March 2009 Google and Other Search Terms

I put up these posts to highlight the power of internet searches, how they sometimes go poorly astray, some of the more unexpected things people search for, the satisfaction I get when someone appears to have found just what they want, and the frustration when they get close, but don't know how to get the rest of the way. I learn about how people get here and maybe someone reading this will figure out something useful here too.

• what can i do to be more interesting? A reasonable question, but I don't think this person found the answer here. The person got to the November google search page.
  
  
• do federal judges fly on sundays with us marshals I'm sure I didn't have the answer for this, but there was something about Federal Marshals flying with Vic Kohring on Monday.
  
  
• pomegranate phone release india - sadly the pomegranate phone is not a real phone, but I was surprised at the number of people who thought it was. The spot is very well done which is why I posted it originally. This query was from someone in Bombay
  
  
• does the fbi pay for house hunting for new employees - this person got to the post on the FBI complaint by Chad Joy which did not answer the question, but maybe raised a lot of questions the seeker hadn't even considered.
  
  
• what is the thai version of lol - Bingo! Here's someone who got exactly what was sought: lol in Thai.
  
  
• does a yellow shirt go with red shorts - Absolutely, but they didn't get that answer. Instead they got a post on the political implications of redshirts and yellowshirts in Thailand.
  
  
• do americans even know where wales is? This UK browser didn't get the answer either, but at least now knows that the US has a place called Wales too. To Live in Die in Wales Alaska was probably a lot more than the person was expecting.
  
  
• famous people born in pennsylvania with their last name beggining with u (1909) - If this browser, who got to Famous People Born in 1909, searched the page for Pennsylvania, he would have found that David Riesman and Joseph L. Mankiewicz were both born in Pennsylvania, but obviously neither had a U in their last name. The closest we got were a V(elez) and two W's (Welty and Weil) There was also U. Thant. But not from Pennsylvania.
  
  
• how many people are famous for knowing more than one languages - Think about this for a bit. I guess if someone spoke 25 languages fluently, that might be the reason they are famous. I can think of famous people whose knowledge of a second language was much appreciated - such as Jackie Kennedy who could speak French. Anyway, this person got to famous people born in 1909 too.
  
  
• did lady natasha spender home in france burn down - Also got to the same place where there was something on Stephen Spender, Lady Natasha's husband.
  
  
• who is the famous person successful in studying at university more than 1 - This came from a computer using US English in Cambodia. Also got to famous people.
  
  
• elvi gray-jackson's values seems to be affecting policy decisions - Is that surprising? Don't most politician's values affect how they vote on policies? This searcher at least knew how to search the blog for 'elvi-gray-jackson' when she got an archive page full of posts. But what she got was about the election between Traini and Gray-Jackson.
  
  
• know your cranes t shirt - Here's one of those google hits that doesn't work. I had a post on Chiang Mai T shirts (which the browser got to) as well other posts on Sandhill and other kinds of cranes. The browser clicked on a picture from that page Chiang Mai T-shirts. But that got me curious - was there a T-shirt that showed you the different kinds of cranes? So I looked at the google page they got to. Well, the "know your cranes" t-shirt wasn't quite what I was expecting. Nor was the other T-shirt google found.
  
  
• "abie baby" production - A number of people searched for variations of this. I'm not totally sure what they were looking for, but they got to a Lincoln's Birthday post I did with an excerpt from the Anchorage Hair cast singing "happy birthday abie babie".
  
  
• ted the dog hunting for rabbis vidios - I first thought this was some sort of sick anti-semitic joke. But eventually I realized that the searcher had left out the 't' at the end of rabbi. The post he got was definitely not what he was looking for. It was about Ted Stevens and the Seward Sea-Life Center.
  
  
• how do you increase morale in a deli - The wonderful serendipity of googling. In a post called doing what's possible I, by chance, gave some examples, two of which included the magic words

  "If she told you to pick up some bagels in a New York deli for lunch (and you were both in Los Angeles,) you'd laugh."
  "improve the morale and increase production"
  
  

• furniture that hangs from the roof inside - I really wanted to see what this looks like, but couldn't find it. The person did get to see some furniture in Hang Dong.
  
  
• chanot deed - Another bingo, almost. This was not something I expected anyone to be looking up. The search came from Denmark. I had just posted on this Thai form of property deed. So who was looking it up? An NGO worker? A corporation? Or maybe a Dane married to a Thai trying to figure out what happens when they buy property together in Thailand? Or maybe his attorney? Actually the post - on Chanot Chumchon - they got to probably wasn't as useful as a later post on the types of documentation for Thai property.
  
  
• how does the gut in death row work harder - Not sure what this person was looking for, but he got a post on why I think the death penalty shouldn't be reinstated in Alaska.
  
  
• kuala lumpur bird park owl take picture - This is a real bingo (I think, I'm never sure I really understand what people are looking for.) There's a spot in the KL bird park where you can have your picture taken with birds, including two owls. This googler got to that post which included this picture of people getting their picture taken with the owls in the background.
  
  
• steve keudell.blogspot.com - This one disturbs me. Actually, I got quite a few like this. Steve is a farmer in Oregon who got electrocuted when a tree branch fell on a power line. I started getting hits with his name one day and it didn't make sense, so I looked what else they got on google. I found an article about the accident. I've got Steve in my url so sometimes I get people looking for other Steves. So I put up a post about it, with some information about the accident and asked people to let me know if there was a better link for people to get info. They let me know about stevekuedell.blogspot.com. I posted it. But as a new blog (I assume) it wasn't as high up on google's radar as my blog so I kept getting more and more people. So this is someone who had the right url. If they had put it into the url window they'd have gotten directly to the right site. But they googled it instead and got to my site. Which now had a link at the beginning that sent them to the right site where they could get the latest update. And according the sitemeter information, they didn't go to that link. There were a number of hits like this. And others that did go to the better link. It's partly about knowing how to read and paying attention, it's partly internet literacy. And maybe some people didn't want to know more than I had up, even if it was a week old. Here's the most current information on Steve's condition.
  
