Election Eve and Info You Need to Know!
OK, Anchorage Mudflatters. You know what they say – all politics is local!
Tomorrow we’ll be voting for new Anchorage Assembly members and new Anchorage School Board members.
Tune in today to The Shannyn Moore Show on KUDO 1080AM, or live stream it HERE. Shannyn will be talking to Dick Traini, veteran Assembly member and opponent of conservative candidate Andy Clary. She’ll also be talking about the School Board, and some particularly horrifying developments in those races.
One particular School Board candidate of note is Don Smith, who has referred to President Obama as,”that thing” in the White House and “a wooly-headed prick.” Nice. His take on immigration?
“See, the problem is that once these people enter the country, they disappear. We never hear from them again. What we need to do is track them like sled dogs, implant them with a tracking device so that we know where they are and we can ship them out.”
Tracking people like dogs with implanted tracking devices? How very… Wow. At this point would it surprise you that he wants to teach creationism in public schools? I didn’t think so.
Here’s the problem. There are two non-insane candidates running for the same seat. So, if they split the vote, guess what? You get somebody like Don Smith, and the man who sees fit to have his signs cohabit every Don Smith sign stake on the road- Bob Griffin, on the School Board. Whether you support LaBelle or O’Malley, who are running against Smith, you are now obligated to do this:
Since progressives apparently are unable to offer only ONE candidate for local office (I refer you to the mayoral debacle which got us Dan Sullivan), we simply have to make sure all our friends and neighbors who do not want a racist, chip-implanting creationist making decisions for our children GET OUT TO VOTE! This is not one of those “show up or not” local elections. This one is a no-brainer with potentially horrible consequences for our very diverse and multi-racial school district.
For more about Smith and Griffin, check out this great post over at The Alaska Commons.
For more on Andy Clary and Adam Trombley, the duo of young conservative candidates, check out this post on new blog HypocrisyIncorporated.
There are four great YouTube clips talking about the strange arrangements for the “debate,” how Adam Trombley thinks that privatizing the city’s greenhouse will save us all from….whatever, and more like this one. *Note to debaters*
If you decide to take on a very articulate lawyer who happened to be the state house minority leader for ten years you better do your research, especially when challenging him on a legal assertion. Trombley seemed to contend that passage of the health care bill was an indisputable violation of the Constitution. However, the common logic and Supreme Court precedents seem to indicate that contention is, at the very least, disputable. When Berkowitz pointed out that Trombley was entitled to his opinion, Trombley blew a gasket. The mere failure to acknowledge a contrary opinion was a telling example of a logical shortcoming in Trombley’s rational reasoning, a troubling trait for someone who aspires to run our city.
(whispering) And if you are going to use habeus corpus as an example in your argument with aforementioned attorney, you should probably know what it is. Just sayin.
You remember Adam Trombley, right?
There’s also a must-see clip of Adam Trombley’s brother who shouts down Ethan Berkowitz, and makes such an unchecked hysterical outburst, that two of the panelists actually walked off the stage. Yikes.
wow this Don Smith sounds like a peach
I am a little annoyed that two runners on my side of town are robo-calling. I find that a little tasteless.
I do wish you the very best of luck with this. All I can do is face to the northwest and send positive vibes your way. Maybe I’ll wave my wand – it couldn’t hurt. All of these election issues make Montana look positively sane and Lord knows we have our wackos.
Don Smith is bad, and Griffen is running with him. I’d rather have Theresa Obermeyer back on the Board than either one of these two. At least Theresa cares about children and believes in public education. Unfortunately, this entire race has been under the radar screen. We need a local newspaper in this town.
Wow…he wouldn’t or couldn’t answer what habeus corpus meant. Who was he?
Oh, is he the basketballer of Bernadette Wilson fame?
Yes. There is a link in that sentence that takes you to the article. AKM
Got it. Thanks AKM. I am trying to read 10 different things at the same. The mods laugh at me on the forum….but I am also trying to save the world…
left out time…..
Not a big deal, since understanding it is far more important than spelling it, but…..
‘habeas corpus’
I knew I had spelled it wrongly. But I am Irish. So feck off Rob!
Also hugs and kisses.
I wonder if Trombley looked up that term when he got home and still couldn’t figure out what it meant. =)
Oh I wish I had a dwelling in ANC so I could cast a vote.
To see this mess, be pretty sure that most will ignore it, and know it will have to get MUCH worse before it gets better…,,giving me a headache!!
Is Trombley trembling?
I like Berkowitz. He’s a nice guy who is willing and more than able to entertain constructive debate on the issues. I respect him, even when I don’t agree with him.
Trombley, on the other hand, just gave us a good example of what’s wrong with this country today. He just demonstrated a lack of civility, the ability to invoke the Constitution without having any idea what the founding fathers put in it or why, usage of a few bits of impressive sounding rhetoric that were nonsensical in the context of his arguments, immediate irritation at someone with the audacity to point that out and disagree with him, a lack of interest in the other person’s position and reasoning, and an inability to prove his own point. (If we are a nation of laws, which laws, specifically, does he think were broken, and how?) People like that give the tea party a bad name.
Trombley’s brother was likewise rude, and for the lady speaking in the background, how can asking the person who brought “habeas corpus” into the discussion what it means and how it applies to the issue at hand be unfair?
Anchorage, you can do better.
So much for Habeus Corpus?
Lord help Anchorage, it needs your help and fast!
ohmygod.
Liberal Alaskans are going to do it again.
Instead of getting together to agree on and coordinate an effort to run ONE candidate against the conservative nutjob they’re going to split the vote.
Again.
Yes, just as Dan Sullivan was elected I can see Don “no one seems to mind I’m a racist” Smith being elected to the school board.
Are you insane? Please. Someone get ONE of the sane candidates to fall on their sword, refuse to split the baby and take one heroic Solomonic sacrifice and withdraw, throwing all of their support and urging their supporters to vote for the remaining sane candidate. It’s the only way you’ll keep Smith off of the school board.
Don’t make me say “Told you so” again.
Wishing all you from Anchorage luck seems like you will need it. Fingers crossed for you.
I’m having a difficult time deciding between Nees and O’Malley.
Any thoughts?
WOW…just watched Trombley stumble…throwing around constitutional terms and then getting called on it because he used it in a nonsensical way. What a joke and lord help us if he wins.
He was voted “Most Humorous” in high school though…
The legislative session will soon end, mudflatters please help. Get on the bandwagon for youth and democracy.
House bill 14 passed last session in the house, and is stuck in rules trying to get to the senate for a vote. Make the Alaska Malamute the state dog. These kids have been working hard. See the ADN compass article.
See the alaska blogspot for april 4. Kids not just learning about democracy, but participating.
proud dad