This Week in Sanity: June 5, 2021

There hasn't been a lot going on in local Anchorage politics this past week — at least not in comparison to the insanity we've seen from the right over the past 5 months — but there are some items of interest we should perhaps note.

Alaska Parents' Rights in Education (APRIE) is taking a victory lap they haven't earned nor deserve. The ill-informed group has been perpetuating some misinformation on their Facebook page (go figure). The group believes the Anchorage School District has a mandated vaccine requirement for individuals who wish to volunteer in some capacity for the school district.

While it's true this was the policy for school volunteers at one point, it hasn't been the policy since May, and the policy change wasn't because of something APRIE whined about — but there they are, shouting "WELL DONE!" as if they've done something meaningful.

I wonder what the group has against volunteers being mandated to get a vaccine? Hopefully, the parents' group doesn't want people sick because they believe in personal 'freedumbs.'

This week, the Anchorage Assembly hosted two Town Halls about the proposed B3 zoning change and homeless shelter licensing. I'll have a little to say about the events on Monday but interesting to note that, other than a few disrespectful mouth-frothers who refuse to show any respect for our elected officials, testimony was largely respectful if not a little heated times.

Along those same lines, Anchorage Mayor-Elect David Bronson appointed an Anchorage anesthesiologist as the head of Bronson's homelessness transition team. (I promise I'm not making this up).

Dr. Morris had written a letter printed in the Anchorage Daily News, which supported opening businesses when COVID-19 cases had increased in the Municipality. Dr. Morris then wrote a second letter acknowledging that he could have chosen his words better after his first letter drew criticism for a line about shamanism.

Morris cleared things up for readers in his second letter when he wrote:

"When I wrote the line about witch doctors, shamans, and quacks, the faces framed in my mind’s eye were coincidentally white, peering into a cauldron or selling snake oil from a Conestoga wagon, perhaps because I happen to be white."

Must Read Alaska, January 11, 2021

When the Anchorage Daily News inquired with Axiom Strategies and the Bronson transition team about Dr. Morris' experience with homelessness and social services, ADN received, unsurprisingly, no response to their inquiry. Bronson's transition team is already giving off big Trump energy.

Bronson may have settled on his pick for Anchorage's next Municipal Attorney, according to the political rumor mill. If the name being circulated is correct, I don't see how Bronson gets them confirmed by the Assembly, but that doesn't mean Bronson wouldn't have a good reason for trying. Remember, the Bronson campaign wrote on their Facebook page that the plan was to flip Assembly seats and then do away with Anchorage's vote by mail system.

Bronson has filed MORE amendments with APOC ahead of an expected APOC staff report to be issued in about three weeks. After reviewing the amendments made by the campaign, I think we're going to learn some interesting things about the campaign's conduct over the course of this year's election cycle.

I wouldn't worry about it too much - it's not like APOC took the Dunbar campaign's complaint seriously. However, APOC should be embaressed for taking Bronson campaign counsel Stacey Stone's word for it that all of this APOC gobbledygook would be cleaned up "expeditiously."

It's been roughly two months since Dunbar's campaign filed their complaint with APOC, the election is over, and yet the Bronson campaign continues filing amendments. We'll see how much of Bronson's milk money is taken by APOC — which is about all the toothless Alaska Public Offices Commission is empowered to do. Anyway, expect to see more amendments before the APOC staff report is released. Goodness.

Last, Alaska scientist Jennifer Sonne recognized Pride Month in a post made to her campaign Twitter account. Sonne said that she was reminded that Alaska is only one of ten states with a Medicaid program that explicitly excludes transgender Alaskans from transition-related healthcare.

Sonne is running for the Legislature on a “Responsive Representation” platform in South Anchorage as an Independent who has a progressive vision for Alaska’s future.