Assembly Overrides Mayor’s Veto! Mayor Sully…MEET THE BOOT!
There is justice and common sense in the Anchorage Assembly. Tonight, the Anchorage Assembly found 8 votes to over ride Mayor Sullivan’s misguided veto of the MDA Fill the Boot Fundraiser! Mayor Sullivan has been working overtime to turn Anchorage into Pottersville-the fictional desolate town from Frank Capra’s classic family film, “It’s a Wonderful Life“.
The assembly chambers were full of Anchorage’s Uniformed Firefighters who put their lives on the line every single day. The Fill the Boot campaign has been going on since 1954 and will continue once again this year!
Local and national charities can now continue fund raising without any fear of Mayor Sullivan challenging their ethics.
Tonight, Mayor Sullivan MET THE BOOT! And a gold star to Bill Starr who did the right thing and was the key vote necessary to bring sanity back to insane bureaucracy! Black Coal goes to Debbie Ossiander, Jennifer Johnston and Chris Birch who don’t care much for Jerry’s Kids.
OUTSTANDING !! and methinks there are 3 assembly members who WON’T get the support of City Employees at the next election..
Exactly!
OK… two of the three no votes are actually MY assembly people. Grrr. Birch and Johnston must go, South Anchorage!!
Agreed. But we have to find 2 candidates first and who in their right mind would wish to be a ‘politician’?
Agreed. But we have to find 2 candidates first and who in their right mind would wish to be a ‘politician’?
Hooray – just tuned in to see what is up on mudflats and look at that !!
I’d like to put that boot on the neck of “show us the contract” Sully.
Oh, what good news for Anchorage….very glad to hear it!
Good for the Assembly! Why in the world would he oppose such a thing. Boot meet Sully. WHACK!
Sully reminds me of Tom Fink without the bow tie.
I never thought I would say this, but Tom Fink would be a breath of fresh air right now.
Dan Sullivan is far far far worse than Tom Fink…
Heads up. I am not passing the spM filter with one word replies. Either that or I am posting from my phone. Whatever. Good for you, elected ones!
Good news from Anchorage. How soon till you get to elect a real mayor? You know, the kind of mayor who listens, thinks, learns, and takes care of the citizens of his city, rather than lining his own pockets with your money while cutting services and partying with party planners, rather than making sure traffic is calmed with the appropriate speed humps?
Well, I believe that Sullivan made an issue of this so that all the churches in town can join with the city to do fundraising. This was all orchestrated to blur the line between church and state. “If one charity can do fundraising on city time, they will all want to.” Churches are charities—-duh???? Thanks Mayor Sullivan
Churches are already property tax exempt – that’s enough charity by the city imo…
Thanks for letting us know, Shannyn and AK,
Reading about Mayor Sullivan’s veto on allowing firefighters to carry out their signature charity project had me very worried and upset way down here in GA. Unfortunately, I live in the same city where Erick Erikson is a member of the city council (term’s up in November, and he’s not running for re-election. Yippee! CNN can keep him.), so I know what you’re dealing with when you have people like the 3 members of your council who voted with Mayor Sullivan even when they knew he was wrong.
Congrats! Common sense prevails!
Chris Birch and Don Smith, both extreme lunatic fringe politicians today,—Not much difference between the two, except Birch, took a Democratic appointment for the prestigious job of Airport Manager at Fairbanks, while at the time he was a classified highway traffic engineer for the DOT&PF in that city.
On the other hand, Smith was a right wing eccentric from the beginning of his college days in the late 1950s, maybe he was a closet Joe McCarthy adherent then, if no, he certainly is now.
Smith’s political shenanigans around Anchorage are well known. Smith’s only concession to the left took place not too many years back when he groveled and headed back to Juneau where he took on a lowly safety job, a job for which he knew nothing, all in order for him to nail down a State PERs retirement.
