Mayor Appoints Schoolbus-Following Guy to the (School) Budget Advisory Committee
By Linda Kellen Biegel Here at The Mudflats we did a post not long ago about an incident discussed during an Anchorage School Board Meeting. It seems that Bob Griffin, a twice-failed candidate for the school board, was pulled over by the police. Here is the explanation in the words of School Superintendent Carol Comeau at that meeting: 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…
Stop the Sunset at the Anchorage Assembly Meeting Tonight
He’s at it again. Mayor Dan Sullivan has found a new way to stifle the voices of Anchorage residents, and keep them from making all those pesky suggestions and complaints – you know, “citizen participation.” Apathy and disconnection is far more appealing to the current administration. But, tomorrow, there is a public hearing in which you, dear Anchorage resident, may make your voice heard anyway. The mayor has decided to trim the fat, and cut, or sunset many of the city’s volunteer boards and commissions. The city admits that this has nothing to do with saving money. So why put…
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…
“Superintendent” Sullivan’s Education Summit — What is the Goal?
In a previous post on the “Anti-Public Education Agenda”, we discussed how corporations and right-wing radicals were driving the “school choice” and education reform movements nationally and statewide. However, no one has played politics in this arena quite the way that Mayor Dan Sullivan has here in Anchorage: — Since the early days of his Mayorship, Dan Sullivan began waging an all-out war against public employees …especially those who are unionized. — Throughout his term, Sullivan has continued a pattern of putting hand-picked highly-partisan candidates in major appointments and to outwardly support them in supposed non-partisan races against people who…
The Anti-Public Education Agenda Comes to Alaska…
…And Hardly Anybody Knows It Many of us have heard the stories: new Republican Governors and Tea Party majorities in state legislatures across the country have been targeting public employees and their salaries, pensions, health benefits, etc… Along with this, there has been a major push at another budget-cut target — public school systems. Public Education faces massive cuts in Texas ($4 bil), huge cuts in Wisconsin ($900 mil), more cuts in North Carolina, budget cuts and a removal of the school districts’ tax authority in Pennsylvania (inhibiting individual districts from raising property taxes), and a governor-declared “financial emergency” in…
New Assemblyman Trombley Guilty of Lying and Being a Whippersnapper
The thing that consoles me when I write about local issues, is that our characters here in Alaska (even though many of you are from elsewhere) are so incredibly over-the-top and ridiculous that they can be appreciated in their own right, just for the entertainment value. It’s like writing a book full of short stories about some mythical crazy dysfunctional municipal government, only it’s not mythical. Today, we’ll revisit one of the larger yet lesser characters in our serial drama, and one of Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan’s henchpeople. Remember Adam Trombley, former local basketball star and up-and-coming conservative mayoral toady?…
The New and Unimproved Debbie Ossiander Scoffs at Democratic Process
So how completely impressed are we with our new Assembly Chair Debbie Ossiander? Just as impressed as we were with her the last time she was Chair. And that would be… not at all. Her ignominious rise to the top spot hinged, apparently, on her loyalty to Mayor Dan Sullivan, and she’s been eager to prove her empty-headed devotion since her return to the throne. First on the list of things to do it seems, was to circumvent that thing we like to call “democracy.” Anchorage is in the middle of redistricting. This is as important as it gets. The…
Mayor Dan Sullivan — Playground Bully (by LKB)
Remember THAT kid back in grade school? Remember coming to school and sharing the excitement of how you got the remote control car you wanted for Christmas? THAT kid would talk about his brand new remote control F-15 jet…life-sized. Or, you’d very proudly reveal the balsa wood car you’d carved yourself and painted red to run in the local Pinewood Derby while THAT kid would bring out the super-slick car he claimed he made himself but was secretly made by his daddy’s engineering firm. THAT kid was the one the teachers all thought was a wonderful student when he was…
It seems that the pen IS mightier than the sword
Last week, an incident that had been dealt with several weeks ago at South High School came to a head. As written in the Anchorage Daily News: Violent lyrics written by a South High School student about attacking other students resulted in a felony charge of making terroristic threats and a 45-day emergency suspension from school, according to police and the Anchorage School District. The sophomore now faces expulsion from the School District, Superintendent Carol Comeau said Wednesday. I learned about this issue through the ADN article and then through an email conversation with a South High parent who gave…
Open Thread: Assembly Changes
I attended the first meeting of the new 2011 Anchorage Assembly, which also was (sadly) a farewell and passing of the baton by Eastside’s Mike Guttierez to the election winner, Adam Trombley. The main purpose of the meeting was to certify the most recent Municipal Election, to swear in the returning Assembly and the one new member, and to establish the Assembly leadership. I wrote a post about the insane faux-controversy over Chairman Dick Traini’s speech at the April 4th We Are One Rally. Unfortunately, the results didn’t go our way. However, the overall tone of the meeting was relatively…