I’ve been mostly undecided about which Republican to support in upcoming mayoral race, as I know at some level and respect all three men running. But sometimes you see something so awful that it makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck.
Heard Dan Fagan Tuesday morning blasting away at a Bill Evans FaceBook video taking issue with last Wednesday’s incursion into the Capitol building. Evans says all the expected moderate things, ending with a promise to be mayor of all Anchorage citizens. You can listen to the video on FB but need to log into his Bill Evans for Mayor account to listen to it in its entirety.
There is enough in this video to make your teeth hurt, which is disappointing because no small number of my close friends in the political wars signed up supporting Evans. I think he just demonstrated why they’ve made a mistake.
Here’s why.
I am mostly ambivalent about the Capitol riot and invasion of the Capitol. Washington DC has been the target of riots all summer, a couple of which BLM / AntiFa tried to invade the White House last May. Aside the question why congress is more important than the WH, where was Bill Evans then?
BLM/ AniFa has been rioting in multiple blue cities all summer long, committing all manner of mayhem, property destruction, looting and burning of businesses. Where was Bill Evans then?
We had a BLM banner hanging on the side of the Performing Arts Center in downtown Anchorage for months, clearly using Muni property to make a divisive political statement. The Muni refused to allow a Trump banner to be hung, another political position. Which one of these does Bill Evans support?
Once you get yourself into the business of expressing moral outrage for one sort of protest, you quickly become required to express the same outrage for all sorts of protests, unless, of course, you agree with the interests and demands one side over the interests and demands of the other.
And today, pretending to be above the fray is a recipe for disaster, a demonstration that you simply don’t have a clue what is (and has been) going on, and are showing weakness to the political left, the unions and the veto-proof Assembly they put into office. You know, the very people who have already targeted you for destruction.
And don’t think that sort of violent protest can’t happen here, as multiple instances, still small, of property destruction of Republican campaign offices and signs over the last election cycle, some of them with BLM / AntiFa graffiti taking credit for the vandalism. While these were mostly covered up by local media, the Bad Guys are watching and taking notes. If it is advantageous to the democrats to unleash the mob up here like they have done elsewhere, that mob will be unleashed.
I think the Evans video was an unforced error, a choice to pander to the very media who hates him and his supporters. Pandering doesn’t work. OTOH, if he campaigns as a fierce advocate of every single small businessman destroyed by the endless lockdowns here in Anchorage, that will be a good start. If he campaigns as a fierce advocate of getting children in schools so as to help working mothers, that would be a good start. If he were to advocate to reverse the wanton theft of CARES Act money by the previous mayors and their Assembly, that would be a good start.
Evans still has time to correct his mistake. Emulating Mitt Romney and going after his own side while they are being systematically silenced without recourse is a poor lifestyle choice for a politician. Evans can do better. We will see if he does.
Alex Gimarc lives in Anchorage since retiring from the military in 1997. His interests include science and technology, environment, energy, economics, military affairs, fishing and disabilities policies. His weekly column “Interesting Items” is a summary of news stories with substantive Alaska-themed topics. He was a small business owner and Information Technology professional.