After years in the State House and then the Anchorage City Council, later the Assembly, Smith’s political peers even had enough of him. He has run unsuccessfully for numerous positions since then. It was a wonder that he could even be elected dog catcher, until this spring, when the public put him on the school board , of all places.
Astonishingly, Smith, as well as Birch, have destroyed that very state retirement system to which they both aspired. Along with their mentor, the now infamous Ben Stevens, who spearheaded the entire demise of the State’s health and pension program, shortly before his own fall from grace, they did the very program in which has meant so much to them. But then, they got theirs did they not, screw the rest of you.
Ironically, Birch, after he was kicked out of his fat job at the Fairbanks Airport, when the Republicans gained power again, found himself on the outside looking in, (In other words, he got fired by his GOP brethren). So he sued the State, claiming that he took the Democratic Governor’s appoitment only after being guaranteed he would be granted a classified job again in a tenured slot. (Technically, this type of internal job protection cronyism has been illegal since the inception of statehood.) Nevertheless, Birch got away with it and the state gave him a engineering job, not in Fairbanks but in Anchorage, at a desk tucked away somewhere in a corner. Birch can be a charmer though, so eventually he achieved retirement and then went head on into hard core right wing Teas style oil corporate adherent politics.
So today, we have Smith screwing up the school board and Birch screwing up the Anchorage assembly.
Looking and listening to Birch’s sanctimonious whining over so called liberal agendas and watching Smith’s bigoted and disingenuous diatribes over the years, is enough to make this life long Alaskan wanting to barf.
you have become so important and interesting to us; so much like family or locals; that when i read about the boot vote, I actually said “yay” out loud, and had to explain why to my husband, which led to a longer conversation. Thanks Mudflats. way to go assembly!
Me too Mea – I live in Oklahoma and have a family full of fighterfighters, so even though I am not from Anchorage, I felt a personal victory in this decision.
Yay Anchorage!! Filling the Boot is a tradition that my kids love- we never pass up the chance to contribute. When they were small, we would have to go back around the block just so they could put in a bit more. I’m not sure if it was the donation that made them feel good, or the fun of meeting firefighters. They are grown, and still love to fill the boot- for the right reason now.
A few more vetoes and Sullivan may join the “I Quit” club. Congratulations, Anchorage and Mudflats. I’m sure this blog had an impact on tonight’s vote.
good news! There IS progress in our town sometimes………way to go, Assembly!
Feel free to contribute: http://www.mdaalaska.com/ to a great cause. MDA does not get funding from any other source except donations from people like you. Thank you Anchorage Fire Fighters. Shame on Mayor Sullivan.
Our community said goodbye to a dear boy this summer who taught us all how lucky we were to have known him. MDA Alaska provided Colter with immense joy in his otherwise very difficult life. Each summer they sponsor MDA Camp where all the children share a week of camaraderie and just plain fun.
I have made my donation in Colter’s name.
This is one of just a few positive notes of late coming from City Hall. Noticed that Sulli does not pay for cofffee refills (nor does he tip) at the nearby shop. With all of his ‘scrutinizing’ of public funds, it’s interesting he pinches pennies to the point of emulating Ebineezer himself. Anyone else notice this disturbing ‘broad daylight’ act of caffeine theivery?
Wow, if that is true, what a cheap ba$tard! And to think this behavior comes from someone who partly owns McGinley’s restaurant downtown.
I thought the fireman should just do it anyway and dare them to arrest them or something.
Oh, Suuuuulllllllyyyyy, Nancy’s got a message for you!
“what’s right is right and you ain’t been right yet!”
These boots are made for walkin’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRkovnss7sg
One of my very favorite songs.It should also apply to palin herself.Anyone remember go go boots which came out about the same time as this song was popular?
Lord help me, white patent leather … traded my clarinet and that heavy wool uniform with the big old cockaded hat for go go boots, majorette-y sequined body-suit and a flag in the high school marching band. Oy, vey! (Thanks a bunch, jojobo 1; that one was buried deep in my subconscious and now it’s “sticky”)
Looket the Good Folks GO!! I am thrilled..and oh..so ..Pleased!!!
