Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson’s chief of staff, Sami Graham, resigns

Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson’s chief of staff, Sami Graham, is resigning, the mayor’s office announced.

“It was an honor to serve the citizens of Anchorage as the Mayor’s Chief of Staff,” Graham said in a statement Friday evening. “As I retire, I believe in the new direction for Anchorage and will continue to try to help wherever there is a need.”

Bronson appointed Graham to be his chief of staff in a surprise announcement in August, immediately after the Anchorage Assembly failed to confirm her as the city librarian after questioning her qualifications. Graham replaced Bronson’s first chief of staff, Craig Campbell, who continued on in the Bronson administration as director of policy and programs until he resigned from that position in October.

Graham will be replaced by Alexis Johnson, the mayor’s office said. Johnson has been working as a special assistant in the Bronson administration since the mayor took office, and is currently on the Anchorage Women’s Commission.

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Bronson in a written statement said Johnson is “one of our state’s brightest Alaskans” and he is “confident she will help my administration execute our goals to make Anchorage successful now and into the future.”

The library director position remains unfilled after Bronson’s second appointee, Judy Norton Eledge, resigned, although Eledge has stayed on at the library as deputy director.