Traini video remarks threaten his Assembly chairmanship

Debbie Ossiander said Monday she is running for the job.

The chairman sets the agenda for Assembly meetings, and appoints heads of committees such as the budget committee and AMATS, the city-state board that makes decisions about federal transportation projects in Anchorage.

Traini said he doesn't remember much of what he said at a union rally the day before the April 5 city election, but he did say that Mayor Dan Sullivan is anti-union.

Assembly member Ernie Hall, who saw a video of the speech, said, "Dick did get a bit carried away."

Hall reported that Traini said at the rally, "Maybe we can even take him (Sullivan) out in this next election."

Hall viewed the video while in a meeting on the city budget with the mayor and fellow Assembly members Jennifer Johnson and Bill Starr last week, he said.

After the viewing, Sullivan said it would be difficult to work with Traini considering what happened at the rally, Hall said.

Sullivan's communications director, Sarah Erkmann, said Monday, "The mayor is happy to comment on this issue after tomorrow's Assembly meeting once action has been taken."

The video had been accessible from The Mudflats blog, say people who saw it, but it wasn't there Monday.

The Assembly will elect officers at today's meeting after swearing in one new member: Adam Trombley, who was elected in place of Mike Gutierrez for the East Anchorage seat. Trombley had been endorsed by Sullivan.

Hall, who could be a swing vote on the chairmanship, said the video left him thinking Traini might not be the best candidate this time around.

"I had real concerns about it after seeing the video; OK, how effective will the relationship be between the mayor and the chairman?"

Ossiander chaired the Assembly from April to December 2009. In mid-December of that year, in an unusual move, the Assembly voted to replace her with Patrick Flynn.

Most often the chairmanship changes right after the April city election, but a chairman can be overturned at any time by a vote of six members on the 11-member body.

At the time she was voted out, the Assembly was wrestling with what to do as follow-up to a critical report by the city attorney on the city's financial dealings in the final months of the administration of former Mayor Mark Begich in 2008.

A work session had been scheduled on the report.

A few days after being elected chairman, Flynn canceled that work session.

Reach Rosemary Shinohara at rshinohara@adn.com or 257-4340.