  
• information on boyfriends cheeting on their girlfriends and the girlfriends pay the price - no comment. Not sure why this blog came up. Here's what their google search showed:
  

What Do I know?: March 2009
... charge less, hurting shops who pay the price of legally and safely disposing of waste. ... schools and a health clinic as well as information on various ...
whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html - 451k - Cached

I can't believe this was the best google could do.

• a day i will never forget in chiang mai zoo with my family - I'm guessing this is of the genre of "Googling to find stuff for the paper I have to write for school". It was US Pacific Standard Time, from a Thai language computer. And they got my post on a day at the Chiang Mai zoo.

Click here for all the other posts on interesting google searches.

Election Traini Wreck

Kyle Hopkins at the ADN blog reports that Judge William Morse has ruled that Dick Traini is termed out and cannot run again for the Assembly. That leaves candidate Elvi Gray-Jackson as the only real candidate on the ballot, but Traini's name will also still be on the ballot. Unless, of course, the Alaska Supreme Court overturns Morse's decision.

So, we will see now whether the voters really wanted term limits or just wanted term limits for candidates they didn't like.

I'm not happy with this whole situation. While I'm not a fan of term limits - I think voters should be allowed to vote for any eligible candidate - it is the law. Rather than stepping down gracefully and following the spirit of that law, Traini chose to challenge the law on a technicality (When is a Term not a Term?) saying his first term wasn't a 'full term' and the Muni contracted attorney agreed with him. Now the judge has said the law does not permit him to run again.

This gets messy for several reasons:
1. His name will be on the ballot. (Muni says it's too late to print new ballots. We still have two weeks. I think they mean it's too expensive.)
2. The Supreme Court could overturn the ruling and say he is eligible. If that happens - and he loses the election - do we have another election?
3. He could get more votes than his opponent. In which case the next Assembly person will have lost the election, but won the seat.
4. The people of my district have only one real candidate to vote for.

But I think a challenge was necessary because:

1. The decision will probably affect the School District and Mayor elections too.
2. The Mayor is planning to run for Senate and if he won, would leave office early.
3. If that happened, the person - Assembly President - filling his seat would be faced with the same issue when he/she ran for reelection the second time.
4. Debbie Ossiander has already served more terms on the School Board and Dan Kendall did it on the Assembly, but no one challenged them. This will give us the final answer on whether this is ok.
5. This was a risk Traini took, knowing he could be declared ineligible, and knowing his incumbency would prevent other qualified candidates from putting their hat in the ring.

So, what the Supreme Court rules will clarify the ground rules. It is unfortunate that the only way this can be done is by challenging a candidate who decides to run for a fourth term (for Mayor a third term.)

So, I'm hoping the people in my district will choose Elvi Jackson-Gray, giving her a mandate to be a good Assembly person, and demonstrating that we believe in term limits, we believe in the law, and that we can elect a strong woman candidate who, because of her years as the Assembly budget analyst, is one of the most qualified candidates to run for the Assembly in a long time. [Yes, I have supported her candidacy with a check.] Doing this will clean up a potential mess that Traini's decision to run, the Clerk's decision to allow him to run, and the Superior Court's decision to not allow him to run have all set in motion. Let's get it behind us.

And the Supreme Court's decision on the appeal will let us know what the rules are for the future and, if Jackson-Gray wins comfortably, won't result in a political mess that will cost the residents of my district all sorts of grief. The Assembly and the people of Anchorage have more important work to get done.

Can we act like adults now? Or are we going to try to make this really messy? Yes, I'm sure there are people who think Jackson=Gray or any liberal candidate means the end of the world, but consider what years of Republican dominance have done to this state. Jackson-Gray on the Assembly will be just fine. Your lives won't come crashing down around you.

Occupy Anchorage and Title 21 People Lure Me To Assembly Meeting

Occupy group at Assembly Meeting

I'm still trying to finish a post from the last Assembly meeting I attended last June (on the mayor's veto, coming soon, I promise) but both the Title 21 citizens' group and Occupy Anchorage folks were both set to testify at the Assembly meeting at 4:30 today.  And though I knew I was going to be late, I came anyway.  Didn't matter.  It's 5:20 now and the Assembly just got started and they're doing housekeeping stuff.  So I had a chance to talk to some people before the meeting.  I'm waiting for one of the videos to get uploaded now.  The Loussac Library where the Assembly chambers are has wifi, but it's slow.

Jo-Ann Chung,Pamela Scott,   Assembly Member Elvi Gray-Jackson

5:27  They are honoring former Assistant Muni Prosecutor Pamela Scott and now Jo-Ann Chung who have gotten judicial appointments.  Both approved.


5:36  Now they are recognizing and celebrating Alaska native Heritage Day November 25, 2011.

I have a 6:30 meeting nearby.  Am I going to get to see anything I came to see at 4:30?

Now it's a liquor license issue on Muldoon. Now a whole slew of them.  The image has a few of the many they are approving. There's one for a Tesoro Station on Government Hill that had problems with selling to inebriates that seems like it's going to be held til later.

The video's ready now, so I'll post it. 

You can watch this live on cable or online.
Though who knows when the Occupy folks and the Title 21 folks.

Assembly member Trombley is now questioning someone about the Sullivan Arena and asking why they had a monthly loss of $750,000. The respondent says it's for the year and there is money coming in through visitor taxes and other items. Now Trombley is asking about the new figure of $39,000.

I could go on and on. Now Assembly member Starr is questioning about how someone had asked his girlfriend to marry him using the scoreboard at a hockey game, but so many lights were burned out she couldn't read her name.

I'll post this now.

