Mayor Bronson faces a continued Covid surge, an illegal firing all while admitting he's not really running the city. Governor Dunleavy and his former chief of staff are found guilty of illegally firing state employees, and attempts to cook the books to sell his dividend plan. Maia Nolan-Partnow has some good advice on winter driving. We review a great book about Spiro T. Agnew. And we discuss criticism.
Mayor Bronson faces a continued Covid surge, an illegal firing all while admitting he's not really running the city. Governor Dunleavy and his former chief of staff are found guilty of illegally firing state employees, and attempts to cook the books to sell his dividend plan. Maia Nolan-Partnow has some good advice on winter driving. We review a great book about Spiro T. Agnew. And we discuss criticism.
Show 37Localpolitics
Local politics
Covid counts continue to surge
…hospitals continue to be overcrowded
…while the Bronson administration
…is reducing Covid testing
…due to funding issues
…because ya know
…so many people are getting tested
…because so many people catching Covid
…this week Dr. Anne Zink stated…
Now
…before you jump to
…the conclusion that Bronson
…is intentionally reducing testing
…to intentionally reduce the number of positives
…to create the illusion that masks are not needed
…well he has pledged to restore the funding
…however it’s hard not to remember
…Bronson’s quote from last year
On September 29, 2020
…Then citizen Dave Bronson
…testified that if the former Mayor Berkowitz
…would quit testing
…the city would quit
…having so many covid cases
Here are his comments
….The result of a spike in cases is from a spike in testing
…does the Mayor not understand math
…the more you test, the more cases you have
So if he believed that a year ago
…certainly stands to reason
…he might feel the same way
…especially with local and
…national media spotlighting
…his brutal handling of the Covid surge
Meanwhile
Bronson is fighting everyone
…but the Covid surge
In fact it’s hard to think of anyone who he hasn’t
…alienated in his three months in office
…with the exception of the rabid masses
…he invites to the assembly every Tuesday
Six nights of testimony
…at the Anchorage Assembly
…a collection of some of the most
…obnoxious, disrespectful and vitriolic
…people I’ve ever laid eyes on
But unlike the dear Lord
…who reportedly created the world in six days
…and rested on the seventh
…Mayor Dave Bronson and Jamie Allard
…burned the world in six nights
…and rested on the seventh
…due to a covid outbreak
That’s right the public testimony
…was postponed due to two
…members of Bronson’s staff contracting Covid
…one of them was Amy Demboski the city manager
Now
…There has been some great reporting
…and some great pictures
..taken to document the insanity
Great visual images from
…Paxson Wolber , Jeff Landfield
…and of course Loren Holmes
…and other photographers from
…the Anchorage Daily News.
Over the last week
…we’ve seen…
1.) A woman doing pushups behind
…the podium while another person testified
2.) A father pushing his 9 year old daughter to testify
…who then breaks down and cries
3.) A mother who brought her four kids
…who were then pictured
…wildly climbing all over the podium
…while she was waiting to testify
4.) And finally
…a man who testified
…wearing a Richard Nixon mask
This Ladies and Gentlemen
…is Mayor Dave Bronson’s Anchorage
Bronson and Allard remind me
…of Cousin Eddie
…from the National Lampoon’s
…Vacation movies
…and it looks Cousin Eddie has moved
…their entire extended family
…into the Assembly Chambers
All drawn
…like moths to a flame by the
…manufactured anger
…from Bronson and Allard
…They threw pizza parties
…in the Assembly lobby
…they invited their small
…kids to testify
…they sang songs
…and did chants
…all as Bronson and Allard
…delayed and dragged out this
…never ending bizarre circus
My friends
…this is the seat of local government
…and it’s taken Bronson and Allard
…less than three months
…to turn seat of local
…government into Animal House
…complete with a crowd
…that mirrored John “Bluto” Blutarsky
However
…hanging with a bad crowd
…ain’t the only thing
…Mayor Bronson has been up to
Last week
…it was reported that Mayor Bronson
…ripped a page out of the Mike Dunleavy
…guide to HR management
…and illegally fired the City’s Chief Equity Officer
Municipal Chief Equity Officer Clifford Armstrong III
…was fired last week
…by the Bronson administration
…in order to stop a damaging
…report from being released
Armstrong was “illegally terminated”
…in an attempt by the Bronson administration
…to cover up a report on the city’s record
…on equal opportunity hiring
…that could have jeopardized federal funding
Armstrong’s firing was
…in clear violation of municipal code
…which states that the mayor
…can only dismiss the Chief Equity Officer
…for cause shown and
…only with the consent of the Anchorage Assembly.
