By ALEX GIMARC
I always appreciate it when the Left tells us what they think is important. This month’s example comes out of the Democrat, dark money-funded, independent campaign group that calls itself the 907 Initiative.
Earlier this month, we received a gorgeous 4-page, color brochure printed on heavy paper entitled the Annual Performance Report Bronson Administration Year 3 of 3. It’s an attack on Mayor Dave.
Not unexpectedly, it was a hatchet job on him, his administration, aimed at battlespace preparation for the mayoral election next month, essentially their local version of Orange Man Bad. It was sent out to whomever the 907 Initiative has on their mail list.
The piece concluded with an easily predictable overall performance grade of F, based on their grades on 8 areas, 2 F’s, two D’s, 3 C’s, and an incomplete. An unweighted combination of those grades in the public schools would be a D+ rather than an F, as C’s outnumber F’s.
But this is a campaign document intended to do just as much damage as possible to Bronson, so their math simply doesn’t matter. Only the conclusion does.
The piece lists 12 sources for information used to construct this thing. 6 of them were Alaska Public Media, 3 of them Alaska Daily News, with Alaska News Source, Alaska Current, and MOA Budget making up the balance of sources. How unbiased those sources are once again depends on your position on the political divide.
If you take a look at the different sections, those areas with a grade of F are the places they think they can win this election on. These are Housing and Homelessness and Ethics & Transparency. Their D grades are slightly less important to the campaign, including Hiring & Management and Roads & Transportation. Note that their incessant carping about slow response to early season record snowfall the last two years is no longer considered to be a prime campaign issue.
It is no surprise that the political left is outraged at Bronson’s refusal to kowtow to the ridiculous demands of the Assembly majority and the Homeless Industrial Complex they’ve managed to construct over the years. Completely ignored is any analysis of bad faith negotiation by that majority, when they toss aside agreements with the mayor like they do with so many homeless Alaskans.
Likewise, it is also no surprise that they are angry that their grifters and rent seekers are being left out of the competitive award of contracts. Perhaps leftist and union entitlement is not a positive in a supposedly competitive environment. As always, ethics is entirely in the eye of the beholder, and when ethics complaints are wielded early and often as political weapons aimed only at those of us on the political right, pardon me if we simply don’t care.
Those of us with memories slightly longer than a week and a half do remember ethics and Gov. Sarah Palin. One of the things Palin ran on was a promise to clean up Alaska politics. Once elected, she was buried under a dump truck full of ethics complaints via anti-Palin leftist lawfare. Perhaps Bronson ought to be congratulated for not giving the Left the rope they most desperately want to use to politically hang him with.
There is some weirdness in their grading. For instance, they give Bronson a C on Schools and Education, something the Mayor has no control over. While both the Assembly and Mayor can veto the ASD budget, neither in my memory has stepped up to the plate to do so. Imagine the heart-rending screams of pain, anguish and highly selective outrage should someone, especially someone on the political right, reject a bloated ASD budget.
In their conclusions, the grifters at the 907 Initiative ding Bronson for failing to implement a response plan to homelessness, their version of simply giving Meg Zaletel and her Homeless Industrial Complex a blank check and rubber stamp on everything they demand.
They then go on to carp about high vacancy rates across the Muni. Some would see this as a good thing, for if you are getting the same job done with fewer people, why is that a problem?
They end with a crack about unethical behavior and problematic advisors. Remind me again about the Assembly’s secret advisor for their anti-detransitioning ordinance a few years ago, notorious luggage thief Sam Brinton.
Pot, meet kettle.
This is shaping up to be an ugly campaign. Pay attention to what the Left is telling you it is about, as I expect that this has been fully focus grouped and polled so as to maximize union turnout next month.
Alex Gimarc lives in Anchorage since retiring from the military in 1997. His interests include science and technology, environment, energy, economics, military affairs, fishing and disabilities policies. His weekly column “Interesting Items” is a summary of news stories with substantive Alaska-themed topics. He was a small business owner and Information Technology professional.