UPDATE: 6:10pm - someone is now talking his 3 minutes to tell the Assembly about the dangers of power toothbrushes. His time was up but Assembly Member Gray-Jackson asked him to continue up to 3 more minutes. Dental profession has recognized harm called toothbrush abrasion. Spinning, rotating, osculating power toothbrushes.

I've been here since 5:45pm and I'm really starting to wonder how the Assembly plans its time. I understand the importance of honorary motions etc. But it seems there are some really serious meaty issues before the Assembly and they ought to address them.

This guy wants the Assembly to take action to prohibit sales of power toothbrushes so that kids don't live their lives with the pain of toothbrush abrasion.

6:15 pm Assembly is now going to take its dinner break. And I'm going to leave and miss all this for my other meeting. But I do have another video I'll put up later.

Thoughts On The Anchorage Mayor's Race

The only thing I know for certain, the current mayor needs to be retired.  He was the surprise winner last time in a runoff.  He was a candidate because of the pandemic and homelessness.  He was backed by those who opposed masks and the decisions to quarantine in Alaska and Anchorage.  A key group supporting him live in Geneva Woods, a neighborhood of large houses in mid-town, where his supporters were strongly opposed to the Municipality buying a Best Western Hotel that had seen better days and turning it into a shelter for the homeless.  Easy walking distance to their snooty neighborhood and that was unacceptable.  

His supporters have disrupted Assembly meetings, yelled epithets are LGBTQ and Jewish Assembly members, wore yellow stars and compared the restrictions due to COVID to be like the Holocaust (which they normally would deny even happened.)  

Many of his appointees have long gone.  One of his former City Managers is suing the city for about three quarters of a million dollars,  His approach to homeless folks was a mass shelter in a giant tent.  I'm still fairly certain that if we track down why he wanted to buy that tent, we'd find some sort of financial or political connection.  Snow removal has been a disaster.  

So, the mayor is not on my list.  

Suzanne LaFrance was on the Assembly for much of the Mayor's tenure, chair part of that time.  She early on announced she was running for Mayor.  This is a non-partisan race and I'm not sure if she is even registered as one part or another.  She's done a reasonably good job and certainly knows the details of what's gone on in Anchorage.  I even interviewed for six or seven years ago when she was a first time candidate running for the Assembly.  She was pretty raw, but dedicated.  She's learned a lot over the years.  

But then Chris Tuck announced he was running. Tuck is a Democrat who has been on the Anchorage School Board, but then spent more time in Juneau as a representative - including stints as minority and majority leader.  I met him when I blogged the legislature in 2010 and he's a very personable guy and has a reputation of being able to work out compromises across party lines.  He's got strong labor connections, yet LaFrance has garnered a lot of union support.  I was told he voted for legislation that labor opposed (or vice versa) but I have no details.  

Tuck's entry into the race threw the liberal challenge against the incumbent mayor into confusion.  Both were good candidates.  LaFrance supporters started pointing out that Tuck was anti-abortion.  He's never denied that, but he's also said he votes for what his constituents want, and to my knowledge, as a politician has gone along with the other Democrats on abortion issues.

Then Bill Popp joined the race.  Popp has been head of the Economic Development Council for many years and says he's never registered in either party.  Before Trump hijacked the Republican party, Popp's interest in business and economics would have aligned him with more traditional Republicans, at least with the Chamber of Commerce,  though I do not know his stance on social issues.  He has good knowledge of Anchorage.  

This race requires a candidate to get at least 45% to win.  The sense I get is that those who follow politics closely don't expect any of the candidates to reach that number.  

The question then is who will be in the runoff.  An article in the Anchorage Daily News today says the candidates suspect that Mayor Bronson will face one of the above three in a runoff.  

So, who to vote for?  I think LaFrance and Tuck would both make good mayors.  They're both level headed and decent people.  I suspect the same could be said for Popp, but I don't know him really, and my perception of him as part of the Chamber of Commerce crowd takes him out of my top two.  (Lots of people join the Chamber of Commerce, not because they are politically aligned with their fairly conservative business view of the world, but because that's where many of the key players gather weekly.  My uninformed sense is Popp probably fits in with the Chamber crowd comfortably.)

So, LaFrance or Tuck?  

I was happy when LaFrance announced her candidacy.  I was thrown into a conundrum when Tuck announced his interest in the race.  LaFrance seemed to be more intimately knowledgeable of City dealings because of her position on the Assembly and dealing with all the issues for the last six years from there.  

Tuck seemed like an interloper, though he represents Anchorage and is an astute politician who has paid close attention to the city in which his district lies.  I'd note that when Elvi Gray Jackson announced her US Senate run in 2022, Tuck announced he would run for her Alaska State Senate seat.  That avoided a run against fellow Anchorage legislator Andy Josephson.  Both had been redistricted into the same district.  But when Gray-Jackson saw what was developing in the US Senate race, she pulled out and signed back on to run for her State Senate seat.  At this point, Tuck pulled out altogether - choosing not to run against either fellow Democrat.  I think that reflects positively on his moral compass and willingness to support his fellow Democratic legislators.  

It also suggests to me that he didn't make the decision to run against LaFrance for mayor lightly.  

As I watched the lists of people signing up to support LaFrance or Tuck, it appeared to me that people who knew LaFrance the Assembly member, supported her.  Those who knew Tuck from his rule in the State legislature supported him.  

I think they'd both do a good job.  My biggest concern is that they'll cancel each other out and Popp ends up in a runoff with Bronson.  And, again, I think Popp will be a competent mayor, but not necessarily someone aligned with a forward looking stance.  (By that I mean, someone who recognizes that Climate Change is the biggest challenge facing humanity and business has been a prime supporter of policies that have brought us to this climate crisis.)

