A Tale of Two Suzannes
By Andrew Gray, host of the East Anchorage Book Club Podcast
Episode: A Tale of Two Suzannes
Earlier this week, Suzanne Downing published a story on her website, Must Read Alaska, titled, “Assembly Chair LaFrance cusses out employee of municipality.” For those of us who have watched Suzanne LaFrance chair the Assembly over the last year, that headline seems farfetched. LaFrance does not present herself as someone with an out-of-control temper, and as you’re about to read, the story is, indeed, not true.
Allow me to describe the article as it appeared on her website and her podcast of the same name: Downing paints a picture of an Assembly intent on not offering new police Chief Michael Kerle the equivalent swearing-in ceremony that was given to former Chief Ken McCoy last year.
She implies that this alleged slight may be because Chief Kerle is white, while McCoy is Black, and because of this, a separate swearing-in was held at APD headquarters the day after the Feb 1 assembly meeting. At the APD ceremony, Mayor Dave Bronson apologized to Chief Kerle for the Assembly’s apparent purposeful snub.
Learning of the mayor’s words enraged LaFrance so much, according to Downing, that she “cussed out” the new Chief of Staff, Alexis Johnson.
This is not what happened.
Anchorage Assembly Chair Suzanne LaFrance, contacted by phone yesterday, explained that on January 31, the day prior to last week’s assembly meeting, City Manager Amy Demboski confirmed with her that neither Chief Kerle nor Cheryl Frasca, the new director of the Office of Management and Budget, would be sworn in at the Assembly meeting.
This happened at a leadership meeting where members of the mayoral administration and the Assembly leadership sat down to iron out expectations for the next day’s Assembly meeting. LaFrance was led to believe that Chief Kerle wanted a private ceremony on his upcoming birthday (which would have been the day after).
At Tuesday’s Assembly meeting, Michael Kerle’s confirmation as Chief of Police passed on the consent agenda without any Assembly member pulling the item for special recognition, but anyone could have pulled it, including conservative assembly members Jamie Allard and Crystal Kennedy or the mayor or city manager themselves.
LaFrance pointed out that the administration has her phone number and can call or text her at any time, even during the meeting. They also have microphones at their seats on the dais and could have called for a point of information and asked Chief Kerle to speak. But none of that happened.
The day after that meeting, a swearing-in ceremony was performed for Chief Kerle at APD headquarters but no one from the Assembly knew about it because they had not been invited. During the ceremony, the mayor did indeed apologize to Chief Kerle for the Assembly for not holding the swearing-in themselves the night before.
Upon learning this, LaFrance wanted to confirm the facts. She sought out the mayor’s new chief of staff Alexis Johnson in person because Johnson had stated her intention to be a bridge-builder when she recently took over that position. Although she was angry – the mayor had just TOLD the entire police department that she lacked the decency to properly recognize Chief Kerle – LaFrance insists that she remained professional.
She and Johnson spoke in private, and LaFrance asked Johnson if she could confirm that the mayor had said she lacked the decency to recognize Chief Kerle. Johnson confirmed it, and LaFrance replied something to the effect of: “Are you fucking kidding me?”
This is hardly the “cussing out” described in Downing’s headline.
Johnson emailed LaFrance later that same day and stated that there had been a few missteps in communication regarding Chief Kerle’s confirmation and that the administration’s impression, as well as APD’s, had been that the incoming Chief should have been given the opportunity to speak at the assembly meeting. She apologized for that information not being communicated.
LaFrance responded that there had been multiple opportunities for the administration to communicate with her, both before and during the meeting, but thanked Johnson for getting back to her and for her bridge-building work.
LaFrance assures me that she and Chief Kerle have a cordial relationship that has not been adversely affected by the events of last week. A request for comment sent to Chief of Staff Alexis Johnson was not immediately responded to.
In response to a request for comment about the Must Read Alaska piece that implied the Anchorage Assembly had blindsided him by not holding a swearing-in on the floor of the Assembly Chambers last week, Executive Assistant to Chief Kerle Gia Currier responded with a statement:
"The swearing-in ceremony was scheduled to take place at the APD Headquarters after the confirmation hearing and was not intended to happen at the Assembly Chambers. Chief Kerle expresses his gratitude for the Assembly’s unanimous vote on his confirmation."
Downing made no such attempts to speak with LaFrance before publishing her description of the Assembly Chair’s behavior and instead followed the propagandist’s playbook – sprinkle a kernel of truth here and there to increase the likelihood that people will believe what follows.
The mayor did apologize for the assembly not holding a swearing-in for Chief Kerle, but Amy Demboski had confirmed with the chair the day before that the new chief did not want an assembly floor confirmation. LaFrance did utter a curse word, but it had not been directed toward a person, and the woman who heard it took no offense and maintains a cordial relationship with Chair LaFrance.
Combatting falsehoods like Downing’s needs to happen. We cannot allow truth to go undefended, but this fight is labor intensive. The time spent debunking Downing’s inaccurate version of events could be better spent doing the hard work of improving Anchorage. Do not fall for the false narratives of Must Read Alaska.
Andrew Gray is the host of the East Anchorage Book Club Podcast and founder of Anchorage Action. His opinions and statements are his own.
This post has been updated with a response from Chief Kerle's office, which did not respond to a request for comment until after publication.
