Assembly rejects ordinance that would have limited election brochure information

As the last of the elections have been certified and elected officials have all been sworn in and taken the seats on daises around the Borough, members of the Mat-Su Borough (MSB) Assembly voted to reject an ordinance that would have prevented elected officials from making changes or adding text to future borough voter guides.

The ordinance, sponsored by outgoing MSB Assembly member Tim Hale, would have restricted information in the election brochures to proposed propositions for the voters, and candidate information including basic biological information and a 200-word statement from the candidates. Additionally, it would have limited brochure information to pro and con statements on initiatives, referendums, or propositions as defined, sample ballots, and general voting information.

Members of the community spoke in favor of the ordinance, with many against having any statements other than election information printed in the election brochure.

“This guide is supposed to be non-partisan, designed to provide election information to voters,” said Randi Perlman. “Memorializing one person lost to political violence but not another makes it seem as though electioneering is permitted inside this brochure.” She was referring to the murder of Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, who were shot along with Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman and his wife back in June of this year. “No one should be murdered for what they say or believe. We are all entitled to our dearly held beliefs. The cowardly act of political violence is unacceptable against anyone, regardless of party.”

She also expressed frustration that when the decision was made to include a statement into the election brochure was done without public comment beforehand.

“Valley voters are a diverse group from all walks of life and many different political, religious, racial, and sexual beliefs who do not all think alike. We value the equity and inclusion of all individuals and look to the leaders that we the people elected to the assembly…when a decision to place a political message in an election guide was made, we the people deserved the right to public comment.”

“There should be no partisan wording, whether in memoriam or not, anywhere near a polling place. The same way they shouldn’t be anywhere near an election brochure,” said Lynn Fuller, who thanked Hale for sponsoring the ordinance. She went on to say that while assembly members may not have thought a memorial to Charlie Kirk was partisan, many others did. “Just keep it really simple and clean, and leave all that other stuff out.”

Others took issue with any alterations of any kind to the election brochure, whether it be the addition of candidate party affiliation, processes, anti-violence statements, or the singling out of specific victims of political violence by name without naming all victims.

Michael Bowles, speaking as a citizen before being sworn into office, spoke in opposition of the ordinance. “Why I stand in opposition is (it is) trying to silence the Assembly and trying to ban language.” He said that he heard people did not like the language of the statement and that people were trying to ban the language by supporting the ordinance. “Similar trying to ban books, we don’t ban books. What we do is we create policy. We vote people into positions…those people in positions to write policy and to bring code forward to address that, and that is the Assembly. Non-elected officials-that’s not their work. They do outstanding work, but it’s not their job. Their job is to support the Assembly.”

He said that he understands the controversy surrounding the language put into the statement, but nonetheless, the statement was approved by the Assembly and put into the brochure.

While in agreement with others that the memorializing of Charlie Kirk in the brochure was inappropriate, Starla Brewer said that the election brochure isn’t the place for such things. She opposed the ordinance as a matter of policy. “I believe what happened wasn’t intended to be partisanship. It was just that his assassination…just overrode everything else going on at the time.”

The proposed ordinance came after the MSB assembly added a statement addressing political violence to the 2025 MSB election pamphlet that came in the wake of the murder of political activist Charlie Kirk, though the original statement did not mention him specifically.

During the September 16 assembly meeting, assembly member Maxwell Sumner, who had crafted the original statement, said that while he had a “deep, visceral reaction to recent events in our nation,” and felt that in light of the elections, the Borough should recognize that no matter what political beliefs people hold, violence is not the answer. “I purposely did not make this partisan,” he said at the time.

Assembly member Dmitri Fonov added a secondary amendment to the statement recognizing in memoriam Charlie Kirk, saying if it wasn’t for Kirk, the assembly would not be having the discussion nor the statement, while fellow assembly member Stephanie Nowers added her own amendment to include, “and other victims of political violence.”

“There are some things you really don’t want elected officials messing with, and one of those is elections,” Hale said during the November 18 meeting. He said that while speaking with the MSB clerk and attorney, they warned of liability when taking actions such as adding a statement to a MSB document. “When I was talking to the clerk and the attorney about this ordinance, the attorney mentioned to me that he really, really doesn’t like it when the assembly starts to stick stuff in things like this because it leaves us open to liability as far as being sued or other things of that nature.”

No other members spoke in support or opposition to the ordinance, which was voted down 5-2 with assembly members Hale and Nowers in support.