ANCHORAGE — North Slope Borough residents voted decisively Tuesday to replace Mayor Charlotte Brower.
In a special election, 62 percent of voters cast ballots to recall Brower, who was linked to borough spending that benefited family members, including a trip for her grandchild to attend a basketball camp sponsored by NBA great Michael Jordan.
A group called People for Responsible Government led the campaign to oust Brower, Anchorage television station KTUU reported. The recall prevailed in Barrow and all but one of the seven small villages in the borough. Only Point Hope, in a 33-31 vote, favored retaining her.
“The people understand the lawlessness of the mayor,” said Dora Arey, part of the campaign to unseat Brower, in a phone interview. “We are very, very glad to know that our petition and our efforts to get this done educated the people on our elected officials and got accountability.”
Brower, serving her second term, had no immediate comment on the election.
Borough spending that benefited Brower’s family came to light last year. Spending records indicated that the borough purchased hundreds of thousands of dollars of items from the mayor’s children, including cakes for public functions baked by Brower’s daughter at prices higher than what could have been purchased in Barrow or flown in from Anchorage.
Recall petitioners noted two sealskin vests made by one of the mayor’s daughters that were bought by the borough for $7,000 as gifts for the governor and lieutenant governor. The gifts were returned.
Brower in February paid a large fine for campaign finance violations. The Alaska Public Offices Commission in September approved the $34,970 penalty for what it called “egregious” violations of campaign finance laws.
A group registered as Friends of Mayor Charlotte Brower raised $12,405 to keep her in office. The group received significant donations from three state lobbyists, Sam Kito, Jr., John Bitney and Paul Fuhs, and from a variety of borough leaders.
State Rep. Ben Nageak, D-Barrow, wrote an opinion piece for Brower and advocated for her retention in a radio advertisement. Nageak in December said Brower’s spending practices were not out of line with what’s expected for a local government with a $267.5 million annual operating budget and fewer than 10,000 residents.
Borough Assembly President Mike Aamodt will take over as interim mayor.
