By AlaskaWatchman.com

A long line of angry and impassioned residents assembled on June 1 to testify against a plan by Anchorage Assemblyman Christopher Constant to grant the Assembly power to impeach a duly elected mayor.

Public testimony lasted for four and a half hours on June 1 as angry residents turned out to decry a scheme by the Anchorage Assembly to assume the power to impeach the mayor.

For nearly four and a half hours people took their three minutes to voice nearly unanimous opposition to the scheme, which would impower a simple majority of Assembly members to oust a mayor elected by nearly 46,000 voters.

Many speakers noted that the timing of the proposal was highly suspicious given the fact that Mayor Dave Bronson assumed the mayoral seat less than a year ago, and has proven to be a check and balance to the hard left super majority that controls the Assembly.

“It’s a blatant grab of power,” said Anchorage resident James Sterling. “You people need to stop and work with the existing administration.”

Others were more blunt, accusing the Assembly of trying to wrest complete and total control over the city, to the point of overriding an election so they can appoint a mayor who will do their bidding.

Click the above image to watch as Assembly members Jamie Allard, Randy Sulte and Kevin Cross stand while audience members break into an impromptu singing of the Star-Spangled Banner during the June 1 Anchorage Assembly meeting. None of the other Assembly members bothered to stand.

Throughout the meeting the audience was repeatedly warned by Assembly Chair Suzanne LaFrance to abstain from cheering or clapping during public testimony. At least one person was kicked out by LaFrance for refusing to leave the microphone after her three minutes were up.

Aside from being called dictators, hypocrites and clowns, the Assembly heard an earful from those who questioned whether the proposed ordinance would usher in an era where voters were effectively deprived of the right to choose their leaders.

Multiple people said the city already has mechanisms to remove a wayward mayor – recalls and elections, and they don’t want six members on the Assembly to usurp the will of the people.

Ryan Nelson told the Assembly that historically democracies decay when people lose trust in their government.

Several testifiers noted that the proposal’s so-called grounds for removing the mayor were “nebulous” at best, and didn’t even require the mayor to break the law.

A man who introduced himself simply as Joey, said the Assembly was attempting to be the judge, jury and executioner when it comes to impeaching a mayor.

Currently the Assembly has the power to remove its own members and those of the school board. It does not, however, posses the ability to topple the mayor.

And that’s how it should remain, argued one woman. She said the mayor should only ever be removed by those who elected him.

“The perception to the public is that this is a power grab,” she said. “And I cannot deny that.”

A handful of testifiers said the Assembly is the very reason why so many Eagle River residents want to formally detach from Anchorage, and why countless others are moving to the Mat-Su Valley.

Thirty-year resident Eric Lamberson said he has never seen this kind of “breach of power” in Anchorage.

“You’re pathetic and you need to go,” he told Assembly members who support the resolution. “We elected our mayor, and we want our mayor to be a buffer against you fools.”

Ryan Nelson echoed these sentiments, telling the Assembly that historically democracies decay when people lose trust in their government.

“This ordinance does not do anything to help the public trust here in Anchorage,” he said.

After four and a half hours of testimony, the last person spoke their mind and the Assembly voted 8-3 to postpone action on the proposal until the June 7 meeting.

When LaFrance gaveled the meeting to a close, the crowd filed out chanting, “Shame, shame, shame.”

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Anchorage Assembly’s scheme to depose mayor decried as dangerous power grab

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.


7 Comments

  • Brandon says:

    IF only the biased assembly members understood that the will of the people must be abided by … one way or another.
    Jesus Loves you!!

  • Steve Peterson says:

    Good! They kicked up a hornets nest and the wrath is going to be uncontainable! I’m just sorry it took this long! Imagine if Anchorage residents had been this loquacious and bold 3 years ago. A lesson hard learned and some of the consequences are irreversible. Conservatives need to learn that you have to out-left the left when it comes to perseverance and commitment to ideology. On the brighter side, they overplayed their hand (the left always does) and now they will have to adjust for resistance. They are slowed down, but not stopped.

  • Proud Alaskan says:

    Who would ever want to ever live in such a Woke, Filthy, Dirty city like Anchorage. Has anyone seen downtown anchorage lately. It’s so trashy looking.
    Get out while you can, move north or south and take your kids out of these disgusting school too.

  • Claudia says:

    I’m very grateful for those who testified against this lawlessness, and for the mayor and those 2 or 3 members on the assembly who are taking a firm stand against these usurpers. I hope the belligerent, arrogant assembly members who are trying to destroy Anchorage each reap what they have sown.

  • Jim says:

    Total population in USA as of 2021
    Population 331,893,745 (2021)
    Total population of Adult Americans
    Data reported by the US Census Bureau, of these individuals, 253,768,092 were adults that were 18 years OR 1,801,759

    A 2022 Gallup poll concluded that 7.1% of adult Americans identified as LGBT. OR 5.4% of the entire population.
    SO — 5.4% of the entire population or roughly 16 million people drive what 95% (315.2 mil) of the total population MUST DO AND MUST Follow the dictates of the few?? 95% of the population is a Majority and 5% is negligible at best.
    I will follow the group at 95%, with no disrespect to the 5%. The demands of the LGBT community are not supported by this writer.

  • WeAreARepublic says:

    Anchorage still uses mail in voting and is easily able to manipulate the votes. Its important that every conservative vote in every election. We must have such an overwhelming majority that even with the scandals and cheating of liberals, the vote can’t be stollen. Push to have voter rolls cleaned up NOW not after the 2022 election. Push for in person, paper ballots NOW not after the 2022 election. Did we learn nothing from 2020? The Governor isn’t doing anything about this either.

  • Barbara says:

    Shame on us for electing people who are power -hungry! These leftist leaning people dont want anyone telling them what to do but they just want to tell US what to do. Sorry. We have a great mayor and a great governor and we will keep them. thank you !