Questions about the Anchorage Assembly’s travel policies have consumed much of the body’s time and energy this summer. It’s a conversation that will drag on
Chair Anna Brawley requested an internal audit on Assembly travel and procedures in June, intending to give members clarity on which policiesmay need adjustment. The anonymization and limited scope of that report, shared with the Assembly on Thursday, elicited more questions than answers
The timing of the release of the “special travel review” yielded frustration from Jared Goecker, one of the Assembly members who originally proposed a further investigation into East Anchorage representative George Martinez’s past business trips. The Assembly did not get a chance to discuss the travel review until the week after the proposal received a failed vote
“This was germane, in my opinion, to the conversation we were having, and you held it,” Goecker said to Brawley during a Rules Committee meeting Thursday
State regulators fined Martinez in June for campaign spending violations tied to a round-trip Florida flight that he said was related to his reelection campaign. That prompted Goecker and member Donald Handeland to question Martinez’s municipal travel history
[Previous coverage:Anchorage Assembly member fined for using campaign funds on Florida flights]
The Chugiak-Eagle River representatives released travel records acquired from the Clerk’s Office that contained details about Assembly-related work trips Martinez took to New York City and Puerto Rico. They said the records raised “legitimate questions that warrant review.”
On Aug. 4, a 6-5 Assembly vote halted a further investigation into Martinez’s records
Rather than singling out one member, the Assembly opted for an analysis of all member travel. According to a letter Brawley shared with the Assembly, the intent of the travel study was to determine if approved Assembly travel followed existing city policy
Between January 2025 and April 2026, eight Assembly members spent just over $93,000 on 38 separate trips, according to the report. The Assembly chair or vice chair approved all travel through authorization forms prior to the trips
Each Assembly member receives $24,000 per year with a “use it or lose it” policy, Brawley said. Members can use these “individual spending accounts” for a broad array of purposes including travel, legislative assistants and resident communications
No Assembly member travel expenses exceeded their allotment during the review period, the report stated
The presentation Brawley shared redacted individual members’ spending data. The graphs showed vastly different spending habits, with one member spending less than $1,000 on travel in 2025, and another loggingmore than $12,000. Another member spent over $20,000 on an aide and took no trips
Last summer, former Chair Chris Constant established a new policy requiring a 60-day preapproval prior to the submission of a travel authorization form. Citing email retrieval challenges, as part of the internal audit review, staff could only confirm Assembly membersfollowed this policy for one trip out of 15 taken
The travel study included a few details about Martinez’s trip to a conference in Puerto Rico last year. The report states Martinez stayed an extra two days after the event ended, which he told the clerk was for “post-conference-related meetings.” Martinez did not provide any other information on who he met with or a meeting agenda
The report contains little other information. Internal Audit Director Alden Thern repeatedly reminded the Assembly theone-and-a-half-page special study was “not a full-blown audit.”
“We kind of just looked at it very briefly and said, ‘Was everything in the file for these travel things as we would expect that match up to the policies and procedures?’” Thern said
Thern shared the report with Brawley on July 28, exactly one week before the Aug. 4 Assembly meeting during which the Assembly debated whether to pursue a further investigation into Martinez’s travel records
Brawley held on to it until Aug. 6, two days after the vote, Goecker said
“You sat on a memo that raised the exact same questions that we were raising as well,” he told Brawley
Brawley said she withheld the memo because, in the case of an active investigation, all of the documents would have gone to attorneys first. She also said she was concerned the report would have “further politicized” the discussion
Members Yarrow Silvers, Erin Baldwin Day and Goecker plan to request a more complete audit on all Assembly member spending accounts, Silvers said
On Friday, Goecker said he believes a “tremendous amount” of questions still linger surrounding whether members are using their spending accounts appropriately
“(The travel policy) needs to be buttoned up,” Goecker said
“It’s disappointing the investigation was voted down at the last meeting because it would have brought, I think, a lot more clarity on some of this,” he said
The sponsors hope to introduce a proposal requesting an audit at the Assembly’s next meeting Tuesday