I've picked one of the two.  My absentee ballot is still in the house.  I've got some time yet before I have to turn it in.  I'm on pause just in case something happens to sway me toward the other candidate.  I'm not expecting anything to change, but just in case.  

The only conclusion I have come to firmly is that Anchorage should switch to Ranked Choice Voting.  Then folks can vote for the first and second (etc.) choices.   

Local Elections

Wednesday night was a fundraiser for Sheila Selkregg's campaign for the Municipal Assembly. Her mother had this position when we got to Anchorage. Sheila's got great professional credentials and like her mom, she's doing this because she believes in community, in the possibility of creating a better place to live through technical skills, compassion, and imagination. There were a lot of people we hadn't seen for a while. It's great to have someone else take the time to invite people you want to catch up with.


And Thursday night was Elvi Gray-Jackson's fundraiser. I've known Elvi since the early 80's. She too is a strong, competent woman, passionately pursuing a better Anchorage. And we live in Elvi's district.

Anchro-Pop Closes Out Diversity Celebration In Anchorage Today

Henna painting at the Somali table.

















The Hmong table had embroidered history lessons, as well as a book on the role of Laos and the Hmong in the Vietnam War. 








The Norwegian table.

The politicians who worked with the community to set the festival up.  Elvi Gray-Jackson (black dress), Assembly member Anchorage, Geran Tarr, state representative from this district, and Ethan Berkowitz, mayor elect.  The pastor was presiding over a vigil in memory of the Charleston church shooting victims.  The recent Supreme Court decisions had also been lauded.

Yu'pik (I think) dancers. 






















And this young man got his face painted with what looks like an old Yu'pik mask design. 












And the title of this post?  Well, it's what I thought of as I listened to Gambian born Anchorage singer, Ousman Jarju (OJ), and the Rebel Clef.   It's Afro-pop with an Anchorage flavor. He transformed a mall parking lot on a gray day into the place to be.



The Rebel Clef  FB page lists the band members.

"Johnnie wright III-Keyboardist /Music director Elivis Crenshaw- Base player Kiah Ward- Drums Ousman Jarju- lead singer Benjamin Blunt- Percussionist Freddie Stokes- saxophone player Angel Wright- Manager ."

 I've posted before about Anchorage having the most diverse census tracts and high school in the nation.  Chad Farrel, the sociologist who's written about this, explains this part of Anchorage, unlike more racially segregated cities, Anchorage has districts with whites as well as a full flavor of ethnic origins.  A follow-up post covers Professor Farrel's presentation at the Alaska Press Club 2014.  I've only highlighted a few that were out this afternoon.  

So, it seems to me, this music is something we can start calling Anchro-pop.  Enjoy the video - I decided to leave the footage as I got it, giving you a sense of being there, and getting it up today. 

When is a Term not a Term?

Thursday, February 28, 2008, 10:34pm
The ADN says that Dr. Peter Mjos is challenging the City Clerk's decision to let Dick Traini run for a fourth term because the charter says you can only serve for three consecutive terms. The City Clerk's decision is based on an opinion written by a hired attorney. The attorney concludes that partial terms were not intended to be counted in the term limit provision and since Traini's first term here (he had served prior to that and then was defeated by then future mayor George Weurch if I recall correctly.) There's lots here to chew on.

1. The political consequences of this lawsuit for this race and the next mayoral race
2. How good is the opinion of the hired attorney?

1. Political Consequences

1. For this race. If I understand it right, there are only two candidates. If Traini were deemed ineligible to run, then his opponent Elvi Gray would win. But it also seems to me problematic to have a candidate yanked off the ballot by the courts and for the voters to not have a choice. This could cause a backlash. What if the courts don't finish by election day, and Traini wins. Then the court says he shouldn't have run? The people voted for the term limit provision, but they also would have voted for Traini despite the term limit provision. They would be saying with their votes that the term limit provision doesn't include partial terms.
2. For the upcoming mayoral race. If, in fact, Mark Begich runs for the US Senate, (and that has gotten more likely while I was writing this) and gets elected, a big 'if', he would leave his mayoral position several months before the next mayoral election. If I remember right, the Assembly chair would become acting Mayor. It seems to me better to decide this issue now in an Assembly election than to have it still an open issue if we have a partial term mayor running.


On the one hand, if the law is ambiguous - and if it weren’t the City Clerk would not have asked for an opinion - it should be clarified. But ideally the timing for the clarification should be such that if a candidate is eliminated, others can run for that office. Levesque’s opinion is dated January 7, 2008. I don’t know when the Clerk made her decision or when it was made public - before or after the closing date for candidates to file. To that we must add the time it would take a citizen to decide to file a law suit, since that isn't a casual decision.

On the other hand, are the additional few months Traini served worth depriving his constituents a choice in the election? Shouldn't there be another way to challenge the meaning of the law so it could be done between elections when it doesn’t have immediate consequences on specific people and specific political races?

Does the motivation of the person filing - for political reasons or to clarify the law on principle - matter? Can we ever know the real motivations? Could it be a mix of both? If it is for political gain - to Elvi Jackson’s advantage if Traini were to be found ineligible - one could also say that Traini pushed the limits by running for a fourth term when there was a three year term limit. (He's not the first according to Levesque's analysis - Ossiander did it on the School Board and Daniel Kendall did it on the Assembly. That doesn't make it right, it just means no one challenged them.) Even if the ruling is technically in his favor, it would seem to violate the spirit of the charter. While an attorney’s opinion went in his favor, only a judge’s opinion or a charter amendment could - as I understand it - be legally binding.


2. Levesque's Opinion

Joseph N. Levesque, the attorney who wrote the opinion for the City Clerk concluded

A review of the language used in the MOA Charter term limit provisions reveals that the term limits for elected offices are for either two full consecutive three-year terms or three full consecutive three-year terms. The meaning of the language is clear and unambiguous, partial time served through either appointment or election does not count for the purpose of counting terms. Both the available legislation history and established precedent support this conclusion.

