Muni Lawyers Say “Save Anchorage” Working Hand-In-Hand With AFOM

The Municipality of Anchorage fired shots when they filed their opposition to Alaskans for Open Meetings' Preliminary Injunction motion on November 25.

Alaskans For Open Meetings (AFOM) effectively seeks to invalidate Anchorage ordinances enacted in August during the shutdown because the Anchorage Assembly held telephonic and video meetings instead of in-person meetings.

The municipality's Opposition to Motion for Preliminary Injunction mentions the Save Anchorage Facebook group in a footnote, alleging that AFOM stated on their Facebook page, "Lastly, we are working hand-in-hand with Save Anchorage and other similar organizations. We are not duplicating efforts."

The municipality also alleges that "Plaintiffs purposefully waited to file their Complaint, working in concert with other groups to achieve the same end."

As a non-lawyer, I can't help but wonder what would happen if the Save Anchorage Facebook group got dragged into this lawsuit. One might reasonably infer that the Facebook group might be forced to turn over some or all of its Facebook data, data that is kept by the social media giant no matter what might have been deleted in the past.

Regardless, the AFOM Facebook page does seem to post a lot of Must Read Alaska articles highly critical of Acting Mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson and the Anchorage Assembly, actions some would say the two groups seem to have in common.

This whole lawsuit will be a delicious watch for sure, especially if the lawsuit makes it to discovery.