By now readers likely know my neighbor, Betti Cuddy, passed away last week. Publicly known as the matriarch of one of Alaska’s pioneering banking families, I knew her better as the mother of two of my favorite baby sitters.
During the time I grew up in Anchorage, centrist and liberal elected officials weren’t considered to have made their bones until they’d been excoriated at least three times on the opinion page of the Anchorage Times. While the venerable paper I delivered as a youth is no more, a faint echo of its spirit remains at the Anchorage Daily Planet and the occasional musings offered by Paul Jenkins.
Toward the end of this evening’s relatively quiet meeting my colleagues decided to change Assembly leadership. That resulted in my shifting three seats to my left, to the center of the dais. Indeed, at the close of an unprecedented year in Anchorage politics I’ve been asked to serve as chair until the next election (or until there’s another move to change the leadership). I’m honored at the opportunity, appreciate the excellent work performed by my predecessor, Debbie Ossiander, and will do my best to lead the Assembly in a collaborative, collegial manner during the months ahead.
In a late breaking development fans of the Anchorage Senior Activities Center have launched an eleventh hour campaign seeking an extra $100,000 to fund their 2010 operations despite the fact that, unlike virtually every other municipally-funded entity, the mayor’s budget proposal doesn’t cut their funding below 2009 levels. Nevertheless, I’ve been inundated with calls and e-mails seeking more dollars, including one from my mother (who called at the behest of another ASAC supporter).
Yes, I know, you haven’t been receiving e-mail updates when I upload a new post. My apologies, and a quick heads-up that the web trolls will be diligently working on this over the next couple days so, if you are signed up to receive e-mail updates, you may get a few test messages in the process. If you don’t receive updates but would like to, presuming we can make the function work properly, simply “register” by clicking on the link toward the bottom on the right-hand side. And please excuse any inconvenience to your in-box.
Regards,
Patrick
Okay, time to pull back the curtain a little further with the second inning results of Assembly Insider Baseball! So, without further ado:
Returning home last Wednesday afternoon (September 30) I listened to a message on my answering machine. No name, no number – I even checked the caller identification – just a thank you for my vote the preceding evening. This was odd, usually untraceable calls to my home result in messages calling me a fuzzy-headed so-and-so (actually, they’re generally less polite than that) and they often include a more specific hint as to the topic about which they’re calling.
At long last, here’s the second edition of “Assembly insider baseball” – another opportunity to test your knowledge of the trivial details that probably don’t pertain to municipal governance, but you never know…
Editor’s note: As readers will note below, I authored this post over a week ago. Today some of the facts I discuss become “official” which, hopefully, explains the delay in posting.
I’m in a somewhat reflective mood as I write this on September 12, unsure when, or if, I’ll actually post it. It all began fifteen days ago, or about a year ago, perhaps four years ago, or maybe eight years ago, depending on how you track the course of events.
From time to time we receive an “Assembly Information Memorandum” from the administration containing – wait for it – information the administration wants or has to convey to us. At our Tuesday meeting AIM 94-2009 listed various recent executive appointments along with their salaries. Most notable was former Assembly member, state legislator and Burger King honcho Larry Baker’s hire as a “Senior Policy Advisor” earning a whopping $0 (I really didn’t think about that pun until after I typed it, sorry). Given Mr. Baker’s experience that’s a darn good deal – even Erskine Bowles charged the federal government $1 for his labors. Anyhow, several of us lauded his sense of public service but I couldn’t help teasing that I hoped he wouldn’t be negotiating on behalf of the Assembly!
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