To write that the language is clear and unambiguous seems to suggest that his client, the City Clerk, is a little dim. If it's so clear and unambiguous, why does she have to hire an attorney to tell her that? But an attorney once told me that if he wrote an opinion, it would be a strong, firm opinion, whichever side of the issue he took. So maybe this just reflects that, once Levesque decided it should go for Traini's position, he went for it strong.

How does Levesque reach that conclusion? Partly by logic and partly by referring to the legislative history and intent. The logic doesn't work for me at all. The history and intent - at least the part he refers us to - is more supportive.

The "Logic"

I'll comment on a few things he writes, the whole opinion is here.

Quote 1: (Levesque cites McQuillin whom he describes as "a legal authority on municipal law")

Although an unambiguous statute prescribing the term of an officer will be construed as written, where the legal provisions prescribing the term is [sic] uncertain or doubtful an interpretation will be adopted that limits the term to the shortest time. (p. 2)

So if the Municipal Charter isn't clear on this, we should adopt an interpretation that limits the term to the shortest time possible. That would mean, not allowing someone to run for a fourth consecutive term even if one term was only a partial term. But Levesque comes to the opposite conclusion quoting McQuillin again as saying "the phrase 'term of office'... means the fixed legal period during which the incumbent may legally hold the office."

Do you think the Charter Commission that wrote this language read McQuillin and knew that this was 'the' definition of 'term'? Levesque's opinion talks about 'terms,' 'full terms,' and 'partial terms." Each one uses the word 'term.' But let's move on.

Quote 2: Here Levesque is citing a case called Pope.

"No person shall be elected as a member of the city council for more than two four-year terms..." According to the courts [sic] reasoning, the words 'elect' and 'appointed' have different meanings and a 'four-year term' is not the same as a 17-month term. (pp. 2-3)

But in the Pope case the law specifically said 'elected' and in the Anchorage charter, the word is NOT 'elected' it's 'served.' "[a] person who has served on the assembly for three consecutive terms may not be reelected to the assembly until one full term has intervened."

Note: it says "three consecutive terms" (not full terms) but it also says, "until one full term has intervened." So when they were writing this, they were aware of the difference between full and not full terms. When they wrote about how many consecutive terms someone could serve, they didn't use the word full. But they did use it when they wrote about how much time must intervene before one can be reelected. I would guess this is the precise language on which Mjos is basing his challenge.


Quote 3 - I include this under logic rather than intent, because it is so logically flawed.

Morever, if the intent was for the term limits to include partial terms then language addressing partial terms would have been included. (p. 5)

Don't buy a used car from this guy. You could just as easily make the opposite argument: "If the intent was for the term limits to only be full terms, then language addressing full terms would have been included." This is pure sophistry. And since they did, as I pointed out just above, include 'full term' when talking about how long one had to wait before being elected again, one could logically imagine that they didn't intend the consecutive terms to be full terms or they would have said so.

Since Levesque himself uses the term ‘partial term’ and the charter talks about ‘three year term[s]’ and “two year term[s]” (for mayor), it would seem that the word ‘term’ means time spent serving as assembly member, however long that turns out to be. There could be partial terms, two year terms and three year terms, but all are ‘terms.’ Thus a partial term is a term. The charter prohibits three consecutive terms.


Legislative History and Intent

Levesque cites the original Charter Committee Report #4 and the Charter Review Commission Report to get to the intent of the ordinance. This is after citing legal precedence that legal intent trumps the literal meaning of the law.

He has two citations that logically support his position that one has to serve consecutive FULL terms before term limits apply. (Or should I say "full term" limits apply?)

Intent Quote 1: On page 6 of Levesque's opinion, he cites Committee Report #4:

The charter will limit the Mayor to two successive full terms. A policy question for the Commission is whether a limit on successive terms of Assembly members should be imposed...

He has already decided that what applies to the Mayor regarding full or partial also applies to the Assembly (and School Board) and that from this it means the Commission clearly intended it to mean full terms.

My problems with this are:

1. This is plucked out of Report #4. I'd have to know how many reports there were and what they said (did a Report #6 change its mind?) and read the context of this quote to be sure it means what he says it means. And given some of the other stuff he's written here, I'm not inclined to do that without checking.
2. If the Commission discussed full terms and partial terms and were conscious of this distinction, why, in the end, didn't they say 'full term' when they wrote the Charter? Perhaps at the end, they voted to strike the term 'full.' Of course, I'm playing devil's advocate here. The rest of the context may well support his contention.

Intent Quote 2: On page 8 Levesque writes:

The Charter Review Commission recommended that the term limit provisions be evaluated and voted on by the public, but that any adopted term limits be applied prospectively allowing any incumbent eligibility "to run for two additional full terms."

From this he concludes that they meant (for the Assembly) consecutive 'full' terms. I didn't know you could run for partial terms. And this is talking about what the limbo Assembly members (those serving when the rules were being changed) could do.

It's possible the Charter members did mean what Levesque says the meant, but it isn't possible logically, from these scraps of evidence to jump to the conclusion that Levesque presents:

A review of the language used in the MOA Charter term limit provisions reveals that the term limits for electd offices are for either two full consecutive three-year terms or three full consecutive three-year terms. The meaning of the language is clear and unambiguous, partial time served through either appointment or election does not count for the purpose of counting terms. Both the available legislation history and established precedent support this conclusion.

Personal Note

Anchorage is a small town. Dick Traini was a student of mine and I respect him and have voted for him. But Elvi Gray's positions are closer to mine and I have contributed to her campaign. Furthermore, I know Dr. Peter Mjos and even posted a picture of him on the ski trail not too long ago. I'm also trying to balance my desire to share all I know with my obligations to respect the confidentiality of personal conversations I've had with friends. The rules about sources are being debated for professional journalists, and as a citizen blogger, the trust of my friends and family trumps my obligations to my readers. I don't want my friends to stop talking to me if they fear I'll blog it. If I can find an independent source of information, I might use that but not confidential conversations.

