Borough Official Apologizes for Political Post on Official Social Media

A Mat-Su Borough official has apologized for sharing a political post on an official borough social media account.

On Thursday night, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Solid Waste Division’s Facebook page shared a post by the Alaska Republican Party. The party linked to a post on the “Must Read Alaska” blog discussing potential state revenue sources in Juneau. The Republican Party referred to the four Republicans who joined with Democrats and independents to form a new majority as “turncoats,” and to Governor Bill Walker as “Governor Taker.” The post by the borough solid waste division called the situation, “Reprehensible. An absolute travesty.”

On Friday morning, the post came down. Butch Shapiro, Director of the Solid Waste Division, says he made the post to the official Facebook page in error, and that it was meant for his personal page. He apologizes for the error and says he will likely remove himself as an administrator to the page to prevent future accidental postings.

Terry Dolan, Mat-Su Borough Public Works Director and Shapiro’s immediate superior, says he was made aware of the post Friday. Dolan says he was still looking into the incident as of Friday afternoon, but says in an emailed statement that he does “not impose punishment for honest mistakes.”

Dolan adds that the Public Works Department values engagement via social media, and does not plan to reduce use of social media. Instead, he says the department will focus on preventing posts that were meant to be personal from going out on official accounts.