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Friday, January 28, 2022

A Love Letter to Mayor Dan Sullivan

…and by “love letter” I mean deliciously awesome laser-focused hard-core smack down. The Anchorage Municipal Employees Association has had just about enough of the Mayor. We’ve ALL had just about enough of the mayor, but the AMEA has brilliantly summarized one aspect of the administration of the worst mayor ever.

I’ll let the letter speak for itself, but hopefully it is but one chapter in the doomed administration of the “one term worm” Dan Sullivan. (Emphasis is mine and .pdf file of the original letter is attached)

And thank you to all hard-working municipal employees who do their best to keep the city safe and functioning well, and have to deal with this mayor… for a few more months, anyway.

**************************************

October 14, 2010
Mayor Dan Sullivan
Municipality of Anchorage
632 West 6th Avenue, Suite 840
Anchorage, AK 99501

Re: Anchorage Municipal Employees Association
Budget Review and Discussion

Dear Mayor Sullivan:

The Anchorage Municipal Employees Association (Association) has been invited to meed with you between 3:00 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. on October 27, 2010. Your administration has not raised sufficient revenue to pay the bills. As a result, you want the Association to discuss what compensation and benefits the Association will allow your administration to take away from its members. Although the Association originally consented to the meeting , we must decline for the reasons below. Unless the Municipality has reasonable collaborative proposals that confer mutual benefits the meeting will not be an effective use of anyone’s time. Here’s why:

1. The premise of the meeting is basically a political lie. This administration has pursued a policy of under-taxation since it took office and has intentionally created an atmosphere of chronic economic crisis. Your administration has decided not to accept responsibility for the policies that created this “crisis”. The Association does not accept responsibility for this administration’s tax policies.

2. No study in the last 20 years has ever shown that Anchorage residents suffer under an unreasonable tax burden. That public perception is provably false. The overall local tax burden here is low. If you include the PFD it is almost non-existent.

3. Any assertion that municipal employees are insensitive to property tax issues is also false. Municipal employees are taxpayers.

4. The feelings of our members about giving up their compensation are the same as yours. In a televised interview played on local news last week, you explained that you are not personally giving up one dime of your compensation to help the Municipality through this crisis. You justified your refusal to do what you are asking your employees to do on the basis that you and your wife already give back to the Municipality in other ways. Thank you for setting an example we can all follow. The only difference is that our members have already given concessions to the Municipality. Unlike you, municipal employees already know what sacrifice feels like. You’re welcome.

5. We object to the notion that you, as Mayor, can fairly and legitimately transfer responsibility for a manufactured budget crisis to the men and women who work for the Municipality and who have already made concessions. The truth is that municipal employees are under no illusion that they are partners in your administration. Municipal employees are the designated scapegoat and whipping horse for a manufactured crisis.

6. We have seen no fair and impartial study which shows that members of the AMEA bargaining unit are overpaid. The truth is that municipal employees are not overpaid. In fact, in many skilled positions the pay disparity between the Municipality and the private sector is substantial. The Municipality is continually losing ground in its ability to attract and retain talented individuals. We regard this as the “slow train wreck” form of government. This is government by deferred maintenance. The damage is real but no immediately apparent. You can save money in the short run but in the long run it is both stupid and dangerous.

7. The future. We would be surprised if a single union agrees to open their contract and make further concessions to this administration. We suspect that the economic crisis will continue until your administration achieves its ultimate goal of imposing a sales tax. That regressive new tax will be touted as easing the burden on homeowners. However, it will in fact not have any significant effect on most homeowners but will substantially reduce costs for major commercial property owners.

