OPINION: Bronson’s moment has passed

As city management descends into a morass of empty offices, litigation and general dysfunction, it’s natural to look around and ask: Who is steering this ship? Anchorage is a ship, with all of its intricate workings, passengers, cargo, crew and the occasional rat or two.

And we are sinking. I wouldn’t want a surgeon to rebuild my car’s engine. I wouldn’t want a mechanic to remove a tumor from my abdominal cavity.

I want a qualified individual supervising my city. Politicians have a horrible reputation, but for all the jokes and horror stories, they have the difficult job of navigating the law, the desires of their constituents and our constitutionally mandated system of checks and balances, all while working effectively with people in all of those sectors.

A politician is really only a “politician” when they are campaigning; once they are sworn in to do their job, they are the manager of a very complex system that serves hundreds of thousands of people. Once they are sworn in, they also become leaders. When we vote for them, especially those in the executive branch, we often say we are looking for someone with leadership qualities.

When Dave Bronson ran for office in 2021, the city was a very different place. People were scared and fed up, stewing in a pandemic with lockdowns and job losses and school closures mixed in with rising crime in many parts of town.

Bronson loudly and confidently told us that this all would stop under his watch, led the charge, and people followed in relief. The pandemic is effectively over insofar as it affects most people’s lives, and normalcy brings with it a lack of drama and a void where once there was a hot-button issue. All that is left is the unromantic business of managing a city’s worth of smaller problems.

This is where a strongman would manufacture a crisis and an enemy so he could have a charge to lead. A good leader, however, is capable of more than standing up and leading the charge. They cannot do everything alone, and they must be capable of coordinating with others and managing resources. Sometimes there is no charge to make, a reality that should come as a relief.

The number of court cases alleging illegal behavior by the mayor and his staff continues to grow, and the list of resignations from city hall citing a hostile environment is longer than my to-do list. Subordinates say they have been threatened, favors have been asked, and employees say they are afraid to go to the ombudsman because they are being watched.

People follow a leader because they want to follow him; someone who pushes people from behind with threats is by definition not leading them. Mayor Bronson has repeatedly demonstrated a fundamental lack of understanding and skill at governance, following the law and working with people, especially those with whom he disagrees. He has been reduced to threatening people to obey him rather than leading them, and I believe his pride outweighs his concern for the damage he is doing to the city’s reputation and finances.

Mayor Bronson is not fit for office, but he has exhibited neither the self-awareness nor the humility to resign. He applied for the job of managing the city when we were experiencing a pandemic, a once-in-a-generation natural crisis, and we hired him. The shipwreck in which we currently find ourselves is, ironically, a crisis born of his own brazen unwillingness or inability to do the job.

Kara Sorbel works and lives in Anchorage with her family.

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