Prop. 2: The battle between the Anchorage Assembly and mayor targets the chief medical officer

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The police and fire department chiefs are confirmed by the Anchorage Assembly, so why not the chief medical officer as well?

That’s a proposition question on the April ballot.

Proposition 2 was drafted by Anchorage Assembly member Daniel Volland. He says he was surprised the chief medical officer doesn’t need specific requirements to get the job.

“I learned that there were no qualifications in code for the chief medical officer,” Volland said. “So we decided to put some basic qualifications in — things like having an MD [doctor of medicine] or DO [doctor of osteopathic medicine] degree or the international equivalent, having completed an accredited residency, an active license to practice medicine in Alaska — very baseline qualifications, we put those in code.”

Mayor Dave Bronson says it’s not that simple and if there was another health crisis, like COVID-19, it could slow down a mayor’s ability to respond.

Bronson won a mayoral runoff race on a wave of public anger regarding coronavirus restrictions.

As a candidate, Bronson spoke out against mask mandates and emergency health orders that placed restrictions on businesses. He said prior to the election in 2021 that he would not be getting vaccinated and called into question the reality of the pandemic during a televised debate in April 2021, stating that “this pandemic, if there was a pandemic, was over last summer.”

Bronson questions why this issue is being addressed now.

“It complicates something that’s been running well for a long time, indefinitely,” Bronson said. “It’s an intrusion, I believe, of the legislative branch into the executive branch authority. We always just appoint chief medical officer. And so now all of a sudden it’s politicized.”

The mayor and Assembly have battled intensely since Bronson was elected mayor and have argued intensely over which branch of government controls what powers.

“If we’re in the middle of a health emergency and I need to appoint — or a mayor, some mayor in the future needs to appoint — and we’re going to wait for confirmation process ... there’s no need for it,” Bronson said. “It’s potentially harmful, and it’s an intrusion into executive privilege or executive authority.”

Volland said the chief medical officer should have the same basic confirmation process as most emergency response leaders. He also said this makes the process more transparent because voters can weigh in with potential problems regarding someone trying to get the job.

“I respectfully disagree with the mayor. We have a confirmation process for most of our leaders, like the chief of police, chief of the fire department, we confirm our department heads. The chief medical officer is a very important role. They advise the mayor and the administration — but also the Assembly — on important questions of health policy,” Volland said.

While the mayor does not appoint the chief medical officer, they do appoint the health director. The last few people who either wanted the job, or had it, have been polarizing with one finalizing an agreement with the state regarding fraud allegations.

Bronson’s health director appointee, David Morgan, was also problematic for the Assembly.

Morgan made comments to Alaska’s News Source in 2021 where he was reluctant to say if the pandemic was ongoing at the time, instead saying, “It’s a personal view kind of thing ... pandemic is an adjective that describes a situation.”

Bronson himself has called the vaccine “experimental” and told reporters he had no intention of getting vaccinated for COVID-19. Bronson had previously contracted the disease and has reported suffering long-term symptoms.

Anchorage Voting Centers will be open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Saturday, March 30 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The final voting day is April 2, with voting centers open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on that day.

Ballots were sent to voters on March 12.

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