Fairbanks left-wing activists attempt to suppress conservatives’ free speech rights through false ethics complaints

By SUZANNE DOWNING

The use of ethics complaints as a means of suppressing free speech is taking place in the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly, where efforts are being made to suppress the opinions of conservative members. Think of it as ethics “bill fare.”

During the Assembly hearing on July 25, the Assembly will hear an ethics complaint filed against Assemblymember Barbara Haney by pro-Hamas activist Kristin Schupp, the wife of school board member Bobby Burgess.

The ethical charge concerns the words and opinions regarding a factual official position of the city council.

The Municipal Code is clear about what constitutes an official statement of the Assembly in 3.04.130. It states that (A) the official position of the Assembly is the position taken as a result of debate and voting, with the prevailing majority forming the official position. Provision (B) states that positions and opinions of individual members of the Assembly are not the official positions of the Assembly.

So when someone gives an opinion, it’s just that, an opinion. You’d think that would be especially true if it were in an opinion column that’s clearly labeled “opinion.”

An op-ed by Rep. Haney in the local newspaper apparently prompted the complaint.

It started on February 20, when a column by Haney was published by the Fairbanks Daily News Miner. It referenced the events surrounding the vote for a special election to raise the tax cap and spend more taxpayer money. In that vote, Assemblywoman Liz Reeves Ramos cited capital projects such as crumbling staircases at Lathrop High School and asbestos contamination at Tanana Middle School as projects that needed to be addressed and that would require raising the tax cap.

The projects were not reviewed by the Assembly and were not on the Capital Improvement Project list. The asbestos removal at Tanana Middle School was supposed to be part of a renovation project a few years ago, and Assemblymember Haney wondered how that could still be an issue.

Ramos further asked why there was no program on the list of capital improvement projects to replace the staircases at Lathrop High School. If the staircases were defective, why were classes still being held at Lathrop?

The meeting then voted to hold a special election on May 7, but the proposal was soundly rejected by the borough’s voters.

The story does not end here.

According to Schupp’s complaint, the column Haney wrote in the News Miner failed to use the specific phrase “in my opinion as a private person” in an opinion piece and failed to clearly indicate that she was not writing on behalf of the Assembly.

Municipal Code 3.04.130 is very clear: “The positions and opinions of individual members of the meeting do not constitute the official position of the meeting.” Haney wrote the op-ed from her private email and signed it “Barbara Haney, North Pole, Alaska.” The newspaper is the entity that added that she was a member of the meeting.

According to the municipal code, the matter should never have been referred to the ethics committee by the city clerk. Oddly enough, a section of the municipal code that addresses public testimony, 6.12.010(O)(2), was applied to the op-ed writer, even though this had never been done before.

In a subsequent editorial by Rep. Haney about the animal shelter, she began the piece with, “In my opinion as a private individual.” Schupp then wrote a response:

“In Ms. Barbara Haney’s recent community perspective, she states that she is commenting in her capacity as a citizen. However, Ms. Haney is still an elected official in the FNSB assembly. That means she must still conduct herself as would befit a representative, with decorum and truthfulness. However, Ms. Haney seems to enjoy being dramatic and bombastic. She repeatedly demonstrates that she is either willfully ignorant of facts or willfully misleading the public. Both are unacceptable in her position,” Schupp wrote in the Fairbanks News Miner in May.

Schupp wants to silence Haney.

The Ethics Committee, with new members appointed by Presiding Officer Savannah Fletcher (now running for State Senate), determined that Haney had violated city ethics but recommended no punishment. However, Haney will now have that ethics violation on paper.

Under the Ethics Commission’s new interpretation of the borough code, several current Assembly members have also failed to use the “in my opinion as a private citizen” language, and none of Assembly member training materials included coverage of the need to use that language in op-eds and public testimony. The Assembly majority can impose any punishment it wants, and the seven-member majority will do what it wants.

But it is clear that only Haney was selected to enforce this provision and was selected for the ethics violation.

Presiding Officer Fletcher could have chosen to let the matter rest and move on to issues that matter to the citizens. Instead, Fletcher decided to let the false accusation air out in the Assembly to give Schupp and her allies a chance to publicly bash Haney.

This is the same Savannah Fletcher who prosecuted Rep. David Eastman and tried to remove him from office, and the same Savannah Fletcher who prosecuted Sen. Lora Reinbold and who ridiculously fought the Mat-Su Library book review case.

Ultimately, it’s about the right to freedom of expression.

Based on the recent ruling of the Supreme Court of Left v Freed, elected officials do not lose their First Amendment rights. Another Supreme Court decision, Houston University Collegealso codifies the right of government officials to write and publish editorials and opinion pieces. That ruling clarified that censorship and other measures are reserved for actions on stage, not for expressions of public sentiment.

While it may be appropriate to refer to something as an opinion in testimony before a board or committee or in press releases, it is abundantly clear that opinion pieces in an opinion column in the opinion section of a newspaper are simply that: opinions.

The public can submit comments on this issue at the next city council meeting on July 25. Emails can be sent to (e-mail address) or one can testify in person or electronically.

To testify, one can register by calling the clerk at 907-459-1401, check in at the conference room, or attend the Thursday evening testimony and wait for an opportunity to speak.