UPDATE: The Assembly heard our concerns and voted to postpone Bronson’s appointment indefinitely! Only Birch and Starr voted against the postponement. Kudos to Ossiander for standing up to Prevo this time.

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Tonight, the Anchorage Assembly will vote to oppose or approve Mayor Sullivan’s appointment of Alaska Family Council chairman and ABT member Dave Bronson to a school commission. Please remind the Assembly to oppose this inappropriate choice: wwmas@muni.org.

A Bent Alaska reader wrote to the Assembly about Bronson, and forwarded a strange response from Debbie Ossiander:

Dear Assembly Members,

Please reject the nomination of Dave Bronson to any position on any board, commission, or committee in the municipality. His open letter to Debbie Ossiander (during the 2009 AO64 hearings) alone should disqualify him from consideration. He has clearly declared himself to have highly politicized and rigid views which would preclude him from working productively with the wide variety of officials and citizens of our city.

On the other hand, his resume shows that he is clearly qualified to pilot an airplane if any such municipal need should arise.

Thank you

On Friday, the reader sent an update saying, “Can you believe her? I got responses from others agreeing, one from Ernie Hall saying thank you for your letter, and this,” an odd response from Ossiander:

thanks for the note…I do want you to know that there are no qualifications listed anywhere for this advisory volunteer committee. Historically it has been filled by anyone who is interested and willing to serve. Their sole responsiblity is to write and advisory letter on the ASD budget. I believe it is a 9 member committee and still has several vacant seats.

No comment on Bronson’s inability to work productively with the Assembly, his anti-gay activism and political extremism, or his dislike of diversity – diversity that exists in the Anchorage school system and is reflected in the ASD budget.

Would Ossiander really give a city position to someone who threatened and blamed her personally for the downfall of Anchorage? Here is a quote from Bronson’s open letter to Ossiander during last summer’s battle for an equal rights ordinance:

Madam Chair, when Catholic Social Services (CSS) and Latter Day Saints Social Services cease operations because their faith compels them to adopt children to heterosexual couples only… you, personally, will be to blame. When religious schools close their doors because in obedience to their faith they simply cannot allow practicing homosexuals or transsexuals to teach their children… you, personally, will be to blame. I wonder why you think Anchorage is now such an evil city that it must undergo such a radical transformation just to assuage your guilt that someone you may know and care about is being treated terribly by someone who is simply exercising their right to be ignorant. Mind you, your ignorance, demonstrated by a vote for AO 64 will be far more harmful to many more individuals that you can imagine… and you, personally, will be to blame. Whether you intend these catastrophic consequences to happen or not is simply meaningless. The language in AO 64 is clear and it will cause exactly what I have articulated.

And she would approve him for a city position? Wow.