At last night’s regular Assembly meeting, the Anchorage Assembly took up several actions regarding a previous request for records from the Bronson Administration regarding the Gerace investigation.
After an original subpoena and an executive session on January 24 did not produce the requested report, a second subpoena was issued to MOA Human Resources Director Niki Tshibaka on February 2 by Assembly Chair Suzanne LaFrance with his response due at 5pm last night.
“The documents accepted into the public record last night include a letter from the Municipal Attorney’s Office sent just before our meeting in response to my February 2 subpoena,” said Chair LaFrance. “It states that the Department of Human Resources will not be producing the documents requested and that it will take a court order to compel the mayor to release the report.”
After the Assembly reconsidered the previous motion to release the January 24 executive session recordings immediately, they instead voted to authorize the release of the recordings when the matters of the executive session are determined to no longer be confidential, or in 20 years, whichever comes first.
“We need to demand transparency, and this is one way to do that,” said Member Meg Zaletel during debate on the issue. “We can put it to the courts to decide if the documents and/or tapes can be made available to the public.”
The Assembly then voted (11-1) to pass a resolution authorizing the Assembly Counsel to pursue litigation to compel the release of requested and subpoenaed records withheld by the administration.
“Assembly Leadership stated clearly that confidential information provided in response to the subpoena should be redacted and accompanied by a log with justification for the redactions,” said Vice Chair Christopher Constant. “There was a process for the Administration to follow the law, follow the command and at the same time protect the constitutional right to privacy. This is not about the Assembly asserting an action in executive session with the intent to reveal private records. We’ve given the Administration every opportunity to do the right thing before we take this step.”
The subpoena and other documents related to this issue can be found at: ancgov.info/2023-0207LIVE.
A summary of previous work on the issue can be found at: ancgov.info/2023-0124PR-ES.
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Contact:
Suzanne LaFrance | Assembly Chair
suzanne.lafrance@anchorageak.gov
Christopher Constant | Assembly Vice Chair
christopher.constant@anchorageak.gov