Anti-LGBTQ. Far-Right. Partisan. No Wonder Allard Is Running for Higher Office.
Far-right crocheted mask aficionado Jamie Allard is running for an Eagle River state House seat that some have suggested looks like it was created just for her.
Allard is a darling of the far-right Save Anchorage Facebook group, whose members have threatened public officials and waged disinformation campaigns related to COVID-19, mask-wearing, homelessness, and other issues. Allard joined the group last year and has forcefully utilized (some might say manipulated) it for political gain, waging political war against her left-leaning colleagues on the Anchorage Assembly.
Allard said recently that she had been planning to challenge Rep. Kelly Merrick, increasing the likelihood that Allard's involvement with Save Anchorage was part of a well-thought-out coordinated plan to galvanize support when she ran for higher office.
Allard's time on the Assembly has been tumultuous. She has gone off half-cocked, launching into disturbing verbal tirades against Assembly members Constant and Rivera. In September, a video taken during an Assembly meeting captured a situation in which Allard entered the personal space of Chair LaFrance. I spoke to LaFrance after the altercation occurred, and told me she found Allard's actions "very concerning, as she seemed to be teetering on violent behavior." The video of Allard went viral because it’s insane that elected officials act so childishly, and no one could look away.
Allard was removed from the Alaska Human Rights Commission by Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy after Allard defended — in comments she made on Must Read Alaska's Facebook page — Nazi terminology seen on two Alaska vanity license plates.
In a September Facebook post, Allard accused the Anchorage Daily News of reporting "inacuurate information" (I stopped correcting her spelling) and that Providence didn't "report the facts to the public" about the hospital's staffing numbers after a wave of unvaccinated covid patients besieged Anchorage emergency departments, causing Providence to implement crisis standards of care.
In an October story first reported by The Blue Alaskan, Allard attempted to get Providence to administer the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin to a COVID-19 patient she claimed to be the designated Health Care Agent for.
Allard has also alleged that corruption via mail-in ballots is real, asserted that Joseph Biden was not sane, compared the Save Anchorage Facebook group to the Insurrectionist in Chief's Save America PAC, has refused to answer questions presented to her about whether the 2020 presidential election was conducted fairly, accused Assembly Member Felix Rivera of hiding behind the race card, and has permitted individuals to post pictures of firearms on her Facebook page captioned with concerning verbiage related to Assembly meetings.
In July, Allard referred to all transgender individuals as mentally ill. Her comment, made on the Louisiana-based Dan Fagan Show, drew a statement from Identity's Director, who said that Allard's transphobic rhetoric was "extremely worrisome and dangerous.”
Unsurprisingly, Allard has been endorsed by an all-star cast of right-wing politicians, such as Anchorage Mayor David Bronson, who had nothing better to do than write about and quote Adolf Hitler in 2013.
Unfortunately, Allard stands a good chance at winning this race, but there is an upside if she does — Anchorage residents won't have to endure the nonsense and rhetoric she spews at Assembly meetings and her impact in the Legislature will be minimal.
