Former Anchorage Municipal Manager Amy Demboski is suing Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson for at least $100,000, citing economic and reputational damage.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, alleges Bronson wrongly fired her in retaliation for contacting the Municipal Ombudsman and for sending him an email outlining specific concerns with his behaviors, and then trying to manufacture grounds for the termination through the media. The exact damages are to be determined at trial and include compensatory damages exceeding $100,000 plus attorney’s fees, punitive damages, treble damages, and injunctive relief.
The civil complaint adds new details to the scathing demand letter Demboski sent to Bronson in January outlining concerns she had about unethical behavior, illegal contracting and a toxic, misogynistic workplace.
The letter requested a written apology and a meeting between Demboski and Bronson’s attorneys to discuss a resolution. While the letter did not request monetary compensation, the administration requested the Anchorage Assembly approve a $550,000 settlement for Demboski. The Assembly voted that down three months ago, leading Demboski to move the battle to court.
Demboski was a long-time ally and supporter of the mayor, but the two ultimately had a falling out over Demboski’s feud with another employee, Rachelle Alger, the city’s purchasing director. Bronson leaked to the media that he fired Demboski because of a vulgar word she used toward Alger, however Demboski contends that was not the actual reason, and that Alger is known for outbursts in the workplace.
“This story is simply a fig leaf, a pretext that you reverse-engineered to justify Ms. Demboski’s unlawful termination,” The demand letter states. “In fact, we have concrete evidence that Ms. Demboski’s occasional use of strong language was not an issue to you prior to the incident, and that you specifically confirmed your desire to have her employment continue even following this statement.”
In the lawsuit, Demboski states that Alger “is known for entering the mayor and manager’s suite yelling, hurling profanities, and making disparaging remarks to administrative staff,” and that Bronson told her “he would never fire Ms. Alger because she knocked 1,200 doors for him during his campaign for mayor.”
“Her name calling, yelling, and intimidation were already the subject of multiple complaints to the manager, mayor, chief of staff, human resources and the department of law.”
In Wednesday’s complaint, Demboski discusses the actions she took to try to keep Bronson within the bounds of the law, including meeting with Municipal Ombudsman Darrell Hess. She believes Bronson decided to fire her after reading her email to him, and learning of those meetings.
“He told others he ‘had to fire her’ for putting her ‘concerns in writing,’” the complaint states.
The lawsuit states that “months later, it was revealed that the Bronson administration was apparently monitoring employees via cameras, personal observation, and possibly email monitoring, to determine who was in contact with the Municipal Ombudsman about the Administration’s activities.”
“Ms. Demboski used every avenue within the Executive Branch to correct the code violations, harassment, and hostile work environment that was reported to her by Municipal employees or that she experienced or witnessed. Ms. Demboski personally reported issues to the Department of Law, Human Resources, the Internal Auditor, the Mayor, the Mayor’s Chief of Staff, and ultimately the Municipal Ombudsman on multiple occasions during her tenure as Municipal Manager,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit further alleges that Bronson held a meeting with senior staff to “get their stories straight” and develop a counter-narrative for when Demboski talks about why she was fired. She alleges that Bronson and his staff spread misinformation about her, which has hindered her ability to get new employment.
In her initial 11-page letter, Demboski alleged Bronson was guilty of rampant mismanagement of the city by condoning illegal contracting, corruption within city hall, creating a toxic and sexualized workplace, and attempting, along with his then-Chief of Staff Sami Graham, to interfere in the prosecution of Brandon Spoerhase, the business partner of Larry Baker, a close ally recently signed to his fourth contract as a general advisor to the mayor.
Even in her role as municipal manager, Demboski only had so much insight to the behavior of Bronson and his administration. Demboski alleged she was aware of several illegal sole source contracts, but didn’t know the extent of the practice. In October 2022, she requested records of all executed contracts, but her request was denied.
While much of the lawsuit is a rehashing of the allegations made in the letter, there was some new information. When Bronson decided to greenlight work on a proposed mass shelter and navigation center without the required Assembly approval, she called a meeting with him to discuss permitting.
“(Bronson) did not seem to have any understanding of permitting, Anchorage Municipal Code, and proper process,” the lawsuit states. Despite this meeting, Bronson ordered his Maintenance and Operations Director, Saxton Shearer, to proceed with the work. This attempt to circumvent Assembly approval ultimately cost taxpayers over $2,400,000 in a settlement with Hickel Contracting.
“Mayor Bronson communicated to several people that he knew he was operating in violation of code by starting construction without Assembly approval. Mayor Bronson also communicated that Mr. Shearer would be the one to take the fall for the decision because he had signed the work orders,” the complaint says.
Demboski also expanded on the workplace culture created under Bronson’s leadership, saying he “created a hostile work environment” and condoned sexual behavior.
She alleges Bronson treats women in the office as subservient to men, and that she herself experienced this when she sent an email criticizing a male subordinate’s communication as suboptimal and was subsequently chastised by Bronson. She states that he shouted at her in a meeting, holding his hands in front of her at different heights to show that in his mind, the male subordinate is up here and Demboski is down there.
The lawsuit also delves further into an improper relationship between staff members, previously alluded to in the letter. It states that Alexis Johnson, formerly the mayor’s chief of staff and currently the city’s homelessness coordinator, had an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate. The lawsuit alleges this relationship became known in the workplace and made other employees uncomfortable, and they complained to Demboski.
According to the lawsuit, Bronson and Johnson shared their locations on their phones with each other. One weekend, Bronson, apparently seeing Johnson was at city hall, called Demboski and instructed her to go into work to catch Johnson and the subordinate. Demboski did find the two behind closed doors with the lights off, but they were not engaging in sexual activity.
The lawsuit states the relationship continued, and that Bronson condoned the relationship and told Demboski that Johnson was like a daughter to him. Eventually, he began engaging in retaliatory behaviors against other employees who brought the relationship to light, the lawsuit states.
The previous settlement agreement reached between Demboski and Bronson included an agreement to limit all public statements to an agreed upon, joint statement, and a denial by Bronson of “each and every claim” against him and the municipality. The Assembly denied payment after expressing various concerns, including that Demboski had sent a demand letter rather than filing a lawsuit, that a quick settlement would result in the truth of the allegations being buried, and that Mayor Bronson would not face accountability.
Now that Demboski has filed an actual lawsuit, it remains to be seen if a new settlement will be reached between Demboski and Bronson and approved by the Assembly or if the matter will go before the courts.