I also don't believe in term limits. I recognize that the system tends to favor incumbents, but term limits imply the public is too dumb to vote right and so we have to prevent them from reelecting someone. But it is the law, and we should follow the law or change it. One way to do that is to challenge it when one has legal standing to do that.



My Conlusion

My conclusion is that this is not clearcut and that a hired attorney is not how we determine law. Getting this to a judge gives us a final decision. But it is also problematic that this decision is coming so late in the game that if Traini were determined to be ineligible, another candidate could not run. I also think that things could get seriously messy if the decision is not final before the election and/or Traini should win and then be declared ineligible. It would put a cloud over Elvi Gray if she got elected that way. It would be better for her to ask the voters, as part of her campaign, to show the meaning of the term limits by voting for her and not voting for a candidate who, if elected, could serve more than nine consecutive years, which would seem against the intent of the term limits.

But I think it will be messier if this issue is not resolved before the next mayoral election when there could potentially be a candidate running who will have served a partial term. If reelected, would that person be able to run for a third consecutive term? (Mayor is limited to two terms.) We need to get this cleared up. Unfortunately, it appears that the only way to do that is to challenge a candidate who is running for a fourth term.

In in the big scheme of things, if someone can serve an extra year, even two, it probably is no big deal. But I don't think that things are nearly as unambiguous as Levesque would have us believe.

Conservative v. Liberal Battle For Anchorage Assembly

There's a one seat conservative edge on the present Anchorage Assembly.  Liberal hopes of changing that lie in districts 5 and 6.  But it's uncertain how things will turn out.  People need to vote.  Non-mayoral municipal elections tend to have very low turnout.  10%-20%.  Just a few people can make a difference.  Changing the majority will mean that developers won't get an automatic pass for everything they want.  The shrink government crowd will have to work harder.  People who ride buses will do better and anyone who is having trouble making ends meet in this economy.  Vote.

Assembly:

District 1 – Seat B – Downtown: Patrick Flynn (L-ish), Mark Martinson (?)

District 2 – Seat C – Eagle River/Chugiak: Bill Starr (C), Sharon Gibbons (L-ish option)

District 3 – Seat E – West Anchorage: Tim Steele (L), Phil Isley (? probably C-ish check for yourself.)

District 4 – Seat G – Midtown Anchorage: Elvi Gray-Jackson (L)

District 5 – Seat I – East Anchorage: Pete Petersen (L), Adam Trombley (C), Mao Tosi (?)

District 6 – Seat K – South Anchorage: Bill Evans (C), Pete Nolan (C) , Bruce Dougherty(L)

 

 

School Board:

Seat C: Liz Ross, Pat Higgins, Dean Williams

Seat D: Don Smith*, Kameron Perez-Verdia

 

*Smith is the candidate who last week blamed all the school district's problems on immigrants, whom he called "imports" as though these people were simply commodities.  He doesn't seem to remember his history since immigrants have flooded this country since, well, before it was a country.  

All the bond issues seem reasonable.

There are bonds for schools, public transit, parks and trails, fire and police, roads and drainage.  You can see them all at the Muni site or the League of Women voters.

Anchorage Pridefest 3: People I Met

What a difference a year makes.

I met Chris Constant last year at Pridefest.  I'd heard his name and vice versa, but we'd never met.  He had a booth as part of his campaign to be on the Municipal Assembly for downtown Anchorage.  Here are some more pictures from last year's fest.

One thing he told me last year, was he was hoping to be the first openly gay Assembly member.  He's pictured here with his mom.

He did get elected to the Assembly (our city council).  But is he the first openly gay Assembly member?  Sort of, but Felix Rivera, another openly gay candidate was also elected, so they are the first two.  When I asked him how things have been so far, he told me that there have been about 100 votes since he was sworn in.  And he and Amy (Demboski who is also on the Assembly and ran for Mayor with a very anti-gay platform) have voted the same except for three times.  But, he added, he also has voted differently from most of his more liberal colleagues about three times as well.

Another reminder that the media's focus on conflict means we think there's a lot more conflict and less cooperation than there really is.  It is easier, and more necessary, for the Assembly members to get along with each other.  There are only eleven members and the meet all year.  They have to find a way to do more than just make nice.

And here's Felix with Elvi Gray-Jackson, the long time assembly member he replaced.

This young man agreed to a picture.  I don't think I got his name, it's not written down in my notes and it was before a got a pen from Konrad at the Alaska Club booth.















But I got this picture of two more rainbow beards later and these are Thomas and Keith.

Here's my friend Kokayi with a friend of his whose name I didn't catch.

And here are some friends from University of Alaska days.

Travis (on the left) is a friend I know from Citizens Climate Lobby and he's in charge of community outreach at St. Mary's.  And to mess with people's stereotypes, he's also a  BP engineer.

And finally, for this post, we have Mary Jo Torgeson, Anchorage's library director.  I'd never met her before and we had a great discussion on a variety of library related topics, but I'll focus on the renovation.  First, why is it so late?  Well, the as-builts weren't accurate and the found things - like pipes of a different size - that caused a lot of delays.  Second, some wanted to close the library during some of the construction which would have sped things up, but keeping it open was the decision.  I don't know how long it would have been closed, but it's been under construction for over a year now and I think I'd prefer it open even if that meant it took longer.  Here's the first post I did on the renovation - back in February 2016.

But the news is they're planning an opening on July 17.  Though there still we be more internal work to finish up even then.

