoral election as soon as possible. They have taken our voices and we must work to get them back!
The assembly could sell clothes now as they really are a “banana republic”.
.
Sad.
Could you point out the Anchorage Assembly exemption to the Open Meetings Act?
Here you go!
This is the last sentence of the first paragraph of the Open Public Meetings Act. That sentence exempts exactly this type of action, hasn’t been amended since 1994, and has been in some form since at least 1976 (if not earlier, but I got tired of looking at session laws).
AS 44.62.310. Government Meetings Public.
(a) … This section does not apply to any votes required to be taken to organize a governmental body described in this subsection.
The Anchorage Municipal Code mirrors this exception and explicitly calls for a secret ballot and has for decades as well. AMC 2.30.010
One nice thing about Quinn-Davidson or Rivera being Mayor is we don’t have to worry about their children getting kush jobs or no-bid contracts. The biggest worry would be Quinn-Davidson’s cat getting a job as ‘Head of Mouse Control’ for a $160,000 per year.
Sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Hahaha, fun to trigger the snowflakes. Poor right not getting their way, it is an injustice against democracy. Rob an election, make it hard to vote, that is the is way it should be and whiners can move out of the country. Well how about some consistency and you all move out of the country. News flash, conservatism will die. Liberals will take over. Deal with it or get out.
You’re in for a culture shock in 2021
They criminalized parental rights to get your child counseling when experiencing UNWANTED same-sex feelings.
Comments are closed.