There are people I have met in life where every thing they deiced to do is WRONG, like “duh”. How on earth did we elect one? ( I know I didn’t vote for this letch, shmoozing, self interested wanker).
Can we start a recall? Does anyone know how to do that and a have a platform/venue for it? His crimes ore so obvious I would not be surprised if there is jail time in his future.
I’m so glad Damn Sullivan was shut down, he’s such an idiot, guess he really doesn’t want to be re-elected.
Yeah, Zyggy, he sure ain’t the Old Man, that’s for sure.
I’m astounded by this. I will be willing to give my $$ when the firefighters are giving their OWN time – not the municipality’s. Hey, if they’re on city time, I’m ALREADY giving my money.
Hooray for the Assembly who voted for this!!! Fill the boot then give the boot to Sullivan.
On another note, Oil Slick Rick-Defender-Of-The-Corrupt-Rydell, who laughingly called hisself the “most respected commentator in Alaska” has spoken out against this. He called the Assembly members who voted their conscience communists who are re-distributing the wealth. This is sick. Very sick. The Assembly are duly elected officials who govern the city. I find it offensive that these American and Alaskan citizens are branded as though Rydell (not his real name) is channeling McCarthy, Palin and Roy Cohen. He probably CAN’T even spell communist.
His misappropriation of terms and words is equally laughable. Once he reported on his goofy show that we had a “parasitic” snowfall. To this day, he insists that it’s a proper term. He needs to look up the wordz that describe him to a tea….er tee: malapropos and maladroit. He continues to misapply the word, magnanimous, stating that people donated to one of his causes ” in magnanimous proportions.” (giggle)
For this nincompoop to refer to himself as a commentator is ridiculous. He’s actually a talk show host with the social graces of a graduate of Trailor Park High. Just like Baby Eddie and Oil Can Dan Fagan. As nothing more than shills for Big Oil, he iand Fagan insist the spill in the Gulf is a natural occurance with no harm. How sick is that?
I can’t wait to vote. I hope Honeman runs for Mayor. It will be a joy to give Sullivan and his Party Planner Hottie fhe boot. They can take Oil Slick Rick with them. Baby Eddie and Oil Can Dan too.
I hope to see the Fire Men out there. I plan on giving and filling their boot.
Congratulations Anchorage for having a few Assembly members with guts who know outrage when they see it. How did it go with the speed humps? Inquiring minds want to know.
I think that possibly those who don’t like the mayor (and though I live outside of Los Anchorage and thus have no dawg in the fight, I don’t like him either) are letting that color their thinking on this issue. Although the “Fill the Boot” event has gone on a long time, that in itself does not make it ethically right. Can all city employees set up events like this? Can a group of city employees organize to solicit donations for a church charity on city time? How can the city deny one group permission, having given permission to another? What kind of guidelines or standards can be set to decide who can have this privilege, and who can’t?
Of course MDA is a worthy cause. So are many others. Who gets to decide which causes are going to be given the advantage of city endorsement?
In this debate, here and on other sites, I see a lot of irrelevant issues being pushed as arguments. Those who oppose city time being used for charitable solicitation are being accused of “hating” kids with MD; people insisting that the firefighters can do their jobs just as well from the solicitation sites as from the fire stations; people who are outraged (understandably) by the insurance pay-out let their ire leak over onto this issue. Can we try to look at this as its own separate issue, and let go of the emotional elements (sick kids, other ethics issues) in order to determine the best solution?
Oh please, let me give Debbie Ossiander the boot, too! Let’s put the both of them (incl. Sully) in a boot box and ship them off to the moon with some water and crackers. Between the two of them, and their four brain cells – they oughtta be able to dig up some cheese to go with those crackers.