Art of the Dodge: Assembly Candidates Dismissive of Jan 6 Events
Some Bronson-backed candidates running for the Anchorage Assembly have done a good job locking down their social media accounts and scrubbing away scary-looking memes and/or radical comments. But thanks to the Anchorage Daily News (ADN), Anchorage voters can now gain insight into the far-right views held by candidates Stephanie Flynn Taylor, Kathy Henslee, Randy Sulte, and Kevin Cross.
On March 15, ADN printed candidate responses to various questions about the city's issues and challenges. One question asked whether candidates acknowledged the results of the 2020 presidential election and their thoughts on what took place at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Assembly candidate Stephanie Flynn Taylor's answer acknowledged only that the election had been called 18 months ago and made no mention that Biden had won a free and fair election. Unsurprisingly, Taylor downplayed the violent attempted insurrection of the U.S. Capitol, calling it merely "unfortunate" and instead curiously alleged there was more to the story about the violent attack — things we may never know.
Randy Sulte, challenging incumbent John Weddleton, said he acknowledged the results of the 2020 presidential election but called the death of Ashli Babbit "tragic." She was part of a mob of Trump supporters who breached the United States Capitol building seeking to overturn the election.
Babbitt had attempted to climb through a shattered window of a barricaded door, which led to her being shot in the shoulder/neck by a Capitol Police officer. Republican Representative Markwayne Mullin, a witness to Babbitt's attempted breach, said that the Capitol Police "didn't have a choice" but to shoot and that this action "saved people's lives."
According to widespread reporting, in November 2019, Babbitt tweeted about Pizzagate. This conspiracy theory claims senior Democrats were operating a child sex trafficking ring. By February 2020, Babbitt publicly supported QAnon, a far-right conspiracy theory that claims that the world is run by a cabal of Satan-worshipping child abusers Trump was secretly fighting.
Zaletel challenger Kathy Henslee stated that President Biden is indeed president but again made no mention that the 2020 presidential election was free and fair. Somewhat incredibly, Henslee said she believed the events of January 6 were "exaggerated and misrepresented by the media and the left." Henslee's response appears to include an attempt to paint a false equivalency between protests and riots that stemmed from the death of George Floyd and the attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
District 2 candidate and Allard BFF Kevin Cross said he didn't "support or endorse the behavior" of those who entered the Capitol last year and, like Henslee, attempted to compare the riots caused by the death of George Floyd to the violent attempt to overturn the results of a free and fair presidential election.
Liz Vazquez, seeking to unseat Kameron Perez-Verdia, opted not to answer the question at all.
The incumbent members of the Assembly did better than the Bronson-backed candidates in answering the question. They demonstrated a realistic grasp of both the 2020 presidential election and the events that unfolded on January 6.
If you, like the Bronson and Save Anchorage-backed candidates running for Anchorage Assembly, are unfamiliar with what transpired on January 6, 2021, I can't recommend enough the Frontline documentary, 'American Insurrection.'
Note that while the documentary is free, it is indeed violent and unsuitable for younger viewers.
