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Anchorage residents have had a tough time in recent years. First, the trauma and stress of COVID-19, then a plummeting economy, chronic homelessness, increasingly squalid communities, and a series of municipal management crises.
But Anchorage is about to take a break. We are lucky to have a mayoral election where the right choice is clear, a good alternative to the sad status quo.
By simply casting our ballots, we can bring a long-awaited end to Dave Bronson's house of lies and liars and replace it with a government of competence and integrity.
competency and integrity. God, what a change that is.
I met Suzanne LaFrance when she was a new councilor and I was one of her neighbors fighting a haphazard rezoning. As a voter, I could not have asked for better treatment for Suzanne.
She listened to us as well as the developers. She worked hard with Congress to find a win-win relationship. In the end, we neighbors got some of what we wanted and the developer got the subdivision.
I came away from this entire experience with tremendous admiration for Suzanne's character, work ethic, sense of fairness, compassion, determination to learn, and willingness to address competing interests.
After she became Speaker of Parliament, I attended a parliamentary meeting where she and other members were insulted, threatened and harassed by anti-drug hysteria. I couldn't believe how calm, courageous, and fair she was while presiding over the most disturbing and virulent public meeting I've seen in her 49 years in Anchorage.
On the other side of the ballot is Dave Bronson, who was too busy filling City Hall with right-wing ideologues and con men to clear the streets.
Let's take a look at just some of Bronson's biggest hits.
Bronson fought against public health as his supporters literally died in overcrowded hospitals. He seems to take pride in his position as Alaska's most prominent anti-science public official, and his supporters have come forward to show that masks must be worn to grocery stores during the pandemic. The man who wore a yellow star to a Congressional meeting signified that it was as if he were wearing a mask. He was gassed in a concentration camp.
Mr. Bronson concealed his key role in organizing the Alaska Corona Coalition, which brought together Republican reactionaries, anti-mask protesters, anti-vaccine opponents, and “alternative treatment” scammers. When his role was finally revealed, Bronson, uncharacteristically candid, explained, “I didn't want my fingerprints all over it.”
Bizarrely, he ordered the fluoridation of the city's water supply to be discontinued, realized that it was against the law, ordered the fluoridation to be resumed, and then, once this episode became public, several days later. He also lied and eventually admitted the lie, but never explained it. .
He ousted many of the talented leaders of the city's health department. We, the taxpayers, ended up paying at least one poor employee $52,000 for discrimination by Bronson.
But Bronson outdid himself when he put a real crook in charge of the health department. His name was Joe Jerace, he had his master's degrees in business administration and physician assistant studies, and he claimed to be a high-ranking officer in the Alaska National Guard. It turned out that he didn't even have one of his master's degrees, much less two. He wasn't even a member of the National Guard. When a reporter (not from the Bronson administration) discovered his fake resume, he resigned.
Before Bronson was selected, the city required a chief librarian to have a degree in library science and seven years of experience. Bronson rejected those standards and instead sought to hire an unqualified political supporter named Judy Elledge. After Elledge's homophobic, racist and downright bizarre social media comments became public, Elledge withdrew her name from consideration.
Bronson shamelessly hired her as the library's “assistant director” and was able to avoid approval by Congress, while Bronson left the director's post vacant and Elledge remained in charge of the library. .
Another person Bronson unsuccessfully appointed was Cheston “Prophet” McCrea, whom Bronson tried to place on the Anchorage Equal Rights Commission. When McCree's history of misogynistic and homophobic comments became public, he recanted.
Of course, in addition to mismanagement of personnel, Bronson also has a history of mismanagement of the city's finances. Here are some examples, according to former City Manager Amy Demboski (who is currently suing Bronson and the city for $550,000): Under city law, any amount over $30,000 No-bid city contracts require council approval. Bronson awarded at least three $29,500 single-source contracts one after the other to a political cronies named Larry Baker. Mr. Bronson appears to have no qualms about violating the spirit of the law to avoid parliamentary scrutiny.
Demboski also said Bronson fired a city employee who refused to “wave” a city contract to a friend of Bronson's “inner inner circle.”
Bronson also admitted that he violated the law when he approved a multimillion-dollar contract to begin construction on a homeless shelter, which led to a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the city and resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages. A $1 million settlement was reached. with your tax money.
If someone, somewhere believes that once Mr. Bronson leaves office and a complete and competent audit of the city's finances is completed, no further financial fraud will be found, then I'll take a side bet.
And snow removal work. Or lack thereof.
I could go on but you get the point.
Voters, don't be fooled by cynical partisan appeals to vote “conservative” or “liberal.” This mayoral election is a direct question of whether the government is good or bad. We had bad things happen. Let's do our best.
Patrick Dougherty is an author, former Anchorage Daily News editor, and strategic media and marketing consultant.
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