'BS' Demboski pops off again. Now claims Constant, not just ADN spreading lies.
Lisa Munson, Secretary of the Anchorage Community Police Relations Task Force, sent an email yesterday to share that the Mayor's Office had announced a Martin Luther King Day Celebration with Anchorage's Chief Equity Officer and members of the public. Then, the entire email thread went to hell.
The Vice Chair of the Anchorage Assembly, Christopher Constant, responded to Munson's email to clarify that Clifford Armstrong III was still the city's Chief Equity Officer.
Armstrong, you may recall, was fired by Mayor Bronson last October, an act the NAACP called illegal. After illegally firing Armstrong, Mayor Bronson announced he had appointed Uluao "Junior" Aumavae to replace him. On October 21, the Assembly's leadership sent a letter to Bronson informing him that they did not recognize his dismissal.
Municipal Manager 'BS' Demboski, who was unable to muster enough self-control not to berate Constant with obscenities on December 11, predictably popped off in the email thread to "correct the misinformation" she says Constant was spreading.
The inescapable irony of Demboski's statement is that she is a longtime member of the far-right Save Anchorage misinformation group, ostensibly one of the most extensive disseminators of misinformation in Alaska.
Armstrong "is
notan employee of the Municipality of Anchorage," Demboski wrote, claiming that Aumavae is the current Chief Equity Officer of Anchorage.
Demboski directed press inquiries to Niki Tshibaka — the Bronson administration's Chief Human Resources Officer. Tshibaka is married to Kelly Tshibaka, a far-right election fraud conspiracy theorist and religious zealot running for U.S. Senate.
Constant, correcting his own accidental mistype of Armstrong's last name (the office of the mayor has released some interesting typos of their own), hit back at 'BS' Demboski, countering that his statement wasn't "misinformation" as she alleged and noted that the mayor had sued the Assembly over the matter.
Until the courts resolve Armstrong's firing, any assertion that anyone other than Armstrong was the Chief Equity Officer was, in fact, "misinformation," Constant wrote.
Under a cloak of darkness at 11:11 pm Saturday, Demboski, who apparently couldn't resist the temptation not to respond, did just that, putting forth the Bronson administration's tried-and-true fear-mongering line about 'separation of powers' which plays well with the readers of propagandist Must Read Alaska and Bronson's Save Anchorage supporters.
"You sir are incorrect and are spreading lies at this point," Save Anchorage member Demboski wrote.
"I strongly encourage you to cease this harassment of this employee; it is inappropriate, unprofessional, and clear intimidation by an assembly member who will be voting on this employee's nomination," Save Anchorage member Demboski wrote.
Demboski accused Constant of "harassing" Aumavae because he was cc'd in response to the email chain. Worth noting is that Aumavae was listed in the original email sent by Lisa Munson. It could be that Demboski believes an Assembly member 'replying all' could constitute some form of 'harassment.'
As a short aside, Demboski, to the best of my knowledge, has never publicly asked members of Save Anchorage not to harass public officials on social media, which isn't all that surprising for someone who encouraged members of the group to "show up" at an October 7 Assembly meeting — the same evening she ordered the Municipal live feed cut and the same evening the Bronson administration ordered security out of the Assembly chambers. (Big January 6 feels).
In a final lengthy response to Demboski's wild accusations, Constant wrote that in no way was he engaging in the type of behavior Demboski's fellow Save Anchorage members are known to engage in but was attempting to demonstrate that the Bronson administration's actions in firing Clifford Armstrong were unjust.
"...this commission's holiday work would be premised on a lie if the community does not grapple with a specific injustice that was committed by the administration of Mayor Bronson and Amy Demboski, who unjustly and illegally fired Clifford Armstrong Ill and [who] have said they've appointed Mr. Junior Aumavae as his replacement, but the record demonstrates they have done no such thing and are instead are using him in their political games," Constant wrote.
Constant said in his response that Demboski had previously asserted that there had been an extensive conversation about separation of powers and pointed out that the administration believes it has the authority to ignore laws it does not agree with, "but that's just one side of this two-faced coin," Constant said.
"This Mayor has fired the duly hired, appointed, and confirmed Chief Equity Officer Clifford Armstrong III and claims to have appointed another in what can only be characterized as a cynical act to divide a community in furtherance of a certain kind of power," Constant fired back, alleging Demboski was attempting to portray the administration's actions solely in light of separation of powers."
Anchorage Assembly Vice-Chair Christopher Constant, Sunday January 16, 2022
Constant said that while it was true that the administration disagreed with the Code, the Code has been interpreted as lawful since 1977.
"The Founders saw it as legal, and until otherwise proven so, it is the law," Constant wrote.
"The administration of Mayor Bronson and Manager Demboski illegally fired Mr. Armstrong and then claimed to [have] hired an individual to fill a position that isn't vacant without until the Assembly concurs. As far as the Code is concerned, and until a court rules otherwise, the Chief Equity Officer position has not become vacant. But even if you were to assume their action
was ruled legal, they have never bothered to do the one action that moves a new individual into the position —that's to submit for consideration a memorandum of appointment. They have done no such thing," Constant wrote in his final response to the thread.
"Somehow," the email thread landed in the lap of Must Read Alaska, where a political hit piece was craftily written. Not wanting to be left out, Demboski's fellow group member Jamie Allard shared it with Save Anchorage.
Allard, who fabricated her own Facebook de-platforming last January after becoming embroiled in a scandal when she defended Nazi terminology, wrote in her post that Constant was "spreading lies."
By the way, Demboski may need a refresher course on the Open Meetings Act since no action was taken in the lengthy email thread and, therefore, isn't even a thing.
What a shitshow.
