Taming inflammation

The Juneau Assembly meets in Centennial Hall on Monday, July 28, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Independent)

By Michelle Bonnet Hale

The June 3 Juneau Empire headline read, “Assembly moves forward with influencing this year’s election.” The quickly-following social media posts read, “CBJ is using our tax dollars to change our minds!” and “I’m mad as hell at CBJ!”

One great advantage of no longer being on the Assembly is that I don’t have to pore over 100-page packets or stay on top of one arcane Assembly issue after another. But as they say, “You can take the gal out of the Assembly, but you can’t take the politics out of the gal.” Well, “they” don’t say that, but you certainly hear it in our household.

When I see raging like the above in the bits of social media that I am still brave enough to follow, my brow furrows. Did the Assembly actually do that? What were they thinking? And most often, when I dig further I find that no, they didn’t “do that.” Maybe they’re considering “that.”

In order to even consider “that” — whatever that might be — the Assembly must do so in the public eye. The Alaska Open Meetings Act dictates this and the Assembly is highly attuned to the requirements of the Open Meetings Act. And rightly so. This act is a critical check on local governing bodies.

The Assembly must also follow its own Rules of Procedure, which are admittedly a pretty dry set of rules. But the rules are in place for a reason. They spell out the process for Assembly actions, the steps each issue must take, the opportunities for public discussion among Assembly members, and the opportunities for public comment.

The draft ordinance described in that June 3 article, to inform voters about ballot measures, was unanimously voted down by the Assembly at the July 28, 2025, meeting, after a public hearing. There will be no funding appropriated to provide information to voters on the consequences of the ballot measures.

I found no news reporting on this later vote. Because a vanishingly small number of our fellow Juneauites are attending or watching an Assembly meeting at 10 pm on a Monday night, almost no one in Juneau seems aware of how that vote went, since our media did not report on it. But with one inflammatory headline two months ago, a large swath of the community now believes that the Assembly is wasting their tax dollars to brainwash them. 

I have great respect and admiration for our local journalists who have, in the face of relentless media difficulties nationwide, kept news coming to us in our Capitol City. However, there is no excuse for inflaming issues like this. And I am not calling out one specific news source, but rather, I am pleading with all of our news sources and news sharers: Please provide clear and unbiased and continuous reporting.

At the June meeting that generated that inflammatory headline and story, the Assembly voted to place a draft ordinance to advocate for or against ballot measures on an Assembly agenda. Placing an issue on the agenda is not voting to make it happen. Placing an issue on an agenda is actually how the Assembly conducts its business. This is how the public learns of an issue and learns of an opportunity to testify on an issue. 

In this time of conflict at every level of government, we simply cannot afford clickbait journalism. We as citizens cannot afford leaping to conclusions based on inflammatory headlines, Facebook posts, email alerts or casual word of mouth.

We can instead dig further into issues. We can figure out how the Assembly process works. We can routinely consult the Assembly calendar at https://juneau.org/assembly/assembly-calendar to stay informed of meetings and issues. We can talk to Assembly members. We can contact the City Clerk’s office to find out the status of an issue and its next steps. We can read the packets and attend meetings and listen to and contribute to the robust discussion around issues. And we can rely on our competent and dedicated local journalists.

It is hard in this disruptive time to dig deeply into any issue, because there is so much out there. But before we get mad and then skip on to the next juicy item in our news feed, let’s take a deep breath. Our local government is the most immediate (and responsive, I would add) government we have. Opportunities to participate in decisions are rich. Let’s use those opportunities wisely.

• Michelle Bonnet Hale’s roots go deep in Juneau and Southeast Alaska. She and her partner share their household with various relatives and three dogs. She served for six years on the Juneau Assembly.