Political candidates allowed but no political messages

By Michael Armstrong

Homer Independent Press

Homer’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence included floats with the Statue of Liberty, dozens of U.S. flags, lots of political candidates and one former state attorney general who crashed the parade at the end in his truck, carrying a sign that read, “Defend the rule of law; no kings, no autocrats.”

Doug Baily, the driver of the truck, said when he showed up to take his assigned place in line,  a parade organizer with the Homer Chamber of Commerce told him he couldn’t be in the procession after all. The “No Kings” part of the message was evidently too political for the parade celebrating American Independence.

He snuck in anyway.

“I had a plan,” Baily said. “It wasn’t an afterthought.”

Baily is a retired lawyer with a career spanning 50 years, a registered member of the Republican Party, and a former Alaska Attorney General who served under Gov. Steve Cowper, a Democrat. Baily also was Republican Gov. Jay Hammond’s administrative assistant. He first came to Homer in 1957 when he crewed with Clem Tillion on a crab-fishing boat. In recent years, he retired here.

Chamber Executive Director Brad Anderson cited a rule in the parade entry application for why he didn’t let Baily’s truck enter.

“The intent of the 4th of July Parade is family-oriented and not a platform for political or religious opinions or personal viewpoints,” the rule reads. “Such entries and narratives may be disqualified. The Chamber reserves the right to accept or not any parade application.”

Baily said after he showed up at the staging area in the Homer High School parking lot, a parade official told him his sign was a political message.

“I said, yes, I’ve seen other floats,” Baily said. “They have political messages. Why am I different?”

A large float for the District 6 Alaska Republican Party had signs that read “Build the line” and “Vote Yes on 2,” the proposition to repeal ranked choice voting. After receiving complaints, Anderson said the Republicans were told to take their “Yes on 2” signs down.

Anderson said he and Baily had discussions before the parade about what could and could not be allowed.

Baily said, “I knew that I was pushing whatever the line was. The line kept shifting from time to time.”

After being told he couldn’t be in the parade, Baily drove out of the high school parking lot toward the main entrance off East End Road. An organizer told him to turn left and not right toward Pioneer Avenue. Baily complied — and then after heading east, turned around in a parking lot and headed back to the parade. He had a parade program and saw that the last entry was the Homer Police Department. He intended to pull in about 30 feet behind the last police car. He did so, and then saw an ambulance behind him and another police car.

“I had a triple emergency escort down Pioneer Avenue,” Baily said.

At the reviewing stand by Bay Realty, Baily stepped out of his truck, pointed to his sign, took a deep bow before the photographer, got back in his truck and followed to the end of the parade route.

While outright political expression wasn’t allowed in the parade, numerous political candidates had signs or floats. The Republican Party float had signs to re-elect Rep. Nick Begich III and Sen. Dan S. Sullivan. Other political candidates had floats in the parade, including Adam Crum, a Republican candidate for governor, Heath Smith, a Republican candidate for the Alaska Senate, and Brent Johnson, a nonpartisan candidate for the Alaska House.

Anderson said that in the past political candidates have been allowed in the Fourth of July parade. Groups encouraging voter education such as the League of Women Voters also would be allowed.

“We feel it’s important, and there’s an opportunity for residents to meet the candidates,” Anderson said. “… Traditionally they’ve always been the candidate with the float.”

Judith Miller, a supporter of Mary Peltola for U.S. Senate, said she had called the chamber and asked if Peltola could have a float in the parade. Miller said the woman who answered the phone told her that wouldn’t be allowed.

Anderson said he didn’t know the circumstances around that phone call. He said if Peltola had intended to be in the parade, “We would have absolutely supported that.” Peltola did participate in the Bethel Fourth of July parade, according to a press release from her campaign.

When asked if supporters could have a float if the candidate didn’t attend, Anderson said the chamber would be tightening its guidelines. There hadn’t been a situation before where the parade had as many candidates from other than local races.

In the context of the celebration of the Declaration of Independence, Anderson said, “There were things that, there were signs in there that were kind of borderline political speech, political opinion versus celebrating our independence, and everything that falls around that. It gets over a little bit more tolerant to some things on it, but I think we have to just make some harder lines over political statements versus bullying.”

Baily said he got a lot of thumbs up and cheers when he unofficially drove in the parade. Anderson said some people complained that there were too many political comments.

“We’ve heard from pretty much both sides of the aisle, as far as how they feel about it, but there were people who spoke up in general, in concern of political comments,” he said. “We really would like to see that not become such a big part of our local community parade.”