Should Jamie Allard do the Honorable Thing and Resign?

Must Read Alaska offered a tweet this morning asking the very same question of Assembly Chair Felix Rivera. I found that the tweet was—lacking and thus offer up a different nominee for resignation.

Jamie Allard has proven herself to be anything but honorable since being elected to the Anchorage Assembly and ill-equipped for public service. Crystal Kennedy, another conservative voice on the Assembly, manages to work with others without interrupting or belittling them — and perhaps most importantly, knows how the Assembly works. While I may disagree with Ms. Kennedy regarding politics, I respect her voice, conduct, and willingness to find common ground.

On the other hand, Allard has clearly been out of her element in recent months, demonstrating a lack of understanding about how government operates and doesn't seem willing to learn—instead, opting to play the victim when Chair Rivera dismisses her out-of-line procedural requests for not being procedural. Playing the victim has long been part of Allard's time on the Assembly as it's a way to distract from her inexperience while at the same time allowing her to draw sympathy from supporters who don't know the rules any better than she does.

When Save Anchorage formed, Allard became aligned with the group almost immediately. The group, whose antisemitic, violent, homophobic, and sometimes racist overtones are well documented, became Allard's own personal bodyguards and attack dogs. Most recently, some aligned with the group worked unsuccessfully to get an Allard constituent fired from their job after she posted the person's name to her Facebook page.

Allard has left comments from her supporters untouched on her personal Facebook page—comments that call for the "protest" of the homes of Assemblyman Constant and Acting Mayor Austin Quinn Davidson.

Allard had permitted comments on her Facebook page to stay public when a supporter asked, "What will they [the Assembly] do when 1000 armed citizens show up?" This is just one such example of many disconcerting comments.

Less than two weeks ago, John Weddleton made the news cycle when he and other Assembly members reportedly received death threats, leading to the arrest of one local resident.

Last August, we watched videos posted by the Alaska Landmine and, in them, heard disturbing homophobic language being used, including a threat to burn the house down of then-Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz. Naturally, Save Anchorage members were participants in the concerning parking lot "event."

But for all their violent, homophobic, antisemitic vitriol—Jamie Allard still finds refuge in the Save Anchorage group. Just last week, a group member wrote: "Unfortunately, violence is the only way to be heard. Anytime we go the legal route we are shut up and silenced."

Scary recently written words for sure, but perhaps not so much for Allard, who refers to the group as her "safe space," when the group appears to be anything but safe to those who have been paying attention to it.

Her full-throated social media defense of Nazi terminology seen on Alaska license plates was wrong and overwhelmingly condemned. The story has gone international, yet inexplicably, conservatives claim it is the Alaska Democrats who are radical.

Rabbi Abram Goodstein, from Alaska's largest and oldest Jewish community, recently wrote an open letter about Allard in the Anchorage Daily News.

"We may have the right to say certain things, but that does not mean we should say them, endorse them or allow them to be said without pointing out how harmful they can be. Much too often, hateful speech, when left to fester, leads to hateful action. But even when these words do not result in criminal behavior, they do impact the quality of life and ability to prosper of those who are being marginalized."

Allard was removed from the Alaska Human Rights Commission by Governor Michael Dunleavy in response to her social media comments defending Nazi terminology. Dunleavy's spokesperson wrote in a statement:

"The comments made by Ms. Allard regarding the license plate controversy have become a distraction for the Human Rights Commission and its mission to ensure equality and fair treatment of all Alaskans. Governor Dunleavy felt it was in the best interest of the board to remove her effective immediately."

But if you listen to Jamie Allard, she tells a much different version of events. In a statement to Alaska Public Media, Allard said:

"I unequivocally condemn racism in every form, and support the mission of the commission 100%. In light of recent attacks against me, I feel it is best to step aside."

She didn't step aside. Dunleavy removed Allard—but we tend to overlook such "mischaracterizations" in Alaska because it's just our "quirky" little way.

In a public exchange with the embattled Allard, Eagle River resident Ivan Hodes found out rather harshly that she doesn't consider him a constituent despite living in her district. Allard wrote to Hodes, "You are not my constituent. You are someone who didn't vote for me."

To drive home her point, Allard wrote again, "No, you are a voter. Not my constituent."

Apparently, Allard only considers those who agree with her to be her "constituents."

A well-organized recall effort aimed at ousting Allard is reportedly underway. The recall group says it has had to take extreme measures to keep Allard supporters out of their efforts which "would come here to cause violence."

Those spearheading the recall effort say they've had to reassure recall supporters that they are "committed to providing a safe, and to the best of our ability, secure place to resolve this tyranny brewing in our community."

In politics, it's the double-down that will end your political aspirations—but not for Allard who seems immune from accountability, a result of the far-right coming to both her rescue and defense, making it clear that they wholeheartedly agree with her words and positions. They see nothing wrong with her defense of terms clearly associated with the Holocaust. We should expect nothing less from the Save Anchorage group she feels so comfortable in.

"We may have the right to say certain things, but that does not mean we should say them, endorse them or allow them to be said without pointing out how harmful they can be." - Rabbi Abram Goodstein.