Conclusion

Every mayor since Tom Fink and every assembly member who has ever lived has run on a platform of making government more efficient and reducing the cost. The majority of our representatives have been conservatives. With this history, the truth is that there are no easy cuts left in the municipal budget. Most departments are already understaffed and Anchorage has already entered the slow train wreck phase of government. The Municipality still works fairly well. But if we haven’t already, we will reach the tipping point somewhere between now and the end of your second administration. While that may not matter to conservative politicians and radio hosts, that is only because they don’t look at problems as needing solutions. They look at problems as needing someone to blame. So in that respect, the Association would like to make the following statement and make it clearly:

You are the mayor. Your policies created the current economic crisis. The simple truth is that Anchorage cannot refuse to pay its bills without significant cuts in services. It is your administration’s policy to reduce services in Anchorage. Pretending otherwise is an abdication of your responsibilities as mayor.

With all due respect, the Association feels that it is being used, not consulted. If your administration has any collaborative proposals which would confer mutual benefits, we would be happy to look at them. Otherwise, our members feel like you do. But unlike you, they’ve already given back.

Sincerely,

JERMAIN, DUNNIGAN & OWENS, P.C.
Charles A. Dunnagan
CADksm
cc: Anchorage Daily News

Comments

comments

Comments
59 Responses to “A Love Letter to Mayor Dan Sullivan”
  1. pursang says:

    A copy of this needs to be sent to every Democrat in Congress as an example on how to address their Republicans across the aisle. Instead of groveling and apologizing for what you’re doing you stand up for yourself and speak the truth to their lies.

    Congrats to the AMEA for sticking up for themselves!

  2. Just Me says:

    Apparently he didn’t learn one thing from his father, who was actually a good mayor and dearly loved. This guy reminds me of Bush 2.

  3. WinBeach says:

    Agreed–good and to the point–maybe Danny will finally get it. But the letter and comments have skirted the real issue of his actions last yr–he lowered the tax cap (as did Mystrom in 2000)! That makes for a self-claimed deficit from which we can never recover. He created this short fall as well as diminishing our work force for vital services by ‘reorganizing’ Public Works where there are now lots more managers at high pay and many fewer workers in the trenches to oversee the very things that should make this city good–like adequate rescue teams, code enforcement and oversight of big developers who think they own city hall (actually they do).

    The best comment above was from Jan Beers: ” I KNOW Alaska is full of GREAT, SPIRITED, HARD WORKING PEOPLE so…what gives with their heads at election time?.”

  4. SKinMN says:

    What a great letter. It should be published in your local newspaper …

  5. thatcrowwoman says:

    Talk about speaking Truth to “Power.”
    That’s gotta sting…and no pretty little Party Planner to kiss it and make it better. heh heh heh

  6. Martha Unalaska Yard Sign says:

    Ohhh, I do think they are angrifudiated at the figurehead mayor. I just love that letter, it must have felt really really great to write it!

    I don’t know – should we have a slime ball auction in Alaska? We are getting so many around here again they need to be stacked up like firewood. Don’t touch that one, pyros.

    • AKjah says:

      Martha. Yes as the air gets drier they get more volatile. I cannot get through to the ones who are old and cannot read. Also i cannot get through to the ones who are young and cannot read. This will only grow. Society has found it’s crushing defeat.

  7. Jan Beers says:

    Boy, that is one hell of a letter. I have been hearing nothing but terrible things about Politicians in Alaska, from Palin to Miller and now this Bozo, Dan the Bar Man. I KNOW Alaska is full of GREAT, SPIRITED, HARD WORKING PEOPLE so…what gives with their heads at election time?

  8. ed says:

    Many years ago I worked for the Muni. The vast majority of employees I worked with were conscientious and hard working. There was the occasional manager who was lazy and whose position was unnecessary, and the odd lifer employee who couldn’t be bothered. Funny, it’s exactly like any other place I’ve ever worked–except we always knew were demonized for being Muni.

    This is a great letter, and I stand behind Muni employees. Mayor Dan can suck it.

  9. physicsmom says:

    Great letter. I was struck by the end where they state that the ultimate goal is to institute a sales tax and reduce/eliminate property taxes. That’s because ole Dan has so many businesses and buildings. He sure knows how to line his own pockets. And I can’t believe that he outright refused to take any pay cuts because he “gives back” in other ways. As if others don’t. What a pr!ck.

