Pro-Bronson right-wing "Save Anchorage" members take to Perez-Verdia's Facebook page. Goes as expected.
The "Save Anchorage" Facebook group name is now arguably synonymous with the word "extremism" after a mailer was delivered today to the mailboxes of Anchorage residents. The mailer, sent by Alaskans For Posterity, said in part that "extremism from groups like Save Anchorage is tearing our city apart."
Members of the pro-Bronson "Save Anchorage" group took to the Facebook page of West Anchorage Assembly member Kameron Perez-Verdia, upset over his statement in support of a proposed mask mandate, as "Save Anchorage" member and cheerleader Jamie Allard continued to stoke fires in the group.
In response to the news that Perez-Verdia supported the proposed mask ordinance, Eagle River Assembly Member Jamie Allard wrote to Save Anchorage that "the scheming and bypassing [of] the public process is unbelievable."
In the hours after Perez-Verdia released his statement in support of AO 2021-91, members of the Save Anchorage group assailed Perez-Verdia's Facebook page, accusing him of being a tyrant, dictator, snake, liar, and a sack of shit.
"Even if it passes you can't force compliance and if you try to then it will force conflict which is exactly what you guys ultimately want. It's pretty obvious," wrote a Bronson supporter and Save Anchorage member in response to Perez-Verdia's statement on Facebook.
Others wrote that the assembly member had now been targeted for a political recall, presumably for expressing his support for the proposed ordinance that would protect public health and safety in the absence of Mayor Bronson taking any meaningful action to curtail the spread of COVID in the Municipality. Another member of "Save Anchorage" wrote that the war on freedom would be won and that the battle over mask-wearing represented the group's "1776 moment."
RELATED: Pro-Bronson "Save Anchorage" group ramps up rhetoric ahead of assembly meeting
The right-wing mouthpiece for the Alaska Republican Party Must Read Alaska has begun pushing a narrative alleging that emails sent to the assembly, which are reportedly overwhelmingly in support of the proposed mask ordinance, may be the product of an "outside political group with an agenda."
The narrative was seen parroted in comments made to Perez-Verdia's Facebook page. Failed school board candidate Nial Sherwood Williams wrote in response to Must Read Alaska's propaganda piece that the Bronson administration should conduct a forensic audit of the emails.
Yesterday afternoon, Jamie Allard shared an anti-mask petition to "Save Anchorage" in what appears to have been an attempt to gather signatures from the same group of people who have already emailed the assembly over the proposed ordinance. It's unclear if the names on the petition will be audited should they be submitted to the Assembly. Still, they likely should, as many Save Anchorage members live outside of the Municipality of Anchorage.
During last Thursday's Anchorage Assembly meeting, Assemblymember Jamie Allard, Anchorage Municipal Manager Amy Demboski, and other members of the Bronson administration posted to the "Save Anchorage" group and the Facebook page of Mayor Bronson — encouraging members and supporters of the mayor to "show up and testify" at the meeting — representing a coordinated effort to filibuster the proposed mask ordinance.
The effort to impede public testimony has been dubbed "The People's Filibuster."
In expressing support for the proposed mask ordinance, Perez-Verdia wrote that community members had abused the public process to prevent him and the other members from taking "much-needed action" on the public health crisis.