Here's a link to Anchorage Pridefest 1:  The Parade.
Here's a link to Anchorage Pridefest 2:  Businesses with Pridefest Booths

Either Someone Lied Or They Are Totally Incompetent - $22 Million More Needed For Bragaw Road Extension

There may well be a third option - besides lying and incompetence - but I haven't figured it out.  This is a road that the local residents opposed in huge numbers.  The several public hearings I went to opposition was 80% or more. 

But DOT gave the citizens participation contract to an engineering firm - Dowl - a company that can only benefit if the road is built.  If they don't benefit directly, many of the companies they regularly work with will.  But nobody in the state or city sees a conflict of interest. 

Despite the overwhelming public opposition of cutting a road through the greenbelt at the University of Alaska Anchorage, Dowl has come up with plans for a road.  Surpirse!

But even then, the funding came only in the closing minutes of the legislature (literally) as it was tacked on to the budget. 

All elected politicians representing this area of town opposed it:  Elvi Gray-Jackson, Dick Training (the two assembly members representing the U-Med district) and Rep. Andy Josephson and Sen. Berta Gardner. 

And now we are told, it will actually cost another $22 million.  (I can't find the article where this was announced, but there is a letter to the editor today from Rep. Josephson referencing the amount.)

That's a 100% increase in the cost.  That's not a minor miscalculation.  That doubles the price. 

Given how much these guys want to build this road, my guess is they knew all along they were severely lowballing the costs.  They did say they could only build the minimal road for now with what they got.  But now that minimal road will cost double what they said.

The point, I think, is to rip apart the forest land no matter what, so that the damage is done and can't be repaired and then they will slowly start adding funds to fix the problem they created.  And we'll have a big nasty four lane road, without any of what they call "amenties" but I call necessities like safe and usable pedestrian and bike access and ways for the wildlife that use that area to get across the road. 

And if they were really $22 million off in their calculations, then it would be clear they are much too incompetent to be trusted to carry out this project. 

I'd also point out they by-passed federal assistance with this road.  That lets them skip a lot of the environmental safeguards we normally would expect - especially when building through a wetlands area.

During the Watergate days, the phrase was "follow the money."  I'd like to see how this money gets distributed.  Which companies get contracts for how much?  Which politicians get contributions from those companies?  And maybe we should expand that to past projects that Dowl did the public participation process for. 

Now, maybe there is a third or even fourth plausible explanation.  If there is, please add it to the comments.  (I expect we won't see those comments because 3rd and 4th explanations could be even worse than the ones I've identified.)

Assembly Repeals New Labor Law. Mayor Vetoes Their Vote

Anchorage Assembly Meeting - click to enlarge

The Assembly voted 7-4 to repeal Assembly Ordinance 37 which squeaked by last year after Assembly Chair Ernie Hall cut off public participation.  The ordinance pretty much gutted collective bargaining in Anchorage and Ernie Hall nearly got voted out of office by a write in candidate who came within several hundred votes after joining the campaign two weeks before the election.   Some have argued this was similar to the anti-union ordinances that have been pushed by the Koch brothers in places like Wisconsin.  It was a hugely divisive ordinance. 

Tonight, after a lot of testimony, the Assembly voted 7-4 to repeal the old ordinance.  This was possible because Tim Steele was elected over appointed Assembly person Cheryl Frasca and because Adam Trombley and Bill Starr, who both voted for the original legislation, tonight said there were flaws in the bill and they were willing to work with others to make a better ordinance.   Trombley and Starr voted with Dick Traini, Elvi Gray-Jackson, Paul Honeman (who was there by teleconference), Patrick Flynn, and Tim Steele. 

You can see all the Assembly profiles here. 

Mayor Sullivan (r)

However, as soon as the bill passed, the Mayor immediately vetoed it and had his veto already written, printed, and ready to hand out. 

The no votes sounded pretty adamant about their votes and to override the Mayor's veto requires eight votes.



Here's the veto.  I saved it as very big file so you can read it easily if you click on it.

For me the big question is why did Starr and Trombley change their votes?  Both were strongly supported by the mayor and have voted with him on most if not all critical votes.    Both said they were willing to meet with those who so strongly opposed 37 and work out a better ordinance.

Yet I can't help think that after watching how Ernie Hall almost got beaten in the last election - by a write-in candidate no less - that they are looking out for the next election in April 2014 when their terms expire.  They can say to the unions that they voted to repeal the ordinance.  And if they did their homework and counted the votes, they knew that the ordinance would stay in place with the mayor's veto.  Starr comes from Eagle River which tends to vote pretty conservatively, so perhaps that isn't his motive.  On the other hand, I don't know how many union voters live in Eagle River and Municipal elections don't have that much of a turnout usually.  Trombley represents East Anchorage which is a lot more volatile and former state legislator Pete Petersen has already said he was going to run against Trombley.

I generally stay away from Assembly meetings.  The ones I've gone to have sucked a lot of blogger time out of me.  If I went regularly I'd have no time for anything else.  We went to the discussion on democracy and the role of government upstairs, and after we stuck our heads in to see how things were going.   So I'm not completely clear on the timeline of this.  But a petition to repeal Ordinance 37 got enough signatures.   In a video interview I did with Assembly member Dick Traini during a break in the meeting [see below], he said the Assembly plans to put the repeal measure on the April municipal ballot.  He also says the mayor plans to veto that, but he's sure the Assembly will win in court.  The elections are handled by the Municipal Clerk who works for the Assembly, not the Mayor.




But if the ballot included repeal of 37, then a lot of union folks are sure to vote.  Municipal elections - especially when there is no mayoral race - have turnouts under 20%.

So Assembly members Trombley and Starr had some incentive to repeal the measure already.  That would keep it off the ballot and not as many union members would vote.  And this way they can say they already voted to repeal it.

Interesting dynamics.

[UPDATE Jan 18, 2014:  Judge sided with the Mayor on his ability to veto the vote.]

