Mario Bird named Anchorage Mayor Bronson’s chief of staff

Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson said Thursday that attorney Mario Bird will be his chief of staff.

Bird has been in the role in an acting capacity since April, when Bronson’s former chief of staff, Adam Trombley, resigned.

The mayor had appointed Bird as municipal attorney last year, but the Assembly did not confirm him. Bird then worked for the mayor a senior policy director until Trombley’s resignation.

In a written statement Thursday, Bronson said Bird “has served my Administration and the people of Anchorage incredibly well since joining our team a year ago.”

Bird is the Bronson’s fifth chief of staff since the mayor was elected in 2021. The Bronson administration has experienced high turnover among its top officials, especially in the wake of the firing of former Municipal Manager Amy Demboski, who later made a raft of accusations describing illegal and unethical acts by the mayor and his associates.

Bird graduated from the Ave Maria School of Law in Naples, Florida. As an attorney, Bird has advocated for conservative causes, including pushing to reform how Alaska judges are selected, at one point citing the state Supreme Court’s rulings preserving abortion rights. In 2021, he wrote a letter demanding that Providence Alaska hospital give a local conservative activist ivermectin as treatment for COVID-19.

Bird is also the son of Bob Bird, chairman of the Alaska Independence Party.