    • Terpsichore says:

      Ah, the old ‘reduce property taxes’ meme. And ‘replace revenues with a sales tax’ scheme.

      Yes, the people who benefit most from that are wealthy landowners and large businessowners. But even poor people have to buy toilet paper and bar soap and socks and underwear, all of which (and more) would cost more, and they won’t see one penny back from a property tax decrease.

      They actually were proposing that in FL a couple years back, and I remember reading on the boards that this would make renters have to pay ‘their fair share’ and some actually suggested that the landlords would reduce rent if there was a property tax decrease! To which I replied something like “On what planet are you living?”, or, “What are you smoking, ’cause that’s so delusional and I could use a good delusion right now”, or, if I had been really clever, “You must be living on a unicorn ranch in Fantasyland”.

      Furthermore, property taxes are generally stable, whereas projecting sales taxes is an inexact ‘science’ at best (sorry economists, but it truly is all guesswork – you can project looking at past years, but you cannot predict the future), making it all but impossible to put together an accurate budget.

      And yes, I’m glad the association took a clear stand. People have got to realize (hellooooo, tea partiers …..) that at some point, lower taxes means you, you personally, are going to not get something that you now get. No one wants to admit that, no one wants to say what’s OK to be cut except of course the whipping boys (arts and education), and no one comes clean with the fact that in most cases (except for the wealthy), the tax saving received is of less value than the service that was cut.

      AL Franken in one his books had a little chapter about this – I think it was a hypothetical waitress telling a customer she was going to vote for some Republican because he was going to lower her taxes, and the hypothetical customer (Franken) laid out all the reasons why she is better off with the programs and not the tax reduction. I’ll see if I can find it again. Very relevant to our current debate.

  10. Kath the Scrappy says:

    Heck of a letter! Seriously, Mayor Dan only scheduled 1/2 hour – like, half an hour – to discuss such serious issues? Unfreaking believable and slap in the face rude! Maybe he was figuring on racing out, getting off to his bar tending job in time for happy hour.

    How much longer are you folks stuck with this idiot? I forgot that this term was temporary to replace Mark Begich. Thank the g_ds you’re not stuck for a full term of incompetence!

    • zyxomma says:

      My guess (and it *is* a guess, I’m a continent’s breadth away from Anchorage) is that the half hour was how long he thought it would take him to TELL the municipal employees what they would be sacrificing at the altar of no taxes.

      “… that is only because they don’t look at problems as needing solutions. They look at problems as needing someone to blame,” is SUCH beautiful writing! Kudos!

  11. AKjah says:

    Let’s see that was on the 14th an today is the 16th. When does it hit the ADN?

  12. Marnie says:

    Good for them.

  13. calaz says:

    Kudos to the workers! The mayor is a beast. May the beast live to bear the truth to the people. In other words been there done that.

  14. blue_in_AK says:

    I am so proud to know Chuck Dunnagan. What a really great letter!! Kudos, old friend. (Chuck, I sent you a congratulatory e-mail at JDO so you’ll know who this is.)

  15. Cassie Jeep says:

    This is EXACTLY the correct response to faulty governing. Kudos to the AMEA for pulling this into the light of day.

    Can you imagine this type of ill-governance on a large scale? Failure to govern is reason for removal.

    Hope Dapper Dan held on to that insurance settlement he stole, he just might be out of work soon!

    • OtterQueen says:

      “Can you imagine this type of ill-governance on a large scale?”

      Yes. Yes I can. *sigh*

  16. Gramiam says:

    AMEA’s answer to Dan Sullivan…..”Not tonight, dear. I have a headache!”

  17. Zoom Zoom says:

    (snark – maybe he’s just grumpy cuz his party planner has moved on…… )

    Bernie is kind of cute. At 25 she could do so much better.

