Sully Goes Viral!
Well, look at that. Mayor Dan Sullivan’s decision to skip town and take his oath of office in Hawaii has, apparently, gone viral. None other than First Lady Lynette Sullivan has sprung to his defense. She piped up in the comment section of the Anchorage Daily News to quell the rumblings of Anchorage citizens who thought that the Mayor actually ought to put his official duties first, and his tropical vacation second. It’s worth reading, just to see if you can manage to keep your lunch down. My comments (as always) are in red.
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Hello Anchorage!
This is First Lady Lynnette! Yes Mayor Dan and I (OK, what’s with “Mayor Dan” and “First Lady Lynnette” all of a sudden? Are you allowed to give yourself your own cutesy nickname? Can I be Blogmeister J?) are here in Hawaii and my whole family coordinated our time to be here at the same time for a family reunion. Our daughter came from Oregon and my sister and niece came from Washington to be with our Hawaii family. The 4th of July holiday worked out to be the best time to schedule a family reunion. And family, or “ohana”, as they say in Hawaii is very important to us. (Guess what, everyone? According to the mayor, the 4th of July holiday started on July 1st this year! Accommodating official mayoral responsibilities between the 1st and the 16th of July might be personally inconvenient for “Mayor Dan.”)
I am so proud of the job Dan has done as mayor of Anchorage. He TRULY works all the time. And the only time we have taken off has been our annual trip to Hawaii (yes in the summer because of my teaching schedule).
(He “works all the time?” TRULY? Well, I for one don’t think ANYone in Anchorage would think of Dan Sullivan as anything but a good, solid, family man who “works all the time.”)
Dan is being sworn in July 1st via Skype as his first term ends June 30th to adhere to the city code (which says as soon as practical to July 1st). Isn’t it exciting to be using 21st century technology? 🙂
(Don’t be insulted by the mayor’s absence, or his blatant show of disrespect for his city. Just think how super awesome and exciting it is that we can see him on the series of tubes! )
And it wouldn’t be a Mayor Dan discussion without mentioning budgeting and costs – this trip did not cost the tax payers anything. We pay for our own trip costs. And the Hawaii swearing in is being facilitated without cost by a family friend, Honolulu attorney, Nathan Aipa.
(I guess since “Mayor Dan” is actually paying for his own vacation, he simply couldn’t afford a few hundred bucks and take a 5-hour non-stop direct flight to Anchorage during the middle of his weeks-long R&R. Or just have waited until Tuesday. That might have put a little crimp in his Mai Tai time.)
The integrity of Dan’s priorities are still the same for our family and our city, Anchorage as they have always been. YOU CAN COUNT ON IT!
(OK… if the integrity of his priorities for his family and city are the same, and they’re using the Hawaiian vacation to prove it, much has been made clear.)
Lynnette
P.S. I think that bloggers should use their real names.
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P.S. I think that First Ladies who are educators should look up the definition of “blogger.” “Bloggers,” contrary to what you may have been told by that Goliath of intellectual curiosity, Sarah Palin, are not what you call the people who leave comments underneath articles in the newspaper. “Bloggers” are people who write and maintain a “weblog.” See how “weblog” contains the word “blog?” People who leave comments are called “commenters.” See how the word “commenter” contains the word “comment?” Isn’t it exciting to learn all about 21st century technology?
So, please, if you’re going to be snarky about people who are daring to notice “Mayor Dan’s” disrespect to the people of this city, while you make us all cringe by singing the praises of his “ohana” values, at least call them the right thing. I am a blogger. You are a commenter.
It also might be exciting to learn about stuff like “syntax” and “style,” like NEVER USE ALL CAPS, that the use of smileys makes you look ridiculous and unprofessional unless you’re 12, and punctuation can be useful.
So, there you have it. Mayor Dan doesn’t have to worry about looking too lazy to come home and accept his job in person. His long-suffering wife, whom nobody has ever heard utter a word, has now justified it all. He doesn’t have to put down tha pineapple with a straw in it to show a little respect for his city. It’s all taken care of.
Long-suffering wife is proud of him – check
Cute endearing nicknames – check
Daughter and niece would be inconvenienced – check
Wife is a schoolteacher card – check
Work ethic card – check
Poor us – all we get is our annual vacation to Hawaii – check
Fiscal responsibility card – check
He’s a good family man – check
The thrill and excitement of 21st century technology – check
“Ohana” – check
All it took to seal the deal was “Mayor Dan” on Skype in his rumpled khakis and Hawaiian shirt, looking like he just rolled in from a nap in a deck chair. Let’s hope he was at least wearing his dressy flip-flops.
And after all this refusal to think of his duties first and his vacation second, his administration is still unsure of the legality of the move, so he plans to sign the papers again in Anchorage, just to be safe. At least the city won’t be Sullied for another two weeks.
