Alaska Center endorses 2022 Anchorage Municipal Candidates

The Alaska Center has endorsed four incumbents running for re-election to the Anchorage Assembly ahead of the 2022 municipal election: Kameron Perez-Verdia, Meg Zaletel, Forrest Dunbar and John Weddleton.

"In the face of unprecedented attacks on our democracy and civil process, these Anchorage Assembly members have defended the sanctity of our municipal government by maintaining civility, decorum, and respect," the Alaska Center said in a statement accompanying today's endorsement.

Noticeably, the Alaska Center chose not to endorse candidates associated with and backed by the far-right's shadowy Save Anchorage operation, whose members have espoused wild conspiracy theories related to election fraud, COVID-19, masks, vaccines and whose some members were seen at a series of Anchorage Assembly meetings last fall wearing holocaust imagery.

None of the Save Anchorage-backed candidates have, to the best of my knowledge, ever rebuked their fellow group members' public displays of antisemitism, calls for civil war or even attempted to distance themselves from a group whose members cheered the January 6 Capitol Hill insurrection. The four candidates continue to remain members of the group now listed in the Insurrection Index.

Last January, 'Free Alaska,' part of an affiliated network of social media groups that include(d) Save Anchorage, Open Alaska, Taking Back Anchorage and Alaskans for Constitutional Rights, accused Assembly Members of "blatant government overreach" for the high crime of wanting to pass a mask mandate within the municipality of Anchorage to help protect public health and safety in addition to protecting Anchorage's fragile health care capacity.

The Blue Alaskan, with nothing better to do with their time, also made a fun graphic today! You're not the only one with Canva Pro Free Alaska!