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March 28, 2024

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Friday, January 28, 2022

Why Is Twice-Failed School Board Candidate Bob Griffin Following School Busses?

By Linda Kellen Biegel

No, this is not a joke. Bob Griffin, Mayor Sullivan’s candidate for School Board (including personal donations from the Mayor and his wife) even had an encounter with the Anchorage Police School Resource Officers over the whole thing. From a recording of the May 23rd School Board Meeting:

Don Smith: The other thing…I understand there was some kind of a school bus study being done by an independent group…

Carol Comeau: Do you want me to tell you the story?

Don Smith: I’m curious where it’s at now because I’ve been hearing stories that indicate the busses are running way, way lower in numbers than what are being reported by the District so I’m curious.

*laughter*

Pat Higgins: Was that Bob Griffin?

Don Smith — Yeah…

*more laughter from around the room*

Carol Comeau — I have no idea what he said or what he’s doing. I do know that shortly after the election he was following the bus route of one high school, middle school and elementary school and the bus driver didn’t know who this white male driving the car was [so he] called dispatch. They reported it. A police officer came and stopped him and the bus. He [Griffin] wanted to know what was wrong. The police officers talked to the bus driver. The bus driver says, “I don’t like the fact that somebody in the same car is following me on all three routes. I don’t know who he is and we’re very concerned about this. This is one of the major signals of a pedophile or someone who is going to snatch a kid.” So, the police officer talked to him and explained basically the same thing and that [he] should have notified somebody at some point that [he] were going to do this. He [Griffin] said, “Don’t you recognize me? I just ran for the School Board.” The police officer didn’t recognize him and said, “Be that as it may, it’s not a good idea for you to be following school buses because when we hear about it, that’s the first thing we suspect” — that someone is going to snatch a kid or is a pedophile.

Don Smith: [garbled]”…taking pictures of high school landscaping.”

Carol Comeau: Yeah, well, Don it’s the climate we live in these days.

Don Smith: …I know, I just…[garbled]

Carol Comeau: I have no idea about his “study.” He’s never contacted us to my knowledge.

Don Smith: He’s contacted…

Carol Comeau: Has he contacted Steve? OK.

Unknown Speaker: He’s met with Steve. Steve met with him for about an hour, an hour and a half. I haven’t heard anything more since.

Pat Higgins: It was Bob Griffin…[garbled]

Unknown Speaker: It was.

Carol Comeau: Yes

I had also heard a rumor that conservative group the “Alaska Policy Forum” was the “independent organization” working on this study with Bob Griffin. I contacted the organization to verify this and my call was returned by founder David Boyle, who verified that Alaska Policy Forum was working together with Bob Griffin on a study counting kids riding the school busses.

Questions need to be asked:

1) Who is behind this study?

–We already know about Bob Griffin’s two unsuccessful School Board runs. In 2010 the Anchorage School District actually took the time and the money to create a comparing “Apples to Apples” document because of Griffin’s inaccuracies and flagrant mistellings of the truth in both ads and public appearances.

— Alaska Policy Forum, a 501(3)(c) non-profit (which means it doesn’t need to reveal its donors), calls itself a “conservative think-tank” for Alaska:

The Alaska Policy Forum (APF) is a free market think tank focused on state policy, especially health/social services and fiscal policy. The APF provides Alaskans, legislators and public policy influencers with nonpartisan research on various issues to include budget/tax policy, education, healthcare, transparency and labor policy.

That’s the first part of their write-up on a website which lists all of the participants in a Conservative Summer Fellow (internship) Program paid for by…wait for it…Charles G. Koch Foundation:

Advance your career while advancing liberty!
The Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow Program combines a paid public policy internship with two career and policy seminars and weekly lectures. Fellows gain real-world experience, take a crash course in market-based policy analysis, and acquire the professional skills necessary to effect change.

So once again, religious and corporate influences have combined.

2) What is the reason behind counting the kids in the first place?

Logic dictates that it is impossible for the District to be accurate about riders:

–ASD could not possibly track from day-to-day, season-to-season, after-school-event to after-school-event what children are riding the bus on any given day. I know that during Cross-Country season, my daughter doesn’t come home on the bus for a month. I know that, in the spring weeks before summer vacation, a number of kids at my daughter’s school walk to the local McDonalds at the end of the day.

–Age has a lot to do with riders. Many more Elementary School children ride the bus than High School. Middle Schoolers…well, I covered them in the previous point with the beginning of after-school sports and fast food trips. High Schoolers do even more after-school events and once they hit the driving age, they drive to school or start getting rides with their friends.

