Allard Thrice Called LaFrance a Liar. Let's Correct the Record.
One of the things I enjoy the most about what I do (he says, his lips dripping with venomous sarcasm) is having to take a Saturday morning to correct an incorrect record shared by a sitting Assembly member.
At Tuesday’s Assembly meeting, Chair LaFrance said the navigation center ordinance was pulled from introduction by Eagle River Representatives “in order to do more work on it with the community.” That was exactly what happened when Eagle River Assemblywoman Crystal Kennedy explained that she needed to rescind the motion to introduce the ordinance on July 13.
But Eagle River Assemblyperson Jamie Allard wasn’t having any truth-telling or facts at Tuesday’s meeting and accused LaFrance of lying, but not before she interrupted her while in the middle of delivering the chair report.
“You are flat-out lying to the community,” Allard said, even as LaFrance correctly pointed out that Allard was out of order to which she responded, “No, I’m not.”
“You are lying!” The Save Anchorage member repeated, forcing LaFrance to call a recess roughly 18 minutes after Tuesday’s meeting had begun. After the recess concluded, LaFrance addressed Crystal Kennedy directly, reiterating that Kennedy had the “wisdom” to pull the ordinance and to ask the administration and members to work together.”
But the right-wing blog Must Alaska, which often runs damage control for Allard when she sympathizes with Nazi terminology on a vanity license plate, fabricates her own Facebook deplatforming, or loses it in an Assembly meeting — wrote that LaFrance had “apologized for lying.”
LaFrance said that she apologized if anything was “misconstrued,” but clearly, she didn’t lie, as is evident by her clear statement that the ordinance was pulled “to do more work on it with the community.”
During the recess, Allard escalated the situation, becoming aggressive with LaFrance. Multiple videos recorded by those in attendance and shared on social media show Allard yelling across the dais at Assemblyman Christopher Constant.
Two additional separate videos shared on social media appear to show a confrontational Allard in LaFrances' personal space. One of the videos was taken by a citizen who attended the meeting, and East Anchorage Assembly member Forrest Dunbar recorded and published a second video from behind the dais.
Dunbar wrote on Twitter that Allard’s interaction with LaFrance was “perhaps the most embarrassing breach of decorum from a Member” he had ever seen, with the possible exception of Allard’s previous meltdown involving former Chair Rivera.
In a brief conversation with LaFrance about what had transpired during the meeting, she told me that “Member Allard’s actions were very concerning, as she seemed to be teetering on violent behavior.”
The video of Allard’s confrontation with LaFrance went viral on TikTok, which racked up over 153,000 views. The video went viral because it’s insane that elected officials act so childishly, and no one could look away.
