Pro-Bronson "Save Anchorage" group ramps up rhetoric ahead of Assembly meeting

The polish has faded from the Save Anchorage turd as the group's moderators appear to have stopped enforcing whatever symbolic commitment to decency they feigned while under scrutiny last year.

Comments made recently to the pro-Bronson group have once again caught the attention of those who have long worried that the group's right-wing rhetoric could spill over into violence. At least one of those comments has been reported to Federal Law Enforcement, The Blue Alaskan has learned.

The comment in question, which has raised the alarm among some, was made in response to a September 27 post that asked whether anyone would be protesting ahead of tonight's Anchorage Assembly meeting. "There is strength in numbers," read the post.

An Anchorage resident responding to the post wrote:

"I wish there were numbers. What we really need is a civil war, not a recall. Not [an] "I don't like it" campaign."

The original post's author, who had just suggested there was strength in numbers, "liked" the comment made in support of civil war. Anchorage Assembly member Jamie Allard made an appearance in the thread, sharing a flyer that accused the Anchorage Assembly, of which she is a member, of attempting to pass a mask mandate.

Last week, another comment made to "Save Anchorage" said that "progressive fools" had "taken over the city of Anchorage" and that to unseat an incumbent politician, you either have to have some really good people to run against the incumbent, or have to dissuade the incumbent from running.

"You have to use your imagination as to how you achieve the latter," ended the comment, which some on social media have said they believed suggested an openness to violence.

In a separate post made to the group by Bronson appointee Stephanie Leigh Golmon Williams alleging that a proposed ordinance would push "Save Anchorage" members to "NARC on neighbors," a group member commented in response that Assemblymember Meg Zaletel was "an enemy combatant."

Numerous posts made to the "Save Anchorage" group last year compared former Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz to Hitler. This year appears to be no different, only this time, the vile comparison was directed at Assemblymember Zaletel.

The comment, made in response to a Must Read Alaska blog post shared with the group titled "Shocker: Meg Zaletel amendment pits neighbor against neighbor to report on face covering violations or businesses not requiring customers to wear them," said:

"Sounds like the Brownshirts that Barack Obama wanted to start.…he got the brownshirts from history Hitler did the same thing to the Jews, the Brownshirts would turn them in, like George Soros."

Comments made elsewhere on social media ahead of tonight's Assembly meeting suggested that attendees were planning to spit while they testified.

The Save Anchorage group has contributed to the spread of misinformation about mask-wearing, COVID-19, homelessness, vaccines, and other issues. The group sees any attempt by city officials to mandate COVID mitigation strategies as government overreach. It is blind to the number of hospitalizations that have besieged Anchorage hospitals in recent weeks. The group regularly disputes scientific data related to the number of Alaskans who have died due to the virus.

In February, a woman who identified herself as a "proud member" of the "Save Anchorage" group testified in front of the Assembly, saying, "You're gonna have more people rise up because in Save Anchorage group when you cut one of our heads off, 60 more appear."

In March, according to federal documents, Aaron J. Mileur of Wasilla, Alaska, was arrested for his alleged role in the January 6 armed insurrection on Capitol Hill. Until news of his arrest broke, Mileur had been an active "Save Anchorage" member.

Other group members supported the attack on the Capitol, writing, "The storming of the Capitol was a necessary evil."