What about the prostitution scandal that he just let Todd Palin operate out of Anchorage and the APD let him?
Then the Secret Service came up in 2008 and the services expanded…Dan Sullivan cannot keep covering for the Palins anymore…the cat is out of the bag…and ” boys will be boys ” will become a boy in the prison system…
Once I went to Mayor Knowles swearing in ceremony at West High. It had a real sense of community to it. Community is history to t bags. Profit that’s the amerikan way.
Mrs. Sullivan says the mayor’s priortities have integrity. I’ll give her that. The question is: does the Mayor have integrity?
“P.S. I think that bloggers should use their real names.”
Frank Bailey, in his book “Blind Allegiance” (with AKM as one of the co-authors) wrote that Sarah Palin had high-level government employees at work writing letters to the editor, praising Sarah Palin, which were printed under the real names of people who did not write those letters.
Fraud at the highest level in the state.
Mrs. Sullivan, I think that elected officials should use their real names when trying to influence public opinion.
If you want to start somewhere, start with Sarah Palin.
A commenter name, such as “slipstream,” is obviously an alias for someone who wishes to use her or his right to free speech anonymously. It is not an attempt to claim someone else’s identity. I have the right to anonymous free speech, and I will continue to use it.
With the viciousness that the right wing extremists have shown towards anyone who doesn’t blindly agree with them, often threatening retribution and other forms of violence against them, is it any wonder that people prefer to remain anonymous online?
I choose not to comment on a lot of other political blogs specifically because they use Facebook links and I have no desire to make myself that vulnerable to strangers.
Members of the GOP have been shown to lie so often and so blatantly that I think that’s a much greater concern than anonymous comments on some online article or blog post.
No, Mrs. mayor’s wife, you can rationalize all you want, but it is disrespectful to the people who elected your husband to have him take his oath of office in another state.
Everybody’s family is important to them. So is the Democratic process. Your husband was elected by the people of Alaska and he works for them.
Concerned officials put the needs of their constituents ahead of their own needs.
You and your husband scheduled a VACATION and he could not be bothered to attend to his official duties while in Alaska.
Thank you, thank you, Diane, for using “disrespectful” and not the newly-coined verb “disrespect.” I am so tired of hearing that someone “disrespected” someone and is, therefore, a “hater.” Another weird middle school word.
I’m all for you adopting the moniker ‘Blogmeister J!’ I completely believe that everyone should have a stable (or unstable) collection of alternate personalities to call upon should the need arise.
I changed my fictitious rap name from DryIce to ToxicB after I read Candace Bushnell’s comment that single men over 40 should be regarded as toxic bachelors. I let y’all try to guess what my drag name is. 😉
Let me guess-your drag name is “John Force”,right?
Let’s see…Is it Dee Licious? Ms. Demeanor? Amanda B. Reckonedwith? (Sorry, I stole that last from the Car Guys). Whatever your drag name is, I am sure you and it are fabulous.
Really guys and gals?
Mrs. Sullivan is once of the nicest people I’ve ever met and was a great teacher to me and my friends. To this day I respect her and feel like she changed my life for the better. Yes she made some minor grammatical mistakes (as do we all) but the blatant attacks on the person not the policy are the sort of things that piss me off.
Ad hominem is not how we win this debate. Yes I’m annoyed by the Mayors unwillingness to do his oath in Alaska but that is not a reason to attack his wife on a personal level. Why don’t we instead critique his policy? I really hate the way Dan acts in his office as mayor. Is that not rich enough ground for us?
We are better then this.
so lets just shut up about her and get back to something substantial.
Mrs Sullivan could have kept quiet and let her husband,you know, lead and justify his decision himself. I thought that was one of the roles of an elected official. However, by wading into action on his behalf, she has now made herself part of the story.
She starts off by pompously referring to herself as “First Lady”, which suggests, at the very least, that she is already swimming in hubris, and the rest of the letter is downhill from there. At the very least, the letter draws attention to the fact that her husband appears to be unable or unwilling to defend his decision to be sworn in overseas himself.
We wouldn’t have to hear about either of them except for all the people who voted for Mayor Dan in spite of his narcissism and sense of entitlement.
Mrs. Sullivan deserves all the respect due a private citizen. “First Lady Lynnette” is a politician who should expect and will receive the opinions of the American public that she has voluntarily sought to influence.
I want my elected officials to put their duty as an elected official first, ahead of family and ahead of their religous belief. The Mayor had the gall to slight the Alaska Samoan community and Samoans elsewhere, on afternoon KFQD talkradio (on the day the police were cleared in the shooting of a stick-wielding man), then flys to Hawaii. FYI Mayor Sullivan, America Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the US making them citizens of the US.
Looks like the Sullivans are just showing their backsides to the citizens of Anchorage. This needs to be remembered if he runs for higher office.