Armstrong was fired without cause
…and without the consent of the Assembly
…and you can sure as hell
…expect the city will get sued
…and taxpayers to cover the cost
This is the cost of Bronson’s
…smash mouth politics
…even as he admits
…he’s not the actual mayor
In a recent interview
…the mayor admitted he’s
…not actually running the city
Speaking to an Anchorage Rotary
…club last month
…Mayor Bronson said
…quote
…I’ll be honest with you
…I don’t run the city
…Amy Demboski runs the city
…I provide the strategic direction
So the Mayor who got
…elected saying he could
…run Anchorage better
…has admitted two months
…into the job he is not running
…the city
And if Mayor Bronson
…is saying he just provides
…the strategic direction
…just look at the direction
…his administration
…and the city are headed
…a Covid surge
…that leads the nation
…An administration that repeatedly
…violates the law
…An administration picking fights with
…local hospitals
…healthcare workers
…the Jewish Community
…the NAAACP
…the assembly
…and more than half of the voting
…population of Anchorage
That is a helluva
…strategic direction
…there Mayor
…what’s next
…paving over the park strip?
So to recap
…Covid still surging
…Mayor’s staff has Covid
…The Mayor and Jamie Allard have
…turned the assembly chambers
…into Animal House
…the Mayor illegally
…fired the city’s chief equity officer
…without cause
…All while admitting he’s not
…really running the city
…but his City Manager who
…currently has Covid
…is the real mayor
So
…this is the new direction
…Anchorage was promised
…under Dave Bronson
Ladies and Gentlemen
…the Bronson administration’s direction
…is arguably what a loaded gun
…in the hands of two year
…olds looks like
Show 37Statepolitics
Politics –
As Covid cases
…continue to engulf
…the state
…and Governor Mike Dunleavy
…does all he can to do little or nothing
…to stop the spread
Federal judge last week ruled that
…Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy
…and his former chief of staff
…Tuckerman Babcock
…violated both
…the United States and Alaska’s Constitution
…when they sought the resignations of at-will state employees
…at the start of Dunleavy’s administration
As you’ll remember the Dunleavy/Babcock duo
…basically extorted 800 state employees
…to sign a loyalty statement
…or they’d be fired.
Well Federal Judge John Sedwick
…said that’s cute boys
…but your Tammany Hall
…Boss Twead nonsense
…violated not one but two constitutions
…because your loyalty pledge
…constitutes an
…unconstitutional patronage practice
I can only
…imagine Dunleavy and Babcock’s
…lawyer…and how he argued this case
Now ya honor
…I think what we have here is
…a failure to communicate
…my clients did not
…precondition employment
…on signing a loyalty oath
…no sir
…my clients precondition employment
…on signing and returning
…the loyalty oath
…see ya honor
…there’s a mighty big difference
Sorry
…I just assumed
…Dunleavy and Babcock’s lawyer
…was from My Cousin Vinnie
But here is the most delicious part of the ruling…
The judge ruled
…both Dunleavy and Babcock
…may be held personally liable
…and could be forced to pay financial
…and other penalties.
…Ladies and Gentlemen
…one thing you might
…not know about me is
…that I am a registered Republican
…Have been my whole life
…I served as a Republican in
…the legislature for two terms
…used to be involved with party politics
And
…one of the most destructive
…individuals in Republican
…politics has been
…Tuckerman Babcock
…He is the one person
…I hold responsible
…for the gutter politics
…and the elevation
…of ignorance
…and intolerance
…within the Alaskan Republican Party
So
…you’ll have to
…excuse my
…absolute jubilation
…at his very much
…much deserved comeuppance
Now
…while the podcast
…is not litigious and
…doesn’t wish ill will on anyone
…the podcast also hopes
…those two physicians
…and Libby Ba-ka-lar
…sue this
…morally repugnant
…smarmy
…smug bastard
…for everything he owns
I hope they leave this guy
…so bad off he’s forced
…to sleep in Jerry Prevo’s
…garage
Ironic
…Dunleavy and Babcock
…two guys
…who have spent their
…political careers wrapping themselves
…in the constitution
…now have violated two of them
…and face significant personal exposure
Hey Tuckerman
…I hope you look at
..your door everyday and
…ask yourself
…is today the day
…I get served
…is today the day I begin
…to accumulate massive legal debt
…trying to fight three different lawsuits
…from three different state employees
…whose constitutional rights you violated
…and by the way
…the two physicians
…whose constitutional
…rights you violated
Well
…their salaries were about
…$350 grand a year each
…so
…three years of
…unconstitutionally denied benefits
…equals
…$2.1 million in lost wages alone
…and that doesn’t even
…count Libby’s
…wages and benefits
Ohhh man….