— School busses run almost the same route three times a day for the three levels of schooling. It’s the most efficient, less confusing way to split up the routes. This isn’t going to change with an ebb and flow of riders because while some kids may choose not to ride, it’s the only way for others to actually get to school.

So what exactly does showing that, no surprise, the school estimates are not completely accurate is supposed to solve? What’s the alternative…Anchorage’s starving public transit system?

Since no real information is learned, then what is the motive to do the study? Could it be a way to bloody the District’s nose with half-truths…again?

3) When exactly would a private citizen following school children around all day EVER seem like good judgment?

It’s certainly not good judgment from someone who wants to serve on a body meant to protect our children, not expose them to harm.

Comments

comments

Comments
58 Responses to “Why Is Twice-Failed School Board Candidate Bob Griffin Following School Busses?”
  1. Elstun W. Lauesen says:

    These people have too much time on their hands. Think of the good Griffin (and the rest) could do if they would spend their time feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and healing the sick.

  2. nDjinn says:

    There is no way that “data” could be used in a valid “study”. Not only is he blatantly biased, the method of data set collection is not cohesive enough to yield good results.

  3. Bob Benner says:

    Someone posted a few weeks ago a desire to watch the 1957 movie “A Face in the Crowd” as a comparison had been made between the character in that movie and Sarah Palin… I just wanted to remind them that the movie is playing on TCM (Turner Classic Movies) this Wednesday night at 8:15PM Alaska time…

    • yukonbushgrma says:

      Yep, Bob, that was me! I’ve got it scheduled to record. Truly appreciated your info!

      Sounds like a movie everyone should see, if they haven’t already.

  4. fishingmamma says:

    Just a reminder, too, when reading about this nut case following buses and conducting his “study”. The Anchorage School district is required to provide transportation to all students that live more than 1.5 miles from the school, all students that would have to cross a dangerous street while walking, and all special needs students. The routes are determined by the DOT and DOE at the state level, and most of the transportation is funded by the state. Routes are determined by figuring out where enrolled students live, and what streets are dangerous. Some of those students get rides from parents, some are older and ride bikes or walk. None are required to ride the bus, but the district is required to have the bus there anyway. So I can be certain that when I see a DOT truck parked by the side of the road, watching an intersection near a school, that is a legitimate study that will indeed impact the needs and the safety of the students. (sources: State website, ASD website) An example is the recent repaving, widening and safety improvements on Jewel Lake Road in front of Sand Lake School.

    This idiot is not interested in the needs of the students, he, like another also-ran that we can easily name, just wants to get his name in the paper and feel important.

    • Dagian says:

      ” he, like another also-ran that we can easily name, just wants to get his name in the paper and feel important.”

      Getting arrested would accomplish that goal, very easily.

      (I’m not slamming the cop, just noting that if he had been brought in, it probably would have been a ‘best possible’ outcome. Gotta nip these crazies in the bud, or else they could bloom into…well…you know…)

      • fishingmamma says:

        ..they could bloom into…

        A militia in Fairbanks, maybe?

        • Dagian says:

          I was thinking $arah and how she’s gone kudzu on the nation. If only she had lost an election years and years ago…

          *sighs*

  5. physicsmom says:

    Linda,
    Great reporting. I do have a question about one of your comments, however. You state “So once again, religious and corporate influences have combined.” I don’t understand the religious influences here. Is APF a religious organization? If so, that wasn’t clear in the earlier description. Just a request to tighten up the references so we outsiders can follow along. Thanks.

  6. laurie says:

    What a weirdo.

  7. leenie17 says:

    Am I the only one who thinks that the world would be a better place if the Koch brothers were exiled to a small island off the coast of Antarctica with no communication and no way of escaping?

  8. WakeUpAmerica says:

    Alaska seems to be exceeding their clown quota. Do you guys have an international clown college up there?

    • Blooper says:

      Reminds me of that saying they tell Women who are looking to find Men in Alaska: The odds are good, but the goods are odd. 😉

  9. Millie says:

    The bus driver should receive a specific ‘thank you’ from Carol Comeau on this matter. He was taking excellent care of the kids, there is no doubt. Griffin sounds creepy to me, but so is Don Smith who was actually elected to the School Board! Yikes!

  10. Waay Out West says:

    Less than one paragraph in to APF a whopper, obviously they follow the she-who-shall-not-be-named rule of ‘start with a lie’

    “PPACA requires benefits and insurance providers to include young adults (ages 22-26) as child dependents in their health insurance plans after January 1, 2011 at no extra cost.”

