Photo: Audience listens during the Anchorage Assembly meeting on July 7, 2026
By SUZANNE DOWNING
July 8, 2026 – The effort to discipline or potentially remove Anchorage Assembly member George Martinez will have to wait at least two more weeks. Several assembly members appeared to agree there needs to be more investigation.
At Tuesday night’s meeting, the Assembly postponed consideration of two resolutions involving Martinez until its July 21 meeting, opting to first complete additional review of municipal travel policies and expenditures. There will be a work session with the Assembly’s legal team on July 17, but no decision.
Assembly member and hardline leftist Yarrow Silver came out swinging in defense of Martinez, calling the resolution a partisan attack.
People from both Party of Socialism and Liberation and the Facebook group Save Anchorage, which represents conservatives, were holding signs that said “Resign.” Calling for the resignation of Martinez was something both groups appeared to agree on.
The resolution, sponsored by Assembly members Jared Goecker and Donald Handeland, would begin an investigation that could ultimately lead to removal proceedings against Martinez. The proposal follows findings by the Alaska Public Offices Commission that Martinez violated state campaign finance laws, including using campaign funds for a personal round-trip flight to Florida. It also raises questions about whether a taxpayer-funded trip to Puerto Rico may have improperly benefited Martinez’s private business interests.
A second resolution, introduced by Assembly members Keith McCormick, Erin Baldwin Day, and Sydney Scout, would formally censure Martinez for conduct related to the campaign finance findings and reaffirm the Assembly’s commitment to campaign finance integrity. A censure is an official expression of disapproval but does not remove an elected official from office.
Martinez has previously said the APOC matter was “adjudicated and resolved” and that he fully complied with the commission’s order following the agency’s decision to impose the maximum penalty against him.
Assembly Chair Anna Brawley said the delay will allow the municipality to complete an internal review of Assembly travel procedures and expenses. The worksession has been scheduled for July 17 to discuss those findings and consider broader updates to Assembly travel policies before members take up the resolutions four days later.
The postponement means Martinez will remain on the Assembly without formal discipline for at least two more weeks, while members decide whether the campaign finance violations and questions surrounding official travel warrant either a formal censure or the more serious step of initiating removal proceedings.
If either resolution advances on July 21, the censure would amount to a public rebuke, while the investigation resolution could begin a more extensive process that could ultimately determine whether grounds exist to remove Martinez from office. Martinez just won reelection to his East Anchorage seat in April’s municipal election.
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3 thoughts on “Anchorage Assembly delays action on wayward member George Martinez until July 21, as travel review continue”
Boy George clearly got caught with his hands in the taxpayers cookie jar so now the assembly progs are searching for a way to sweep it under the rug by blaming unclear or confusing policies & procedures. No chance of any accountability for one of their own. SSDD
Nothing to see here, move along. The assembly sees nothing, hears nothing and says nothing about their own.
This is not a matter of mistakes but of corruption using taxpayers’ money. Any assembly members who don’t vote to remove a corrupt assemblyman share in the corruption.