…this couldn’t have happened to
…a more deserving person
Ahhh…the Lord doth move in mysterious ways
Speaking of mysterious ways…
While we’ve been distracted
…Governor Dunleavy
…has continued his dogged
…pursuit of a huge dividend
…by attempting to politicize Alaska’s
…Permanent Fund Corporation
…and raid the state employees
…retirement fund
…With his fourth special session
…clearly failing
…Governor Mike Dunleavy
…Dunleavy has set his sights
…on trying to redefine financial performance
…to make his argument
In trying to make
…his case for the super dividend
…Governor Dunleavy has faced
…two issues with lawmakers
…One his plan overdraws the permanent fund
…two his plan causes massive budget deficits
However
…never to be one that is
…influenced by the constitution or science
…Dunleavy is now attempting
…change the rules of accounting
…to make his case
In the last month
…the governor through his finance director
…has advocated accounting changes
…to the Alaska permanent fund corporation
…and the state employees retirement fund
…in a dangerous attempt to make the state’s
…financial health seem stronger
…than it is
The proposal include
…tying compensation of permanent fund
…corporation managers
…to the amount of the dividend
…and proposing a change to the way
…the fund’s performance is valued
…to make it look stronger.
Now
…let’s all remember
…two very important
…things about the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation
…it was established to be independent
…free from political influence
…and just as important
…it has been incredibly successful operating
…under those conditions
Dunleavy’s goal is two fold:
…one
…to make the Alaskans
…outraged at the compensation
…the fund managers get while
…earning billions for Alaskans
…that Dunleavy now wants
…to give away
…and two
…if he forces
…the Permanent Fund Corporation
…to change it’s valuation policy
…it allows him
…to go the public and say
…see we have plenty of money
…to pay a super dividends
So that’s how Dunleavy
…is trying to cook the books
…on fund performance
…for the revenue side of the ledger
Now
…as I said earlier
…Governor Dunleavy’s super-size dividend
…plan will cause billions in
…future budget deficits
So due to the fact that
…Dunleavy or his finance director
…cannot identify large cuts
…in the existing state budget
…they are trying to create
…out of the air
This past week Governor Dunleavy’s
…finance director pitched
…a proposal to the
…state retirement board
…that would changed
…the valuation from an actuarial
…to a market rate valuation
…in order to reset based
…on the performance
…of a single big year
By using the positive performance
…of a single year to
…reset long-term expectations,
…Dunleavy would argue
…that the strength of the fund
…allows them to begin reducing contributions
…by $65 million this year
…with a total of $3 billion
…in reduced contributions between now and 2039
By changing the methods of both
…the Alaska permanent fund corporation
…and the state retirement system
…the Dunleavy administration would be
…able to say the fund will earn more
…to address concerns about overdrawing the account
And he’ll be able to argue
…the retirement system
…will cost less due to
…the accounting change
…to show future budget savings.
However
…just like everything the
…Dunleavy administration has done
…this is smoke and mirrors accounting
…where the state would be taking overwhelming risks
…that would risk both funds.
What Dunleavy and his Finance Director
…are trying to do is nothing more
…than overinflating revenues
…and understating expenses
Why?
The dividend
…has become the most important
…issue for the governor
…and his re-election chances
Without it
…he has nothing to campaign on
…nothing to throw his base
…that is comprised of people
…who wanted their big
…dividend he promised
In a recent interview
…Governor Dunleavy stated
…his quest for a higher dividend
…is representative of his political base
During the interview
…Dunleavy referred to his base as
…“burn barrel Republicans.”
…who are lower on the economic scale
…and want government out of their lives
…rather than the more established Republicans
…who might be members
…of the Chamber of Commerce.
Meanwhile
…the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce
…has fallen all over this guy
…they stayed silent during
…tens of millions in budget cuts
…which exacerbated the recession
…stayed silent while
…he’s done nothing
…the last three years
…to actually improve commerce
…in fact President Biden
…has done more for Alaska’s economy
…by allowing cruise ships back to Alaska
…than Dunleavy has done in four years
…and his leadership on Covid has been brutal
…which is killing Alaska’s economic recovery
…how brutal has his leadership been
…recently the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce
…cancelled their annual forum for their members
…due to the unrestrained Covid surge
So
…not only has Dunleavy
…done little or nothing for commerce
…but he’s put their own members at risk
Speaking of
…commerce
…Bronson, Dunleavy
…and the economy
For the last two months on this podcast
…we’ve been talking about how
…the failure of both Bronson and Dunleavy
… to try and mitigate the Delta surge
…would cripple Alaska’s economic recovery
This week the Anchorage Daily News reported…
…Anchorage-wide
…at least 114 meetings or events
…have been canceled
…or put off this year due to the pandemic
Twenty-four of those
…have been canceled
…or delayed since Aug. 1.
The cancellations have affected
…hotels
…convention centers
…and other venues.
