Questions about whether former Mayor Mark Begich provided enough information to the Anchorage Assembly about city revenues and investment shortfalls started surfacing soon after Begich left office to become a U.S. senator. Acting Mayor Matt Claman announced the city faced a $17 million budget deficit only a few days later.
Claman and other Assembly members Tuesday voted to simply accept Municipal Attorney Dennis Wheeler's review of the situation. Claman and an Assembly majority said they think it's time to move on with other city business.
On Wednesday, Sullivan said it may be a good idea to revisit Wheeler's findings. An Assembly work session on Wheeler's report is scheduled for Jan. 8.
"There still seems to be some questions about things that he stated in his report versus things that former administration officials said, and I don't see that there is a problem in ... reconciling those things," Sullivan said at a weekly news conference. "Leaving things inconclusive, I'm not sure serves the public interest."
Wheeler's 60-page report concludes that Begich last year violated a charter provision that requires the mayor to tell the Assembly when the city faces a revenue shortfall. Begich and his aides say the Assembly was kept fully apprised of the city's financial problems as the nation suffered through an economic and credit crisis unparalleled since the Great Depression.
Claman and others said little is to be gained by continuing what they describe as a divisive political battle. "I think this has gone on long enough," Claman said Tuesday night.
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