At its July 21 meeting, the Anchorage Assembly voted to censure fellow Assemblyman George Martinez following findings by the Alaska Public Offices Commission that he violated state law with his campaign funds and then gave dishonest testimony under oath.
Earlier this year, Martinez was fined $5,300 by APOC, after the oversight body found that he had improperly used campaign funds for personal benefit, including a round-trip flight to Florida.
Assembly Members Jared Goecker and Donald Handeland submitted resolution AR 2026-192 to formally deliver an accusation document to the city clerk and direct the city attorney to secure outside counsel for an independent investigation into Martinez’s use of city funds for travel and to examine if his travel coincided with or subsidized private business activities.
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The approved resolution, which only censured Martinez, was introduced by Assembly Members Keith McCormick, Erin Baldwin Day and Sydney Scout. This did not remove Martinez from office, but only publicly rebuked his actions.
Assembly members appear divided on whether to seek Martinez’s formal removal from the body. Before members could vote to authorize an investigation into Martinez’s travel expenditures, the meeting reached the hard 12 a.m. closing deadline. The matter will be taken up at the next meeting on Aug. 4.
In other issues, a motion failed to open retail marijuana stores to Chugiak/ Eagle River, and a proposed public safety advisory commission effectively died, as no assembly members seconded the motion to open discussion on the matter.
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The left takes care of its own. It’s ok you did that bad thing, just don’t get caught next time.
Remember January 6 when MAGA cult REPUBLICANS raided our Constitution and sought to kill the Vice President? Pretty awful, huh? Then Agent Orange PARDONS. – i.e., “takes care of its own” to use your words -, 1500 convicted insurrectionists. You are stuck.
January 6th go peacefully you forgot that. You can take someone life and not go to jail. But walking through the capital and you’re in prison for what?
To be honest Martinez is experiencing the ugly side of AKDemocrat Party. He’s being brown skinned does not give him the same butt-covering internal private investigation treatment they shown to Berkowitz or that they will show to any other white skinned Democrat.
If you are brown politician in either Ak State Party, if you screw up don’t expect your white skinned party leaders to cover you.
Politics is a nasty arena. In Alaska Brown skinned community leaders in either party Republican and Democrat. They are never accepted. Just used and exploited for whatever positive talents, energy, and work they bring to advance the party. As soon as they screw up. They stand alone.
Does it matter?
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This is rich, coming from Anchorage Assembly members who are quite okay with:
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1. Anchorage School Board’s unanimous vote to steer million-dollar-plus contracts exclusively to union-run contractors, apparently with no guardrails to assure contracts aren’t padded to get them over the million-dollar goal line,
(https://mustreadalaska.com/anchorage-school-board-votes-for-construction-monopoly-by-labor-unions/)
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2 one of their own in a cozy relationship wth the municipality, doubling as Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness’ executive director, being named in a civil lawsuit filed against the nonprofit’s leadership, alleging unlawful practice and wrongful termination,
(https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2025/01/22/zaletel-named-wrongful-termination-civil-suit-filed-against-anchorage-coalition-end-homelessness/)
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3. taxing people, especially senior citizens, out of their homes,
(https://www.adn.com/opinions/2026/05/26/opinion-anchorage-should-lead-the-property-tax-rebellion/)
(https://alaskapublic.org/news/anchorage/2026-03-26/property-tax-appeals-skyrocketed-this-year-in-anchorage)
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4. their inability to fix problems with bums, corrupted elections, arsenic in Seaview subdivision’s water supply, perverts in public schools, the rotten quality of education in Anchorage, exorbitant property taxes, …all the quality-of-life issues that make Eaglexit a thing because decent, productive people can’t take the crap (literally!) any more.
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So “censure” all you want, morons. Make Martinez a cult hero. And call yourselves heroes for …what was it again?