In total
…the events would have generated
…about $39 million in spending in Anchorage
As we’ve been predicting
…on this podcast
…Bronson and Dunleavy’s Covid failure
…is crippling an economy
…that was already hampered
…by an ongoing recession
So let’s recap
…the week in Alaska politics
…during the continued Covid surge
…Mayor Bronson
…fights with hospitals, the assembly and the public
…he fire city employees illegally
…his key executives have Covid
…and he admits he’s not really running the city
Meanwhile
…Governor Dunleavy
…fights with the legislature
…the permanent fund corporation
…and the state employee retirement board
…he is found guilty of firing state employees illegally
…and he admits his constituent base
…are comprised of those who want a
…larger government handout
…but don’t actually care about Alaska
All while our local
…and state economy
…suffer at the hands of fools
Hey
…but at least we had
…the sweet sounds of
…Judge John Sedwick
…laugh
…I hope Dunleavy and Babcock
…get to spend a lot of time in court
…because maybe then
…they’ll finally appreciate
…the work the judicial branch does
(Politics,life,entertainment)
Closing comments on criticism…
I have been in politics for 25 years
…and still to this day get criticized
…I ran for public office criticized
…I ran a public agency criticized
…I was a regular columnist in the ADN for years
…and after one Easter column
…criticizing the religious right
…I was told by several readers
…that I was going to hell
One women wrote to me
…and said
…I know what God thinks
…and you’re going to hell
(Sidenote) Rest assured
…the host is not going to hell
Little known fact about the host
…I did a two year stretch at
…St. Anthony’s Catholic Church
…in beautiful East Anchorage
…as an altar server
Now
…as part of the onboarding process
…you get a VIP card
So not only do I already
…have admission to heaven for my service
…but I don’t have to wait in line
…and get to use the VIP entrance
So
…when you here criticism on this show
…I want you realize
..I believe good public policy matters
…I believe having honest public officials matters
…I believe it makes
…all the difference between
…a healthy community and local economy
…and a community that is buried
…in regret and recession
Over the years I have served with conservatives
…Conservatives who held on to their beliefs
…without trying to burn the place down
Todays breed is meaner, nastier
…and certainly more offensive
Ten years ago it was ideology
…but today it vitriolic ideology
So how do you criticize
…Bronson & Allard
…their toxic existence
…their brutish behavior
When Mayor Dave Bronson
…sent a staffer to unilaterally
…remove the plexi glass
…protection and then had private security removed
…from the assembly chambers
…just as the crowd began to get rowdy
…I thought to myself
…this guy has no soul
…while his staffer was
…carting away the protective screen
…the expression on his face
…as his looked at the assembly
...was borderline evil
…it appeared to be the actions
…of a man that had no soul
…no compassion and nothing redeemable
…about his quality of character
I believe both Bronson and Allard
…get up in the morning
…look in the mirror
…and ask themselves
…what can I do today
…to be an even more
…offensive human being
…than I was yesterday
I think a quote
…from an Indian philosopher named Bara Dada
…is appropriate here
…Dada said
…Jesus is ideal and wonderful
…but you Christians
…you are not like him
That’s Bronson and Allard in a nut shell
And if you’re unsure
…of my opinion
…let me share
…a look inside Mayor Bronson’s brain
One of the most telling
…and underreported quotes from Bronson
…came in April on a local talk show
When asked why he thought Anchorage
…which used to be
…very conservative
…is now turning purple
…Bronson disagreed
…and had this reason
…as to the make-up of the assembly
I think it’s been apathy
…the center right have been living well
…doing their jobs, paying taxes
…certainly recreating
…and the leftist just kinda slipped in there
So when you see Mayor Bronson
…fight with the assembly
…it’s because in his
…eyes they we’re not
…legitimately elected
This is his entire modus operandi
…it’s always a fight
…it’s always us versus them
…just like when he defended his
…supporters using the Star of David
…as a prop to make a political point
…and Ladies and Gentlemen
…do you know what else
…Mayor Bronson and Jamie Allard’s
…version of smash mouth
…and trash mouth
…political behavior
…has brought Anchorage
Last week the Anchorage School District
…reported a significant uptick in behavioral issues
…including physical altercations
…and emotional outbursts
School officials say what worries them most
…is the severity of the incidents
…that has increased
…including fights, assaults
…drug and alcohol issues
…and teachers are reporting
…that younger kids have lost
…the coping skills they need
…to call down
Ladies and Gentlemen
…this sounds like a recap
…of six nights of assembly madness
The result of Mayor Bronson
…and Jamie Allard
…polluting the assembly
…process with angry, ignorant people
…is clearly reflecting itself
…in our local school population
So again
…where do you find the words
…to describe two human beings
…who are so objectionable
…in every possible way
…as public servants?
How about this
…today there is not
…a greater threat to the health
…and well-being of Anchorage
…than the Bronson administration
…assembly member Jamie Allard
…and their small cast
…of loud mouthed
…classless
…and clueless supporters
Bronson and Allard
Two miserable people
…doing a miserable job
…of being decent human beings.
I think that criticism
…sums it up nicely.