Anchorage Assembly to consider first-ever removal proceeding against Martinez

The Anchorage Assembly is scheduled Tuesday to consider whether to initiate the first removal proceeding against an elected member in the municipality's history. A formal accusation document alleges perjury, per diem fraud, campaign-fund misuse, and repeated failure to disclose a private business interest.

The accusation targets East Anchorage Assembly Member George Martinez. Assembly Members Jared Goecker and Donald Handeland filed it with the Municipal Clerk on July 1 and introduced AR 2026-192 to formally submit it and direct the Municipal Attorney to retain outside counsel for a broader investigation. That investigation would cover taxpayer-funded travel, disclosure compliance, and whether there is a broader pattern of conduct beyond the existing Alaska Public Offices Commission findings. The removal procedure exists under Anchorage Municipal Code 2.70.030, adopted in 1993 and amended in 2022, but has never been invoked.

The APOC Finding

The Alaska Public Offices Commission issued its final order finding that Martinez used campaign funds for an approximately 8,000-mile round-trip flight from Anchorage to Fort Lauderdale that left him 63 minutes on the ground and credited 1,500 status points to his personal Alaska Airlines account. The accusation document dates the order June 11; the censure resolution cites June 15. This article uses June 11 as stated in the accusation.

APOC described his sworn testimony as "formulaic and evasive" and found he "outright refused to respond to questions or provide answers to straightforward inquiries." The commission imposed the maximum civil penalty and ordered repayment.

Martinez had testified that the trip was for campaign strategic planning, that "the itinerary was designed to give me approximately 20 hours of uninterrupted planning time," and that airline status benefits "were unknown at the time of the transaction."

Additional Charges and a Competing Resolution

The accusation also charges Martinez with claiming excess per diem on a November 2025 trip to Puerto Rico and omitting his ownership interest in Consoach LLC from financial disclosure reports filed in early 2026.

A competing resolution, AR 2026-191, submitted by Assembly Members McCormick, Baldwin Day, and Scout, would censure Martinez and treat his compliance with the APOC repayment order as closing the matter. That resolution explicitly states that censure is intended as the Assembly's complete response and that no further action is contemplated once Martinez complies. It reflects a disagreement over whether the commission's sanction is sufficient or whether the pattern of alleged conduct warrants removal. Both resolutions are scheduled for reading Tuesday.