If you’re amongst the few who pay attention to some of the rants against Anchorage’s recent amendment to the equal rights code you might have heard that some of those ranters are now up in arms about their efforts to promulgate a referendum to repeal the changes. Their charge seems to be that they are not being treated fairly by the municipal attorney’s & clerk’s office and they point to the recent labor law referendum as evidence. Bad example.
As followers of matters municipal are aware, there are some questions as to what might happen if Mayor Sullivan becomes Lieutenant Governor Sullivan later this year. I’ll try to keep it simple with the Q&A below but, as with many things, there are a number of potential permutations worthy of consideration. (more…)
As faithful readers know Tuesday, April 1, is election day in Anchorage (no joke!). To celebrate our community’s survival of yet another political season I’m co-hosting a little shindig at Snow City Cafe, which is located at 1034 West Fourth Avenue, from 6 – 10 pm on election night. Come one, come all, and have a bite to eat as we watch the returns roll in. See you there!
In case you missed our local paper letting the cat out of the bag, I recently decided to run for re-election to the Anchorage Assembly, though it wasn’t an easy decision.
I received word this week that backers of a referendum to repeal Anchorage’s new labor law, the infamous AO 2013-37, have gathered a sufficient number of signatures to place the issue on the ballot. Ignoring whether one thinks well or poorly of this particular piece of legislation, that fact triggers an intriguing series of decisions.
Everyone makes mistakes. Indeed, if humans were on some sort of mistake quota system I’d likely be cadging ducats from friends in order to keep myself within limits. And I’ll let someone else tell you about the “negative example” marketing plan once proffered on my behalf. But the important thing about making mistakes is learning from them and doing better the next time.
I recently received an e-mail with a pretty simple message – “will you ever blog again?” The answer is yes; but I’ve been spectacularly busy and recent Assembly activity has been relatively mundane so the sense of urgency has been a little low. Have faith, though, as budget season is approaching and with it many topics will surely come to the fore!
Regular followers of this blog may recall I’m a big fan of Alaska’s Golden Heart City (that would be Fairbanks for you Cheechakos). I’ve spent a lot of time in the Interior over the years (yes, mostly in the winter) and developed quite a fondness.
Like many other Alaskans, I awoke this morning to a headline about who met the filing deadline for seeking a seat in the Alaska state legislature. An item that did not, apparently, earn mention in local coverage was the entrance of two of my former railroad colleagues into the fray.
I am sorry. I’m going to write more to explain why I’m sorry, not to seek forgiveness or proclaim some semblance of innocence, but to offer perspective on how we got to this point. None of it, however, will begin to excuse how we ended up with an election in disarray.
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