Anchorage city attorneys on Friday approved a referendum effort to repeal a newly enacted anti-discrimination ordinance but rejected the proposed ballot language, sparking an accusation of political maneuvering from an Assembly member.

The petition application, which was filed Nov. 25 and lists conservative talk show host Bernadette Wilson as its primary sponsor, targets the recent law to protect gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual people from discrimination. It would ask voters, "Shall (Anchorage Ordinance 96) remain law?"

The proposed ballot language was nearly identical to a November 2014 referendum on a contentious rewrite of city labor law.

But in a Friday memo, city attorney Bill Falsey said the proposed language "does not adequately describe the effects of the ordinance the sponsors seek to repeal."

Falsey and other attorneys instead suggested new language to say the law would "prohibit discrimination within the municipality on the bases of sexual orientation or gender identity in the sale, rental or use (of) real property, financing, employment, places of public accommodations, educational institutions, and practices of the municipality; to codify certain religious and other exemptions; and to expand the lawyer's role in fact-finding conferences before the Anchorage Equal Rights Commission."

The proposed change prompted a heated response from Assemblywoman Amy Demboski. Demboski, one of two Assembly members who voted against the ordinance, referred in an interview to the AO 37 labor ordinance ballot language and said two topics were "blatantly" being treated differently by the city.

"A quick review of the most recent referendum reveals AO 37's question was legally sufficient, and this question, being very similar, has been not only rejected, but reworded in such a fashion to manipulate the electorate," Demboski wrote in an email to Falsey and the city clerks on Friday. She said the change undermined the democratic process.

City attorneys under the administration of former Mayor Dan Sullivan originally rejected the AO 37 petition on the grounds that it targeted technical and administrative changes. But city unions sued and a state Superior Court judge ruled in favor of the referendum moving forward.

Falsey, who was appointed by Mayor Ethan Berkowitz, noted in a phone interview on Friday that he was not the city attorney when AO 37 went to the ballot. He said his interpretation of past Supreme Court cases is that voters should understand what they're voting on.

"It's generally held that AO 37 was a confusing ballot measure," Falsey said.

City Clerk Barbara Jones referred questions to Assemblyman Ernie Hall, the chair of the Assembly's ethics and elections committee. Hall said he didn't see the process being manipulated and that lawyers were trying to defend against possible legal challenges.

Jones also said late Friday afternoon that as far as she knew, the petitioners had not signed off on the language change, meaning they could not yet gather signatures.