Anchorage auditors flag a gap in Assembly travel approvals

Anchorage's internal auditor found signed pre-trip approval on every one of the 38 Assembly trips it examined. But a second approval step added in 2025 required the chair's sign-off before a request was even filed, and for the 15 trips that covered, auditors could document that step on only one.

The timeline is worth laying out. Chair Anna Brawley requested the review June 22. Internal Audit dated its completed memo July 28. On Aug. 4, the Assembly voted 5-6 against a separate resolution to investigate one member, George Martinez, over his taxpayer-funded travel. Two days later, on Aug. 6, Brawley transmitted the completed travel review to members. On Sept. 1, the Assembly voted 9-2 for something larger still: a special study of the individual spending accounts of everyone who has served on the body this year, reaching back to 2023.

At the Aug. 4 meeting, Assembly leadership described the travel review as still pending. The memo carries a completion date of July 28.

Most of what the travel review found was in order. Eight members took 38 trips between January 2025 and April 2026, at a total cost of $93,232. Every trip had an authorization form signed by the chair or vice chair before departure, every one had complete supporting documentation, and none exceeded the $24,000 a year allotted to each Assembly seat.

A July 2025 policy from then-Chair Christopher Constant said travel had to be approved by the chair before a request was submitted, and that requests should reach the clerk at least 60 days out. Fifteen trips fell under it. The Clerk's Office produced one record auditors could use to verify that earlier approval, and auditors wrote that recovering Constant's emails could be difficult and that they "could not verify the other 14 travel requests met this requirement." That is not a finding that 14 trips were unauthorized. All 38 had formal approval before anyone traveled.

Two other things drew the auditors' attention.

Assembly member George Martinez stayed in Puerto Rico on Nov. 10 and 11 after a conference ended Nov. 9. Asked whether the days were personal, Martinez said "the extra day" was for post-conference meetings, but the audit file names no one he met and carries no agenda. The Clerk's Office processed both days as business and paid him $96 in per diem.

And all 36 trips booked by Clerk's Office staff went on Alaska Airlines. Municipal guidance steers bookings to Alaska only when it has the lowest fare. The clerk could not produce records showing that was checked, so auditors could not tell whether it held.

The broader study now underway grew out of months of argument over Assembly spending, including earlier proposals aimed at a single member. Yarrow Silvers, Erin Baldwin Day and Jared Goecker sponsored the Sept. 1 resolution. It began as a full audit and was converted to a special study before passing. Silvers said it will determine whether any misuse occurred and point to policy fixes, while adding that she does not believe substantial misuse has taken place. The findings are expected this fall.