By AlaskaWatchman.com

Dave Bronson Img

Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson has submitted an ordinance to the Anchorage Assembly that would amend the city’s charter to make the Municipal Clerk an elected position. Currently, the clerk is appointed by the Assembly and supervises all municipal elections. The ordinance would require that the clerk be elected by voters.

Anchorage Clerk Barbara Jones

“The Municipal Clerk serves an important role in the administration, supervision, and execution of our elections. Anchorage voters should have a say in who does this job,” Bronson said in a Dec. 30 statement. “Having the clerk elected by the people will improve transparency, create accountability, and increase trust in the democratic process.”

Under the ordinance, the clerk would be elected for a three-year term. Candidates for the position would need to be a qualified Anchorage voter, a resident of the city for at least two years before the election, and maintain residency in Anchorage while in office.

Since the mayor’s ordinance proposes a change to the city charter, it requires a two-thirds vote by the Assembly, and an affirmative vote by a majority of voters. If the Assembly passes it, a ballot proposition would appear on the April 5, 2022, election giving Anchorage voters a choice on whether the clerk should be an elected position.

“I urge the Assembly to allow the voters of Anchorage have their say on this issue,” Bronson said. “Clerks around our country are elected by the people, it is time Anchorage does the same.”

Bronson has had several disputes with the current Municipal Clerk Barbara Jones. When successfully running for the mayoral office this past spring, Bronson’s campaign team raised multiple complaints with Jones about how the election was being conducted, including the fact that she cut off the live video feed in the election center each night. Jones later complained to the Assembly that she felt harassed during the election.

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Anchorage mayor wants to let voters elect powerful city clerk

Joel Davidson
Joel is Editor-in-Chief of the Alaska Watchman. Joel is an award winning journalist and has been reporting for over 24 years, He is a proud father of 8 children, and lives in Palmer, Alaska.


13 Comments

  • John J Otness says:

    GOD Bless you Mayor. Bronson…. Restore our great. City… Restore our Republic from the cold claws of Tyranny.

  • Priscilla Anne Hurley says:

    This is a great idea. Without an elected office, there is no chance of accountability!!

  • Charlotte says:

    Do it. The more they fight the mayor, the more they have to hide. They are intent on getting their choices into office. Has Ms Jones not been paying attention to what happened in AZ?
    While the mayor is making changes, how about an investigation into the election fraud in Alaska?!

  • A. N. Gottschalk says:

    burp burp

  • M.John says:

    Is Jones a dude?

  • Alaskan56 says:

    #1. Gottschalk! Maybe some antacids will help for that gas issue.
    #2. Agree the vote would be best than appointed – in theory if we also clean up the voter rolls and take out mail in.

    • A. N. Gottschalk says:

      The first of the this year marked the beginning of the 2022 National Sheep-shearing Festival! The chicanery will run through the mid-term elections, and after the people have spoken the festival organizers will set to work for the next election! Nothing will change! Following the fleecing, meaty ewes will be culled from the folds to feed the “lairds.” History shows that the sheep just bleat and bleed, and then are cooked into chunky stews.

      “Baa! Baa!” the bleating goes on! Who cares? As Putin informed Trump, Western liberalism is dead!

      Don’t take the burps personally, they just come with the grog!

      In an idiocracy like ours, the leadership–if that’s what plebeians what to call it–is drawn from the madding crowd. I’ll bet with on house: history shows that your endeavors will prove stillborn!

      burp

    • jh says:

      hahah- agree with 56

  • hj says:

    We need “Smart America First”
    Go GET’M Mayor Bronson!

  • jh says:

    Saving America starts by saving the GOP from RINOs, (Republican in Name Only – liberal beliefs) from sellouts, and from “known LOSERS!”

  • jh says:

    The mayor is the chief executive officer, centralizing executive power.
    The mayor directs the administrative structure, appointing and removing of department heads.
    While the council has legislative power, the mayor has VETO power.
    Would love to see a brand-new city council – the hateful tyrants we have now, really need to go!
    Let’s work on that…..