    Miller’s wifey might be up for a little sister wives here in Alaska or better yet let B take him whole and collect the childsupport.
    http://alaskawtf.com/2010/03/23/sullivans-mistress-revealed-bernadette-wilson/

  18. Winski says:

    The following from the letter : “Pretending otherwise is an abdication of your responsibilities as mayor.” should generate a RECALL for the Mayor as unfit to serve. Has that process started yet??

  19. Ripley in CT says:

    THAT’s gonna leave a mark!

  20. benlomond2 says:

    Great letter !!!…. (snark – maybe he’s just grumpy cuz his party planner has moved on…… 🙂 )

    • Chaim says:

      She’s found a union with better benefits? 🙂

      • scout says:

        So many parties. So few planners.

        In all seriousness, that was excellent smack down of he who also too cashed a check for $193,000.00 from the municipality. Little man, big hypocrite, pedestrian GOP values.

  21. Sarah in SC says:

    Awesome letter!

    But will he understand the big words??

  22. loki says:

    Makes me proud to be an AMEA veteran. AMEA represents the clerical, administrative and skilled support positions for the Municipality. These are workers who are not represented by the large unions, and are the face of the city. They are also, by far, the lowest paid city employees.
    In my 20 years with AMEA, we were asked repeatedly to take some form of pay or benefit cut. I’m very glad to see such a strong stance on behalf of those who make our city function.
    Full disclosure: AMEA will be providing my retirement benefits once I choose to retire.

  23. AK Raven says:

    That always puzzled me too. A friend who worked at the Assistance office was required to ask folks to register to vote. She often got the comment “I’m a card carrying Republican” Whatever that means. She said “don’t they know the Republicans would take all their benefits away from, if they could?”
    I think they believe the Republicans protect their gun rights and that trumps all. The NRA has succeeded in brainwashing many people. They are a front for many big corporations. A lot of money is behind the NRA.

  24. GoI3ig says:

    The greatest trick the conservatives play is their ability to get people voting against their own self interests. It boggles the mind to consider the vast number of right wingers in the APD and AFD who support Dapper Dan and his ilk.

    I’ve never quite been able to figure it out. As near as I can tell, conservatives hate for homosexuals, abortion, and anything Obama, trump their desire for a fair compensation package. If that isn’t it, help me out here. Any people who are working stiffs who vote “R” are invited to chime in here.

    • AKMuckraker says:

      APD and AFD are not thrilled with this mayor any more, that’s for sure. They’ve bit hit very personally by him, and so have their brothers/sisters.

      • GoI3ig says:

        I agree that many are now unhappy. But I am still amazed by how many (and I know several) who are still dyed in the wool republicans. I had one actually tell me that he would rather have no health insurance, than see Obama win another term. Wow, is all I could say.

        • M Baker says:

          I too am amazed by the people who say they don’t want health care, and at the same time need it. I have a very Republican friend who’s wife is chronically ill and he has a shaky job that provides lousy health insurance. It just seems he doesn’t want to face the issue if he should lose his job he wouldn’t have health insurance. He likes to complain about his insurance coverage, but doesn’t seem to understand what it would be like without it.

          • RB says:

            Really??? Was that comment inappropriate? I guess your right. People looking for a hand out would probably take offence to that comment!

      • TX SMR says:

        I remember when I was helping Walt’s campaign, lived down the road from a fire dept employee. He was quite dismissive of my efforts, and completely unwilling to vote for anyone besides Dan.

        I just don’t get it. Voting against own best interests so he could fit in with the neighbors (ours were the biggest idiot bigots, neighborhood full of palin fans, the worst). Just pathetic. I wonder if he was laid off? How many of his co-workers and friends (outside our neighborhood, of course) were laid off?

        Alaska has the suckiest voters of any state. I don’t even think it’s as bad here in Texas. Alaska has not always been that way. Military bases & the pipeline brought the crazy, and it is there to stay until both go away. I do not miss it one single bit, even on the worst day of having to listen to Rush Limbaugh at the post office.

