A question on political insiders’ minds, at least those that haven’t been focused on the usual end-of-the-legislative-session drama in Juneau, is who will be elected Assembly chair after three new members are sworn in on Tuesday. To explain, the Anchorage Charter dictates an annual leadership vote occurring after each municipal election so we need to conduct first a vote for chair, then for vice-chair, on April 20. In fact, it’s the only substantive task on our agenda. And it’s complicated.
As alluded to in a previous post, one of the intriguing aspects of the political process is observing how public officials “adjust” their views to conform with changing circumstances. I don’t mean to imply anything sinister, just that it’s sometimes worth reviewing various facts and considering their relevance.
I believe it was Emerson who originally said, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds…” How correct he was; all among us can and should reserve the right to learn more about the issues before us and, based on that additional information, reflect upon whether our initially held views were correct.
While the jury may be out on whether I’m worth a darn as either an Assembly member or chair, my powers of prognostication seem to be intact. We accomplished quite a bit on Tuesday night but, as predicted, were unable to complete our agenda prior to the 11 pm deadline. Some of the things we did resolve included: (more…)
The Assembly covered a lot of ground at today’s work sessions reviewing encouraging news about Anchorage United for Youth‘s successful efforts to better coordinate programs aimed at helping young people succeed, a new Bike Plan aimed at improving non-motorized transit and more information on municipal finances. Each of these items are important and the bike plan may get a little media attention but you can expect the focus to be on financial issues. The question is what will actually get reported. There were three finance-related aspects of note:
In recent weeks two more alcohol-related issues have come to the fore, universal ID checks for package liquor stores and a proposal to convert the Red Roof Inn into housing for chronic homeless inebriates. Both have generated some concerns.
Since my decision to cancel a work session on the so-called “Wheeler report” I’ve received a few inquiries asking why, and where we go from here? One woman even accused me from hiding the report from the public (incorrect, but I sent her a copy of the report just to make sure she had it).
Ever thought it might be fun to get involved in local politics? I once did, and attended a campaign training seminar shortly after graduating from college. Since you know what ultimately happened to me, consider yourself forewarned. If undeterred, read on.
As already reported in our local paper, I sent the following e-mail to the municipal clerk this afternoon:
Madam Clerk,
Please distribute this to all members.
I had the opportunity to meet with Mr. Wheeler this afternoon and discuss his report and our follow-up to it. At this point I would like to cancel our work session on this subject (scheduled for January 8 ) while continuing our work on suggestions stemming from that effort [e.g. ordinance(s) clarifying and standardizing fiscal reporting requirements]. To the extent our efforts require continued contributions from the Municipal Attorney’s office or other Administration officials I would gently remind my colleagues to please ensure they respect any confidentiality applied to those communications in order to minimize the municipality’s liability risk.
I welcome any questions and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!
Regards,
Patrick Flynn
While municipal elections don’t occur until April of next year activity is already underway with a couple surprises.
First off, while previous indications were that our current chair, Debbie Ossiander, did not plan to seek a third and final term in her Chugiak/Eagle River district is seems she now plans to do so.
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