Mario Bird, whose confirmation for Municipal Attorney was denied by the Assembly, has been hired by the administration as an assistant attorney with a yearly salary of $114,982.40.
Bird’s installation into the Municipal Attorney’s office as an assistant municipal attorney keeps with Mayor Dave Bronson’s pattern of placing appointees denied by the Assembly in alternate positions. This tradition sometimes requires creating new positions at additional taxpayer expense. Bronson has a habit of identifying a person he wants to hire, then bouncing them from one job to another to find a good fit, rather than starting with an open position and recruiting a qualified candidate.
Bird fills a new “Municipal Attorney II” position proposed by Bronson for the 2023 budget.
While Bronson is quick to defend his decisions as defense against an Anchorage Assembly hell-bent on denying him the privilege of installing his administration, many of the denials are the result of Bronson not putting forth qualified candidates. The most infamous example of this is Judy Eledge, put forth as Library Director despite not meeting the requirements for the job outlined in Municipal Code.
Eledge resigned fron the Library Director positon after it became clear she would not be confirmed by the Assembly. Bronson found a work-around by hiring Eledge as Deputy Director of the library instead. Bronson stubbornly worked to keep Eledge in the library despite protests over her Facebook posts, which include connecting the LGBTQ+ community with pedophilia and stating rural Alaska communities “getting everything and having no tax and almost everything paid for them.”
With the director role vacant, Eledge has led the library as acting director during a mass exodus of library employees and has been the subject of multiple workplace complaints. When former former director of Anchorage’s Office of Equal Opportunity, Heather MacAlpine, investigated the complaints against Eledge, she was fired, spurring a $100,000 wrongful termination lawsuit.
According to a source in the Municipality, Eledge’s tenure has been so disastrous that even the administration at one point attempted to hire a second Deputy Director to take on Eledge’s duties while still allowing her to remain in her position. That plan apparently failed when it became apparent the candidate’s political views differed from Bronson’s.
Bird is a Bronson ally and has brought lawsuits against the municipality, including representing Alaskans for Open Meetings in a lawsuit over moving to virtual Assembly meetings during the pandemic. He has testified at Assembly meetings on behalf of Bronson’s complaints against the Assembly.
Bird’s resume shows his legal experience has largely been in civil and family law and appeals. He does not appear to be experienced in municipal, institutional or business law, though he is political and a frequent contributor to the Mat-su based right-wing blog, The Alaska Watchman.
In addition to Bird and Eledge, Bronson also found positions for Jim Winegarner and Sami Graham after they were denied confirmation by the Assembly.
Winegarner was not confirmed as Real Estate Director and was instead given the job of special administrative assistant to the mayor. He is also the subject of a whistleblower complaint, which alleges his hire was to fulfill a campaign promise. Winegarner was eventually moved to the Anchorage Community Development Authority.
Graham was also a failed Library Director appointee who was then hired as Bronson’s chief of staff before being placed as the Downtown Library Project Liaison. Graham’s position at the library was replaced with Eledge, who remains Deputy Director to this day.
Regardless of how well Bird performs, he can count on a steady paycheck as long as Bronson’s in charge, though he might bounce through two or three positions. If Bronson’s shown anything, it’s that he is loyal to his political allies and donors.