    The statutory language for Extension of Dependent Coverage Section 2714 of the Public Health Service Act as amended by Section 1001 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is:

    **
    SEC. 2714. <> EXTENSION OF DEPENDENT COVERAGE.

    “(a) In General.–A group health plan and a health insurance issuer
    offering group or individual health insurance coverage that provides
    dependent coverage of children shall continue to make such coverage
    available for an adult child until the child turns 26 years of age.
    Nothing in this section shall require a health plan or a health insurance issuer
    described in the preceding sentence to make coverage available for a child of
    a child receiving dependent coverage.
    “(b) Regulations.–The Secretary shall promulgate regulations to
    define the dependents to which coverage shall be made available under
    subsection (a).
    “(c) Rule of Construction.–Nothing in this section shall be
    construed to modify the definition of `dependent’ as used in the
    Internal Revenue Code of 1986 with respect to the tax treatment of the
    cost of coverage.
    **

    Do you see “at no extra cost” in there anywhere?

    Business Law 101 tells you there is no contract without consideration. We pay different premiums for different policies, the premium being the consideration. Our policy is one rate for a single employee, another for a ‘family plan’ which covers dependent spouse and up to two kids and then an extended family plan option with a premium for each additional child over the original 2.

    • John says:

      They certainly can change their rates based on adding this coverage. Most won’t because the added cost is so small. 26 year olds tend to be healthy. So APF has lied in a couple of ways.

  11. Lacy Lady says:

    I don’t think I would want to fly with this guy. Seems he doesn’t keep his head on straight.
    The bus driver is very alert and I commend him for keeping an eye out for cars all around him. Parents can feel that their children are safe riding his bus.

    • Dagian says:

      [quote]The bus driver is very alert and I commend him for keeping an eye out for cars all around him. Parents can feel that their children are safe riding his bus.[/quote]

      I bet if his employer were flooded with nice letters from the citizenry to that effect, he may get a bonus. Maybe even a raise!

      Just a suggestion that may benefit the sharp-eyed bus driver, directly.

  12. carol says:

    Totally off this topic, but someone posted a tee shirt after the last election about what they got for voting Republican (none of what was received was something I’d want). Can you repost it or tell me where I can get a copy to paste forward?
    thanks.

  13. GoI3ig says:

    I bet Danny Sullivan was hunkered down in the back seat. They are both creepy. Does Dan actually have any teeth? He doesn’t appear to when he speaks. He reminds me of a serpent. (in more ways than one)

  14. Pokerdork says:

    Check out @AKPolicyForum ‘s latest tweet:

    http://twitter.com/#!/akpolicyforum

    “Blacks”? Really? In 2011?

  15. Jeff says:

    I think the Alaska Policy Forum consists of Bob Griffin and David Boyle. There might be another two or three inactive members as well. They like to publicize their “facts” and then when it is shown their analysis is incorrect, they never make any effort to publicize the correction. They just move on to the next topic of disinformation. They claim to be supporters of public education.

  16. Dagian says:

    “So, the police officer talked to him and explained basically the same thing and that [he] should have notified somebody at some point that [he] were going to do this.”

    Sorry folks, this whole thing really irritates me to a remarkable to degree.

    Not ‘notify’, he needed to get PERMISSION prior to doing this. Unless it’s his kid(s) on the bus he has NO business following a bus around without permission. Prior notice? That’s for people who think rules do not apply to themselves.

  17. beth says:

    A couple of questions, LKB —

    How many routes are there and was he planning on following each one? How many had he already ‘gotten under his belt’ before he was noticed and stopped? (In our area, we have over 2-dozen dedicated routes; each route has busses run them -to and from the schools- daily when school is in session to accommodate for full day/am kdg students and pm kdg students. If the route has a special ed student, an additional bus is run — frequency dictated by special ed student’s hours in school.)

    Were any other people ‘tasked’ with the job of ‘counting student ridership’, or just him?

    What is his “day job” that he could take the hours off to follow school busses on their route, and,

    Is there something in AKs water that allows for the ego of the rwnjs to grow so disproportionately and egregiously arrogant that they truly believe everyone should recognize them and should not question -ever- anything they are doing? beth.

    • John says:

      He is an airline pilot for Alaska Airlines. So he has lots of free time to do stuff. He brags about being able to call in from the beach in Hawaii to sqawk radio shows. In fact, that was his major campaign tactic, spending hours every week getting free radio time.

