News from Patrick Flynn

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.

Weighing in favor was the opportunity to continue advocating for the neighborhoods I have the pleasure of representing.  The “downtown” district may be the smallest, but by virtually any standard it is the most diverse and I enjoy the unique challenges of balancing the array of issues that come my way.  And I do appreciate the many folks who take a moment to thank me for my labors – they help balance out the not-so-pleasant comments I regularly receive.  While demanding at times, this truly is a rewarding job.

On the other side of the ledger were more personal things.  The work does take time away from family and impacts my day job, both of which are very important to me and I sometimes feel don’t receive as much of my attention as I’d like.

Then there’s the X-factor.  As readers know, our mayor is running for another office.  If he’s successful in attaining it then our local government is going to face some challenges.  Here’s why:

Unlike when now-Senator Begich vacated the mayor’s office, Alaska’s constitution dictates that state executives are sworn in on the first Monday in December (not in January, like the U.S. Senate).  If Mayor Sullivan vacates office in that time frame we’d have to conduct a special election to select someone to complete his term because Anchorage’s charter requires that, “A vacancy in the office of mayor shall be filled at a regular or special election held not less than 90 days from the time the vacancy occurs.”  We didn’t have a special election in 2009 because Begich’s resignation occurred within the 90-day window preceding the already-scheduled municipal election.  Sullivan wouldn’t have that option.

All this means that we could be faced with two elections in the spring of 2015 (a special one, to fill the remainder of the mayoral term, and then the regular one in April), an acting mayor followed by a temporary mayor and then a new mayor in July.  Put another way, we could have four mayors in a seven-month period during which we have to pass a budget, propose bonds to the electorate and set the mill levy rates.

Needless to say this creates the potential for a somewhat chaotic situation and, given how often some of my colleagues reach out to me for help navigating the more complicated thickets we face, I’d like to think I could help our fair community weather this sort of storm.

So, after careful consideration, I’m jumping back into the fray.  If you’d like to lend a hand please visit my “support” page.  Thank you in advance, and thank you for reading my prose (which has been described as both “pithy” and not so pithy)!

Regards,

Patrick