Breaking News: Assemblymember Fairbanks resigns after Assembly majority rejects another member’s freedom of speech

Fairbanks North Star City Council member Brett Rotermund has resigned his seat in protest of the council’s criticism of Assemblywoman Barbara Haney, a conservative party member, for expressing her views.

Haney wrote an op-ed in the Fairbanks New Miner, and the editors added at the end that she is in the Assembly. The reference was not made by Haney, but a radical in the Fairbanks community filed an ethics complaint about the reference, and at Thursday’s meeting the Assembly majority reprimanded Haney and fined her $1.

Rotermund resigned because he believes the Assembly has violated the Constitution. The left-wing members of the Assembly said that Assembly members have no right to public communication without a disclaimer — including email, campaign materials, op-eds, but apparently not oral communication, only written. The municipal code they cited to her says “all communication,” implying that op-eds must have a “paid” disclaimer.