      • fishingmamma says:

        My son is boarding an Alaska Airlines plane this week to visit relatives. It creeps me out to think this guy may be flying it. I think I should write to Alaska Airlines and express my concern.

        • 1smartcanerican says:

          I certainly would let the airline know of his “off duty” activities that could compromise his in flight duties. He probably should be screened for medical/mental issues if he feels that he has the right to follow school busses without knowledge of either the school district and/or police.

    • His “day job” is a commercial pilot, so I guess that gives him free time in between flights. I don’t know anything else about how many other routes he’d already followed, etc…I also don’t know anything else about this study because once I brought up the “incident,” Dave at Alaska Policy Forum started to hem and haw.

      • bucsfan says:

        I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Don Smith was the one that brought this up since he and Griffin both made me question their reasons for running for school board. Didn’t seem like either one of them were doing it to improve the school system. And I remember Griffin because Linda called him out for using video of aircraft out at Elmendorf on his on-line campaign videos. I believe he is a retired Air Force Officer as well as a commericial pilot so you would hop the guy would have some common sense. Let’s face it, if you read this story in the paper, without knowing who was involved, and that the facts were that someone was following school busses around, anyone’s first thought would be that the driver was planning a child snatching.

    • Jeff says:

      There are hundreds of bus routes in Anchorage. Some are special ed routes. A few are bus routes for homeless students. Most are the general education routes with a bus doing high school, middle school and then elementary. ASD runs about 1/3 of the routes with union drivers. The others are operated by a contractor. They were union positions in the past, but that ended under the prior contractor. They have not unionized under the current contractor. The split system with ASD providing some of the busing is to provide competition as it is very hard for a new company to bid on any bus contract in Alaska. Even further off topic, our current contractor is doing an excellent job and I have not heard any employee complaints for a long time.

  18. Juneaudream says:

    Thank you for this tidbit..about the unsavory ..research/agendas..those of narrow ability..wriggle themselves into. Rather like finding …political ‘adders’…have migrated into what was a healthy landscape. Koch inc. must have an ..unlimited political storage area..in an underground saltmine somewhere. The goodnews..those who think widely..are ..kept ..attentive..and it adds to ones morning ..attention-level..much like a maplebar..sans calories. I likes it.. 😉

    • Dagian says:

      If you do not have an approved research protocol, you are not doing research and should be subject to any laws regarding stalking or other out-of-the-ordinary behaviour. Regardless of whether you hold elected office or not.

  19. Alaska Pi says:

    Linda-
    Alaska Policy Forum’s mission statement/about-us page reads like a template for advancing neoliberal policies so the connections to Koch is not a surprise… sigh.
    http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=376

    Horrified AND amused that the twice failed candidate, Mr Griffin, thought/thinks he is well known enough for not only the police officer to know him AND trust him but also that a bus driver looking in a rear view mirror would do the same.
    Good on the driver, good on the police for responding and shame, shame, shame on Mr Griffin.

    • Thanks for the link. I hadn’t heard the term and found the definition and implications extremely disturbing. It’s like a blue print for what the repubs and tp-ers are doing now.

    • CO almost native says:

      Has anyone investigated their 501(c)3 status? They may have violated nonprofit guidelines, if they are feeding information strictly to conservatives, using Koch money- and influencing the political process. Perhaps they should be a 501(c)7, or another classification- seems their purpose is just political. They should lose their tax-free status.

    • Waay Out West says:

      Thank you Alaska Pi for that illuminating and edjimakative link http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=376

    • fromthediagonal says:

      AlaskaPi, you have my admiration…

  20. Nan (aka roswellborn) says:

    Just the headline alone was creepy enough, but the whole article? I’d want to know why that guy was following the bus, too.

    Definitely creepy.

  21. I See Villages From My House says:

    Thank you for reporting on the relationship between religious and Koch funded policy overreach. I know it is a 50 State and commonwealth effort to influence State Legislatures and their results are shown in initiatives and legislation successfully every year. I think other bloggers from Alaska Commons or What Do I Know wrote up a disturbing witness to a “free lunch” presentation by a conservative advocacy group in Juneau this Spring. It is apparent that Free Market, in their eyes, means trampling this secular nation’s founding principles.

    I’d be concerned, furious even, had I noticed an amateur conducting a ‘study’ around my kids.

    And by the by, it’s a little nerve-wracking when any righteous whack-job runs (and loses) for any position and thinks that gives them credibility. That’s what makes Joe Miller think he can engage in public discourse even though he was resoundingly rejected by the electorate. Theresa Obermeyer was an Anchorage school board member too, and she ran a very uncomfortable decades long campaign against Senator Ted Stevens for her husband’s inability to pass the bar.