When are you folks going to elect a real mayor instead of a scammer & grifter?
“The integrity of Dan’s priorities are still the same for our family and our city, Anchorage as they have always been.”
Schoolmarm Lynette (yes, I can make up cutesy nicknames, too): The subject of that sentence is INTEGRITY; therefore, it demands a singular verb form (is, not are, to be specific). You got confused, and used “are,” thinking that the subject of the sentence is “priorities.” I know, subject/verb agreement is tricky sometimes … particularly for a politician (and his wife) whose integrity is so questionable and whose priorities are totally skewed, if not screwed. Btw, SL, you left out the comma after Anchorage, and the end of your sentence again displays your total ignorance of the concept of agreement between subject and verb.
For the sake of her students, I hope her subject is not English.
We were in Hawaii in March. Even on the days it was a bit rainy, we were smiling in our pictures. He does look really unhappy. Or maybe he had too many Mai Tais. Yeah, that must be it.
I seriously don’t see why the vacation couldn’t have been adjusted so he’d be at home on July 1. It sounds like they are there for longer than two days. After all, it’s expensive to fly to Hawaii, even from Oregon or Washington state where two of the relatives live. You don’t go for a short time when you spend that much on the plane fare.
She would have done better to keep her mouth closed. Or maybe she should have let the party planner handle the matter back home. 😉 (Sorry, couldn’t resist the smiley.)
“YOU CAN COUNT ON IT!”
Well! I wasn’t convinced before that your esteemed(?) Mayor Sullivan had the health and happiness of the people of Anchorage first and foremost in his mind but those capital letters clinched it for me!
HOW can you argue with CAPITAL LETTERS???
(I don’t know when he left for his tropical vacay, but if he was so danged devoted to his job as mayor, couldn’t he have waited until after the 1st to leave Anchorage? It’s not like the swearing in date was a big surprise!)
Nope. Couldn’t keep the lunch down.
Some one needs to tell the “First Lady Lynette” that if she keeps.clamping her lips like that, she will wind up in line at the botox bar right beside Palin.
Sully looks to be the long suffering on in that pic and is it just me or does anyone else find it less than serious or respectful to Skype in your taking the oath of office while wearing your ugliest hawaian I’m on a non-stop drinking binge shirt?
If I get called for jury duty, can I just Skype that in? It’s to hot to get dressed.
Maybe he’ll forget to come back to Alaska! Although that would not be good for Honolulu . . . . He’s still Palin contaminated and a total dunce.
The trip didn’t cost taxpayers anything? Hizzoner doesn’t get paid vacation? I had to get my reading glasses cuz I thought she mistakenly used the word “Obama ” instead of “ohana”.
Go easy on him,he brought his wife for a change…which may explain his expression.
HAH! good Frank!
Hmmm– notice how the Skype swearing-in was “facilitated without cost by a family friend, Honolulu attorney, Nathan Aipa”? Yowza!
With that statement, she’s saying two things to me: 1) it’s all, obviously, all above board, totally legal and binding, and really a swell deal for Alaska, because an attorney had a hand in running the show, and 2) Mayor Dan and First Lady Lynette have no family (in Hawai’i–either resident or flown-in for vakay) who can Skype so they had to have assistance from Mr. (attorney) Aipa…(what, no ohana members tech savvy enough to set it up for them? Even one of the younger generation? Yikes!)
I also really liked: “I am so proud of the job Dan has done as mayor of Anchorage.” Personally, I’d have emphasized the ongoing, the forward momentum, the continuation of outstanding accomplishments, the active, rather than the finished — I’d have used the words, “is doing” instead of “has done”. Maybe that’s just me, though…
She sounds like a real corker; anyone know WHAT GRADE SHE TEACHES? beth.
Not sure If I would be sharing the name Nathan Aipa, as the “friend” who helped with costs. He just may have some skeletons in his closet, too, Mrs.Sullivan.
Why do I get the feeling that this school teacher couldn’t pass her own students’ grade level tests–unless, perhaps, she teaches kindergarten?
She did teach kindergarten. Now she is in educational technology. So she should have her own skype on her laptop.
Why does he always look so miserable? He’s in Hawaii for heaven’s sake…
Well—he smiles in all the pictures with the party planner. . . .
His wife just told him about the letter she wrote…
Well dang.
I like using smiley faces as a commenter.
Have to quit that for at least awhile so no one confuses me with the First Lady.
Dang.
Poor ANC.
I’m hoping the rest of your teachers are a notch or 36 above this one…
Oh, heck, Pi —
NOBODY who reads your thoughtful, often humorous, and generally brainy comments will EVER confuse your words with those of this humorless broad.
I wonder what is Hawaiian for her REAL name:
“She who thinks she is First Lady Lynnette but she-and-we all know she’s STILL not, nor ever will be, the perky party-planner” ??
Jus’ wondrin’…..