        • alaskanvoter says:

          I work for the feds and it is always funny when the Tea Party is outside, protesting against us. I don’t talk politics at work but most of my co-workers are extremely conservative. I think they secretly wish they could be out there holding a sign. I’ve had to tell more than one person: they hate us.

          What the hell happened to this country. Why do so many people vote against their own interests? Or more to the point, against the interests of a fair, just and prosperous society?

        • judith says:

          I currently live in TX and let me tell you, there are the wingnutz for sure; but there isn’t nearly the crazies here (at least outside of Houston) that there is in AK where I lived for over 20 years. There used to be sane politicians in AK. Bill Egan, Steve Cowper, Tony Knowles, then the plague of Merkowski and Palin. Now, it’s bottom of the barrel time. Miller…..et al. How the current mayor got elected is anyone’s guess but there he is. You can vote him out just like he got voted in.

  25. PepperzMom says:

    Ouch! That’s certainly hits the target.

    BTW – the “love letter” needs to make it into the newspapers for every one to read.

  26. GoI3ig says:

    Dapper Dan has been too busy programming the remote control for the TV in the lobby of city hall so all buttons bring up Faux Noise.

  27. Barbara Rice says:

    What an assh*t! I’d take any corrupt Democratic mayor in any big city in the lower 48 over this stooge. Republicans and cities don’t mix.

  28. Laurie says:

    The truth hurts. He’s not gonna like it!

  29. psg_bill says:

    Wow. Your mayor offered an entire half hour to discuss significant fiscal matters of your community. How rude…..

  30. far from fenway fan says:

    What a smack down! Well done. SO many great, quotable lines. Sullivan took the easy route when he ran and said he’d reduce property taxes. But as the letter states:

    “The overall local tax burden here is low. If you include the PFD it is almost non-existent.”

    Sullivan knows that if HE proposes any kind of tax – increase in property tax or sales tax, then he’s toast. Of course, we know this is all Begich’s fault. Maybe we need another study …

  31. sohipithurts says:

    Haha. Let me guess…Republican?

    /snark off

    /curse on

    This should go to the MSM. It speaks to the headshaking-disbelief that sane Americans (oh f**k – sane humans) have been suffering since the rise of the Teabagger movement. F**king Republican idiocracy. Forever talking about cutting taxes…

    OK. Cut taxes. Now what? No money to pay for cops? firefighters? everything? Oh, I guess we can just pay the annual ‘shakedown’ fee for protection. Well, it is capitalism I guess. Oh and by the way, we’re going to have to ask you to cut your benes and reduce your hours and…what?! No, I’m not giving up one cent of my own! How dare you ask me to do that! You see, I am vastly superior and entitled. You…umm…are not.

    Oh noes! The deficit is spiralling out of control!

    Hey b**tf**k! How were things when Slick Willie came into power? Pretty bad? Really? And how were things when he left Office? Oh a surplus? Hmmm. What the f**k is up with that? Do us, and the rest of humanity, a huge favor. Sit down and shut the f**k up! It’s called a cycle. A wave. A ripple. It’s called life.

    This, too, shall pass. Quit freaking out just because Obama is now your leader. Can’t wait until we elect a hermaphoditic asian muslim for President. Oh noes….

    /curse off

  32. VillageReader says:

    Wow! Very nicely written.

  33. Doodlebug says:

    The conservative/republican party agenda of “I got mine, but you don’t get any” is alive and well with the mayor. It’s time somebody stood up to them. Hooray for the AMEA.

  34. Alaska Pi says:

    OMG- what a great letter!!!!!!!

  35. Writing from Alaska says:

    – !!
    wow.

  36. John says:

    It’s about time! great letter. I really like the line about conservatives not looking for a solution to problems, they look for someone to blame. Perhaps they need to invest in a mirror if they are looking for someone to blame.

  37. the problem child says:

    Good for the municipal workers!