    This brings my attention to school board member Don Smith. Was he simply being considerate of a special interest concern or is he pushing the legitimacy of a bogus Think Tank?

    • Dagian says:

      “Iâ��d be concerned, furious even, had I noticed an amateur conducting a â��studyâ�� around my kids.”

      Particularly as no one in the school system knew about it, had approved of it, and doesn’t it just *smack* of people who say the only reason they are downloading kiddy porn is because they are “researching” it, independently of any legal authority?

      If he were ‘researching’ something, in MY state he would have to have completed several levels of training and had a background check. Then this research protocol would have had to have a sponsor, full knowledge & cooperation of the school district, he would be issued an id badge that would be on full display AT ALL TIMES and not only that–he would be ON the bus. Not following it! (Amongst other things he and the Alaska Policy Forum would have to do to stay LEGAL and actually have a hope of producing valid RESEARCH.)

      You know, if he hadn’t been someone who had run (and lost!) an election, what are the odds that the police officer simply would have taken him in? If he weren’t in a suit & tie (and low on naturally melanin-enhanced skin tone), I bet there would have been more aggressive follow-through.

      But I am glad the bus driver called and an officer was dispatched. I just wonder if the guy had looked scruffier or darker if he would have been treated the same way.

      Okay, really, I will go away and tamp down my outrage for a little while.

      • merrycricket says:

        Many moons ago, we had ourselves a mayor who was pulled over one evening for drunken driving. He.informed the police officer, and later the media, that he wasn’t drunk, he was just inspecting the city. Uh…. Yeah, … Sure you were.

    • Zyxomma says:

      And, of course, it’s not just Joe Miller. A certain shrill shrieker who shall remain nameless has felt it her right, if not her duty, to express an opposition opinion on everything the White House says or does, despite having lost overwhelmingly the position of vice president. If only the media would stop paying attention to her!

    • fishingmamma says:

      “And by the by, it’s a little nerve-wracking when any righteous whack-job runs (and loses) for any position and thinks that gives them credibility. That’s what makes Joe Miller think he can engage in public discourse even though he was resoundingly rejected by the electorate.”

      So…you are saying that NOT getting elected VP is not a claim to fame and credibility? Who knew??

      • Jen in SF says:

        fishingmamma, you put that so much better than I could have. All, I could think was, “Aaaaaugh!!”

        “Don’t you recognize me? I just ran for the School Board.”
        “Don’t you recognize me? I’m a cop.”

        • 1smartcanerican says:

          Love it! “Don’t you recognize me? I’m a cop.” Too perfect 🙂

  22. Dagian says:

    How many times was this guy dropped on his head to think that following a school bus around would NOT concern and upset a sentient being?

    Let’s hope that the bus driver (who deserves letters of recommendation from the parent(s) of EVERY SINGLE RIDER on that bus) doesn’t suffer some form of retaliation by the group that “sponsored” this “study”.

    Hmm. Maybe they are trying to think of a way to kill off the school district providing school buses, or at least a way to make the kids’ parents pay for it directly. Wanna bet there has been talk around the water cooler about a daily fee? Can’t pay your money to ride the school bus, kid? Then walk. Or don’t go.

    (Gotta keep a ready supply of undereductated citizens around to clean their homes, or something.)

    Yes, I have me a mean streak of bitter this morning. I think I will go do something ‘happy’ for a few hours.

    I hope everyone enjoyed a lovely weekend!

  23. mike from iowa says:

    Maybe he likes the smell of school bus emissions mingled with the delicate fragrance of under age children. Sniffing exhaust fumes must be a decidedly rwnj thingy.Not to get to far off topic,but I personally would rather walk back and forth in front of a bakery and sample the atmosphere. Thank you LKB for diligent reporting on subjects that would bore many of us to tears.

  24. benlomond2 says:

    You have some really …..UNUSUAL..people in Anchorage……if one was to do a survey of bus ridership, makes more sense to get the school admin’s permission, and stand at the school with a clicker and count the kids coming off the bus. Following a bus is really creepy….. This APF group sounds like a bunch of vigilantes with a skewed vision..

  25. thatcrowwoman says:

    Good on the (union, I’m betting) bus driver for calling dispatch about suspicious behavior.

    Koch brothers certainly leave their slime-trails amongst the 7 Mountains, eh?
    (no offense to actual slugs and snails)