OPINION: Bronson’s budget is indeed a fantasy

The Anchorage Daily News editorial board issued a hilariously distorted opinion regarding comments I made about Mayor Dave Bronson’s proposed budget for 2024. The board suggested that the budget process is a negotiation, the mayor’s proposal is fair, that my mission is to raise taxes, and that the members of the Assembly should be the “adults in the governance process.” The board took exception to my use of the word “fantasy,” labeling it hyperbole. Maybe they were right. As my college literature professors sometimes chided, I could have been more precise in my word choice. Here are a few alternatives. Farcical? Nonsensical? Irrational? How about dishonest? Yeah. Let’s go with dishonest.

Four days after Mayor Dave introduced a 1,400-page tome, the board was prepared to pass judgment. They described the mayor’s budget as “a mostly status quo affair” that very closely resembled the current budget, and they declared that I “prefer higher taxes …” First, I wonder how they drew their conclusions. Did the board have a chance to read the 1,400 pages in the…