Bronson Pads His Lead A Bit With Saturday's Election Numbers

 There are still some mail-in ballots that ought to be trailing in, but probably not enough to change much in the election.  Dave Bronson added about 120 votes to his lead over Forrest Dunbar in this latest tally.  The rankings of the candidates did not change with the new votes.   

Bronson, who claims to be a "center-right kinda guy", was a leader among those opposing COVID restrictions on businesses and mandatory mask wearing.  You can see the ADN profile here.  And this Anchorage Press profile seems to put him among far-right extremists on issues like COVID and LGBTQ rights.

Dunbar, who at 36 represents a generational change, has been a strong advocate of following science to fight COVID and get the economy back on line.  His ADN profile is here.

It's clear that neither is going to get the magic 45% needed to win the mayoral race outright.  We'll be off to a runoff.  Though if Anchorage had the state's new ranked-choice voting, it would all be resolved in this one election.  Among the candidates who received 2000 votes or more - I would guess about most of Falsey's and Martinez's votes (about 9000) would go to Dunbar.  Most of Robbins votes (4,457) would go to Bronson and Evans' votes (5,686) would split but lean towards Dunbar.  

But runoffs tend to have much lower turnouts, so it will depend who gets his voters to the polls.  Another reason to switch to ranked-choice voting.   Though the extreme differences between the top two candidates may increase the likely voter turnout.  

Numbers After less than 2,000 more votes tallied Saturday, April 10, 2021.

Mayor Race	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	--------	------
EVANS, Bill	999    (4)	3,871  (4)	4,782 (4)	5,505 (4)	5,686   (4)
SWANK, Albert L., Jr	36  (9)	139 (10)	157 (10)	173  (10)	183  (10)
MARTINEZ, George	321 (6)	1,272  (6)	1,658 (6)	1,928  (6)	2,006  (6)
MOMIN, Reza	12  (11)	35  (13)	39 (13)	40  (13)	44 (13)
FALSEY, Bill	1,281 (3)	5,312  (3)	6,703  (3)	7,614  (3)	7,826  (3)
HERNDON, Heather	91   (7)	303    (7)	337  (7)	366  (7)	374  (7)
ANTHONY, Anna	63  (8)	190   (8)	233  (8)	237  (8)	242   (8)
BRONSON, David	3,116  (2)	12,986  (2)	15,953 (2)	18,716  (1)	19,334  (1)
BROWN, Jeffrey	33  (10)	147   (9)	196  (9)	229  (9)	236  (9)
VERSTEEG, Jacob	11  (12)	31  (14)	35  (14)	36  (14)	36 (14)
ROBBINS, Mike	745   (5)	3,097   (5)	3,766 (5)	4,324  (5)	4,457  (5)
DUNBAR, Forrest	3,701 (1)	13,711 (1)	16,458 (1)	18,300 (2)	18,812  (2)
COLBRY, Darin	8  (14)	18  (15)	21 (15)	25 (15)	25  (15)
WESTFALL, Joe	12 (11)	48  (11)	61  (11)	67  (11)	68 (11)
KERN, Jacob Seth	9  (13)	38   (12)	41 (12)	43  (12)	45 (12)
Total	10,438	41,198	50,430	57,603	59,374

District 4 is a relatively liberal district that overlaps with the House and Senate Seats of Democrats Andy Josephson and Elvi Gray-Jackson.  Voters are soundly rejecting the recall of Assembly Chair Felix Rivera 57% NO to 42.5% yes.  

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 4 – SEAT G – RECALL (Vote for 1)

Precincts Reported: 0 of 23 (0.00%)

	Total
Times Cast	9,663 / 42,059	22.97%

Candidate	Party	Total
YES		3,926	42.51%
NO		5,309	57.49%
Total Votes		9,235

		Total
Unresolved Write-In		0

The 'progressive' candidates for School Board are all leading their races, though the numbers have tightened in the last two tallies.  The closest race is Seat B where Kelly Lessens leads by 471 votes as of today's tally.

SCHOOL BOARD SEAT B (1-YEAR TERM) (Vote for 1)

Precincts Reported: 0 of 123 (0.00%)

	Total
Times Cast	60,253 / 236,619	25.46%

Candidate	Party	Total
ELEDGE, Judy Norton		20,128	38.29%
STEWART, Marilyn		5,981	11.38%
COX, Mark Anthony		5,863	11.15%
LESSENS, Kelly		20,599	39.18%
Total Votes		52,571

		Total
Unresolved Write-In		427

SCHOOL BOARD SEAT E (Vote for 1)

Precincts Reported: 0 of 123 (0.00%)

	Total
Times Cast	60,253 / 236,619	25.46%

Candidate	Party	Total
HIGGINS, Pat		17,504	33.46%
HILDE, Alisha		6,732	12.87%
BLATCHFORD, Edgar		4,148	7.93%
BLAKESLEE, Rachel		5,132	9.81%
GRAHAM, Sami		16,774	32.07%
WILLIAMS, Nial Sherwood		2,017	3.86%
Total Votes		52,307

		Total
Unresolved Write-In		444

SCHOOL BOARD SEAT F (Vote for 1)

Precincts Reported: 0 of 123 (0.00%)

	Total
Times Cast	60,253 / 236,619	25.46%

Candidate	Party	Total
SANDERS, Marcus		8,214	15.96%
PAULSON, Kim		17,243	33.50%
LORING, Dan		2,662	5.17%
WILSON, Dora		23,355	45.37%
Total Votes		51,474

		Total
Unresolved Write-In		486

SCHOOL BOARD SEAT G (Vote for 1)

Precincts Reported: 0 of 123 (0.00%)

	Total
Times Cast	60,253 / 236,619	25.46%

Candidate	Party	Total
VAKALIS, Elisa		24,432	48.68%
JACOBS, Carl		25,762	51.32%
Total Votes		50,194

		Total
Unresolved Write-In		871