Anchorage Assembly overturns Mayor's 'Fill the Boot' veto

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — For the second time in as many years, The Anchorage Assembly succeeded in overturning a veto issued by Mayor Dan Sullivan. The Assembly gathered the super-majority of eight votes needed to reverse Sullivan's decision last week that effectively barred on-duty firefighters from participating in the Muscular Dystrophy Association's annual Fill the Boot fundraiser. Assembly member Patrick Flynn called for an override vote on the matter early in Tuesday's assembly meeting. Two weeks ago, six Assembly members approved the ordinance, clarifying that city workers could ethically participate in occasional charitable fund-raisers while on the clock without violating the city's ethics code. In announcing his veto last week, Sullivan cited that such an ordinance could create a competitive environment among charitable groups, and potentially encourage a situation where those groups would lobby the assembly or the mayor's office for permission to fund raise. At Tuesday's meeting, Debbie Ossiander echoed the mayor's concerns. "I think it's a slippery slope when we're in a position where we say this particular event is OK, this particular event is not OK," Ossiander said. "I don't think that's a wise way to go." Speaking in favor of the veto override, Flynn criticized Sullivan, accusing him of initially misinterpreting the ethics code, leading to the months-long debate over whether firefighters and other city employees could collect money for charities while on the job. "Rather than using the ethics code as a shield to protect the citizenry from irresponsible, inappropriate behavior by government employees, it's instead being employed as a sword by politicians to attack a program they don't like," Flynn said. Sullivan -- who admitted early on in the meeting that he thought there was enough support on the Assembly to override his veto -- fired back, pointing out his administration's efforts to introduce revised panhandling laws allowing the MDA to collect money on city streets. "I reject the notion that anything done by the administration to maintain a good, fair broad ethics code was a sword," Sullivan said. An uncharacteristic vote in favor of overriding the veto came from Bill Starr, who usually sides with the mayor on key votes. "I've run businesses before, and I always marveled when my employee groups came together on the clock or off the clock," Starr said. "To me, that's not a misuse of municipal resources if it's done within a good clear policy statement." Even with the veto override, the mayor's office or the Assembly would still have to approve fund-raising requests. Sullivan said his office will start the process of overhauling the policies and procedures that outline city employees raising funds for charity -- which ones are considered legitimate municipal purposes and which are not. In 2009, the Anchorage Assembly succeeded in overriding another veto handed down by Mayor Sullivan which would have cut $50,000 from this year's library budget. The executive director of the Muscular Dystrophy Association of Alaska, Sabrina Hoppas, responded to the veto override Tuesday night. "The original ordinance was put into play because people thought it was the right thing to do, and that was the continued sentiment tonight," Hoppas said. She expressed relief that the override was successful because of concerns that they would lose their fund raising strength if only off-duty firefighters were able to collect money, as has happened in other cities across the country. "In places that have gone from on-duty to off-duty, we have seen a decrease of up to 60 percent in the funds raised," Hoppas said. "That has to do with the fact that there's a lot of increased safety and awareness in having the apparatus and the on-duty firefighters out there." Assembly members Elvi Gray-Jackson, Harriet Drummond, Mike Gutierrez, Paul Honeman, Ernie Hall, Flynn, Starr and Traini voted to override the veto. Chris Birch, Jennifer Johnston and Ossiander voted against an override. Contact Jason Lamb at jlamb@ktuu.com