Demboski Alleges Partisan Tanking of Nominees. Encouraged Save Anchorage to “Show Up” on October 7.
Municipal Manager Amy Demboski, a longtime member of the far-right, pro-Bronson Save Anchorage political operation, alleged in a December 7, 2021, Facebook post that the Anchorage Assembly had tanked two of Mayor Bronson's "well-qualified" nominees to the election commission for "political" reasons.
Demboski, defending her fellow Save Anchorage members Cecelia Donelson and Heather Clopton, asserted in her post that there was "zero chance" the Assembly's refusal to confirm Mayor Bronson's appointees was not political and alleged that the Assembly's message to conservatives was that they "need not apply."
In reality, Mayor Bronson was attempting to stack the Anchorage Election Commission with two handpicked nominees who had espoused election fraud conspiracy sentiments. The name of one of Mayor Bronson's nominees appeared on a "Ban Dominion Now" petition circulated across right-wing social media pages and groups.
"Our message: bring it. We will find qualified and objective members to serve; and no, the Assembly doesn't get to be the Mayor too," Demboski wrote, apparently on behalf of the Bronson administration after the Assembly refused to confirm Bronson's nominees.
Amy Demboski, who Mayor Bronson has previously said "runs the city," is believed by many to be functioning as a shadow mayor of sorts. Allegations published by Alaska-based media outlets assert that Demboski ordered a member of the Anchorage Fire Department to cut the Livestream of an October 7 Assembly meeting.
More recent allegations now claim that Mayor Bronson and Demboski had also ordered APD Chief McCoy to instruct Anchorage Police Department officers to leave the Assembly chambers that same evening and that Anchorage Police Chief Kenneth McCoy refused to do so.
According to a Facebook timestamp, at 5:49 pm on October 7, Demboski shared a post to the pro-Bronson Save Anchorage group accusing the Anchorage Assembly of making up rules and attempting to shut down the speech of members they disagreed with. Demboski called on her fellow Save Anchorage members to show up at the ongoing meeting.
Later, at 7:13 pm the same evening, the Facebook account of Eagle River Assembly Person Jamie Allard also shared Demboski's Facebook post to Save Anchorage for good measure and maximum exposure.
As a sidebar, and perhaps of interest, Allard's sharing of Demboski's post generated more attention and outrage from group members than the one made by the municipal manager. Allard has long used the Save Anchorage group for her perceived political gain, and one comment made by Allard earlier this year appears to suggest she has a connection to at least one of the group's current administrators.
Additionally, Allard was sent an email last year by a now-former moderator of the group. The email appears to have contained tips intended to be passed up to the Bronson for Mayor campaign.
Also, on October 7, the mouthpiece for the Alaska QOP, Must Read Alaska, referred to attempts to impede public testimony at a series of Assembly meetings as "The People's Filibuster." Must Read Alaska editor Suzanne Downing (also a longtime Save Anchorage member) wrote, in what could be interpreted as signaling to her readers, that the public in Anchorage "seems to understand that the longer they testify, the more they can hold off the inevitable vote by the Anchorage Assembly to enact a compulsory masking law for everyone in Anchorage."
Up for public debate at the October 7 Assembly meeting was a proposed emergency mask ordinance that would have mandated mask-wearing in public spaces as Anchorage hospitals were buckling under an influx of unvaccinated covid patients.
Last Friday, mere moments after a Special Meeting of the Anchorage Assembly had concluded, the Municipal live feed captured approximately 6 seconds of Demboski rushing down the center of the meeting room, wildly pointing her finger at a dumbfounded Constant, repeatedly saying, "That's bullshit, it's bullshit."
In response to the incident involving Demboski, East Anchorage Assembly Member Forrest Dunbar, who was physically present at the meeting and witnessed Demboski's childish behavior, asserted on Twitter that every single thing Amy Demboski does, she does with the implied support or explicit instruction of Mayor Bronson.
When asked by one of his followers to clarify his comments, Dunbar responded that Bronson directs Demboski's actions or that he approves of what she is doing.
"The buck stops with him," Dunbar wrote.
As concerns about the Bronson Administration (over allegations published by the Alaska Landmine yesterday) are likely to heat up in the days and weeks to come, it might be beneficial to remember the name of the one individual Mayor Bronson appears to place a significant amount of trust in — and of course, the name of the group that has parroted Bronson's messaging from the very beginning.
