This Week In Sanity: The 'Hill' to Die On

It's a strange thing watching the Anchorage Daily News cover the most vitriolic and disturbing series of Anchorage Assembly meetings since the "Summer of Hate," without once mentioning the Facebook group directly involved in the breathtaking dissemination of misinformation in our city. Save Anchorage has engaged in multiple disinformation campaigns related to mask-wearing, COVID, vaccines, election fraud, and homelessness while simultaneously waging political war against city officials over the past year.

One might think that a pro-Bronson group whose members espouse antisemitism, transphobia, and homophobia and who have openly called for civil war, threatened violence against city officials and accused assembly members of pedophilia might be of interest to ADN editor David Hulen. But then again, this is the city newspaper rumored to have killed a story during the Anchorage mayoral election related to a Facebook message in which David Bronson more than suggested that former president Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election.

The Bronson Facebook message isn't necessarily shocking in the post-Trump era of politics, but at the same time, it shouldn't be summarily dismissed either, especially in light of the fact that on January 6, 2021, as violent armed insurrectionists were attempting to take the nation's Capitol by force, Bronson, then a candidate for mayor, dropped this disturbing message on his campaign Facebook page.

On January 6, and the days following the armed insurrection of the Capitol, members of Save Anchorage called the attack a necessary evil, referred to former Vice President Mike Pence as a traitor, and railed against Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan's decision to vote to certify the 2020 presidential election. Months later, "Save Anchorage" member Aaron J. Mileur of Wasilla would be arrested by the FBI for his alleged participation in the attack. Federal documents state that Mileur also uploaded a video taken from within the Capitol to the Save Anchorage group.

Pro-Bronson Save Anchorage supporters have whipped up anti-Dominion voting machine rhetoric alleging the voting machines were fraudulent and that they changed votes. Members of the group began online petitions that called on the state of Alaska to ban the use of Dominion voting machines. It's no wonder, then, that Mayor Bronson wants to rid Anchorage of its vote-by-mail system and go back to in-person voting — once he flips progressive seats on the assembly with longtime Save Anchorage members who are now candidates for Anchorage Assembly.

Again, these are things that shouldn't necessarily be found shocking but should be found concerning by the most reasonable people in our city who care about democracy and who pine for the days of civil discourse.

RELATED: Our Dark Year of Antisemitism

Save Anchorage members have espoused antisemitic rhetoric, and now the world has taken note, as the mayor supported some residents’ use of Holocaust imagery to liken a proposed mask mandate to the oppression of Jewish people in Nazi Germany. The mayor's own supporters donned yellow Stars of David emblazoned with the faux Hebrew verbiage "Do Not Consent" and "Recall Zaletel," directing readers of the stars to the Recall Zaletel website.

According to the Recall Zaletel Facebook page, the largest contributors to the Recall Zaletel effort are "Save Anchorage" administrators Russell Biggs and William Gornto in addition to Rosemary Borchardt. The Anchorage Daily News reported last Wednesday that more than a third of the money given to the effort to recall Meg Zaletel has come from Rosemary and William Borchardt, the owners of Arctic Office Products.

Reportedly, Bronson supporter Christine Hill is responsible for crafting the Holocaust imagery now seen around the world bearing the words, "Recall Zaletel." Until recently, Hill was a longtime member and prolific poster of Save Anchorage, and on September 15, 2020, once shared a picture of a naked, mentally ill homeless woman with the group.

Hill has also provided public testimony in front of the Anchorage Assembly — last November she solicited money during public testimony for Alaskans for Open Meetings — speaking to the assembly, perhaps rather condescendingly.

In a social media post made on Saturday, Hill said she was not interested in any more publicity and that she was planning to relocate to Texas.

Assembly member Jamie Allard, who sympathized with Nazi terminology seen on two Alaska vanity license plates earlier this year, is also a member of the "Save Anchorage" group — and has referred to the right-wing group as her "safe space." In a social media comment made earlier this year, Allard alleged that corruption surrounding mail in ballots was "real," and stated that what she had learned from “Muni rules” was “alarming.” It's not clear what on earth Allard was talking about.

After stirring up "Save Anchorage" group members over the past two weeks, one might think that Ms. Allard or "Save Anchorage" would have received some media attention, not just for their abhorrent conduct, but also for their participation in the spread of misinformation related to a host of subjects directly affecting Anchorage at this very moment — specifically the COVID-19 pandemic — as cases and hospitalizations increase across the Municipality.

But the city, once known to come together at a time of crisis, is more fractured than ever as Mayor Bronson's right-wing group galavants around the city un-checked, likening the Holocaust to mask mandates and accusing assembly members of tyranny and deception while feverishly working to recall yet another democratically elected progressive member of the assembly. That assembly member, Meg Zaletel, takes the pandemic seriously and only endeavors to see that lives are saved and hospitals are not overrun.

"Save Anchorage" is a blight on Anchorage and demonstrates a regression in civil discourse each time members associated with the group threaten legal action, harass, bully, interrupt and intimidate those who disagree with them or call them out for their rhetoric.

It's either "Save Anchorage's" way or the highway — and in order to help determine the city's direction, you'll need to choose which highway you want the city to travel on — theirs or the highway of reason which benefits all of our citizens and not the political and business interests of a select few.

Save Anchorage indeed.