When Whispers Are The Loudest

   If there is one thing I've certainly learned in my life, it is that the whispers are the loudest voices in our subconscious. Why is it that a person can be subjected to many people with many voices throughout the day, yet, when the day gets quiet again, the voices that linger are the whispers you heard throughout the day, rather than those who were yelling at you? Maybe it's just me, but working with the public has taught me to listen closely for the whispers, for there lie the things some people want to keep to themselves, when the same information could be advantageous to all, if they were to hear it.

Name Recognition

   I understand some people are spending a lot of money to make sure their favorite candidate names are recognized in the upcoming mayoral election in Anchorage. I say names because, for some people, that's all they are. We, especially in the Mat-Su Valley really don't know you personally. For those of you who don't travel in the circles it would take to know these people, let me give you some free advice.

   The one they call Dan Coffey has made his name in alcohol litigation, typically on the corporate side of things. What that translates to, by definition, is that he has most often stood against the good people of this state in courtrooms for decades. If he had wanted to make a better impact on society and the status of crime that Anchorage experiences now, he has not shown that in his works of the past. He was even the attorney of record back when Rumrunner's was found to be building another bar downstairs without securing a permit first. That event alone, which was prior to the famous assault on premise that eventually led to the closing of Rumrunner's, seemed like a no-go for Alcohol 101. Seeing as how they haven't quite given corporations a vote in Anchorage yet, it is still up to the voters to help themselves and their neighbors by doing the right thing when casting their ballots. 

   Speaking of your neighbors, for those who wonder about the newfound support in the valley for rival Amy Demboski, I myself was foolish enough to think I was the only one in the valley getting the prank campaign calls being made in her name. I thought perhaps I should contact her campaign team to alert them, but I didn't. I wonder if APOC knows.

Opening Acts

   From the outside looking inward to Anchorage, many rural people get a good laugh out of what goes on within that municipality. For many years now I have heard the adulterated slang Anchuragua used to describe it, especially out in the Mat-Su Valley. It seemed to me at the time that most of it was payback for being called valley trash. However, I would then caution people not to laugh, my experience has been that whatever happened in Anchorage, unlike Vegas, soon enough spreads throughout this entire state. Now, most of the folks in this valley live rural because they like it that way, but you can be sure that living rural presents different challenges that residents in a first class city like Anchorage could not imagine. I also know that many valley residents shy away from the public processes that go on around them. We must stop looking at everything as politics and look at it as you are stepping up for your friends that can't do so for themselves. It is up to us, as a borough, to fight for ourselves to bring our rural perspectives to the forefront of the discussions that will eventually affect all Alaskans.

   I might add, that if you think you know state politics because you closely keep up with the Legislative sessions, you know not. It was not in Juneau that I learned that the building they gutted for the new Legislative Information Office in Anchorage had been available for sale only two years earlier for a million and change. If you truly care for this state, keep an close eye on Anchorage. There lie the opening acts of whatever politics are to come for the rest of us, scattered throughout this great state as we are.