the mayor for answers about the incident, and held Friday’s meeting to discuss the circumstances of the election complaint with Bronson officials. The administration on Monday sent the batch of emails to Assembly Chair Christopher Constant showing Dahl had contacted Graham.
Bird on Friday told Assembly members that the mayor’s office did not know about the IT department policy statement or its development until the situation was reported in the local news.reported in May that Dahl had quietly added the policy on the same day that Graham and the two other observers used it to question the election, and that the policy did not go through the proper development process before it was published.
“When this was brought to our attention, the first thing our OMB director said was, ‘If this is accurate, what’s being reported in the paper, this is not a policy that went through our policy for policies,’” Bird said. “So that’s when we began looking at this, as well.” Anchorage Assembly members Daniel Volland, left, Anna Brawley, center, and Zac Johnson, right, attend a work session at City Hall with Mayor Bronson officials on the circumstances of a challenge to the city's April 4 election by former chief of staff Sami Graham on Friday, July 21, 2023.
At the time of the Daily News’ initial report, Dahl said he decided to add the policy because the city had a “longstanding practice of prohibiting the use of thumb drives without being scanned by IT first.” He did not answer several questions, including about how the observers obtained the policy language. He did not answer questions about his relationship with the observers or why he met Henry at the election center.
Municipal Manager Kent Kohlhase said he learned this week from APD that federal law enforcement determined no federal crimes had been committed. The IT director at the center of the incident, Marc Dahl, is on administrative leave.