Socialist organizer helps launch recall effort against Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance

By THE ALASKA STORY

Sept. 7, 2026 — A group of Anchorage residents say they have launched an effort to recall Mayor Suzanne LaFrance, accusing her administration of failing to meet municipal reporting requirements governing the use of surveillance technology.

Recall organizers say they submitted their application and initial sponsor signatures to the Anchorage Municipal Clerk on Sept. 3. The clerk qualified the sponsors’ signatures that same day and notified the group that the municipality has until Oct. 5 to certify or reject the recall application, according to an announcement by the group calling itself Recall Mayor LaFrance.

The group’s Facebook page, created on Sept. 4, had but one follower as of Monday morning: The Party for Socialism and Liberation-Anchorage.

That apparent preliminary qualification by the clerk does yet not authorize organizers to begin collecting the thousands of voter signatures that would be required to place the recall before voters. It means only that the initial sponsors have been verified as qualified Anchorage voters. The clerk and municipal attorney must now determine whether the stated grounds are legally sufficient.

The application alleges that LaFrance violated Anchorage Municipal Code by failing to perform duties prescribed under AMC 3.102.040, which requires the mayor or a designee to transmit an annual surveillance report to the Anchorage Assembly and post it on the municipal website no later than June 1 each year.

Organizers say the 2024, 2025, and 2026 reports were not provided by their respective deadlines.

LaFrance took office July 1, 2024, one month after the deadline for that year’s report. The 2024 deadline therefore occurred during the administration of former Mayor Dave Bronson. It will be up to the clerk and municipal attorney to determine whether the recall application states legally sufficient grounds specifically attributable to LaFrance.

The disputed reports describe municipal use of unmanned aircraft systems (drones0, facial-recognition technology and other surveillance tools. Municipal code requires information about how frequently the technology was used, the purposes for which it was deployed, how collected information was handled and whether its use resulted in complaints or legal proceedings.

At its Sept. 1 meeting, the Anchorage Assembly postponed accepting the reports after members raised concerns about their content. According to the recall group, the documents included specific addresses where drones had been deployed, potentially creating privacy concerns, while other portions lacked dates or offered vague explanations for their use.

The dispute comes as the municipality expands the Anchorage Police Department’s surveillance capabilities. The Assembly recently approved nearly $599,000 for technology associated with APD’s Real-Time Crime Center while considering separate legislation that would place additional restrictions on government surveillance and the handling of collected information. Privacy protections and oversight of the new technology have become points of disagreement as the project advances.

“Alaskans’ right to privacy is not negotiable,” the recall group said in its announcement. “Protect your privacy: Recall LaFrance.”

The listed media contact for the recall campaign is Michael Patterson, a longtime left-wing Anchorage political activist. Patterson has been affiliated with the Anchorage Democratic Socialists of America and has worked as an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a Marxist-Leninist organization.

Patterson is an Iraq War veteran who has publicly discussed support for socialist political theory after leaving the Army, participating in the Occupy movement and helping establish the PSL organization in Anchorage. He has frequently testified before the Assembly and has organized demonstrations involving policing, Israel, and other issues.

If the clerk certifies the recall application, the office will prepare a master petition and establish the number of signatures required. Under Alaska law, a recall targeting a municipality-wide official must collect signatures equal to 25% of the votes cast for that office in the most recent regular election. Petition sponsors then have 60 days to gather the signatures.

Alaska law permits municipal officials to be recalled for misconduct in office, incompetence or failure to perform prescribed duties. Recall organizers are not required at the application stage to prove their allegations as they would in a civil or criminal trial, but the allegations must be stated with particularity and constitute legally permissible grounds for recall.

LaFrance has served as mayor since July 2024, after defeating incumbent Mayor Dave Bronson in that year’s runoff election. Her term runs through June 30, 2027, and she has filed for reelection for a second term. The mayor had not issued a public response to the recall announcement as of Monday.