“My biggest issue is that APOC never reached out to me with any discrepancies when I filed the disclosure… And so the difference with Treg (Taylor) is that he knew that there was an issue and chose not to change it.” - Rep. Julie Coulombe, R-Anchorage, on the Alaska Public Offices Commission investigating and recommending disqualification of Republican gubernatorial candidate Treg Taylor, who has continued to deny providing a full financial disclosure report of his rent-paying tenants. But Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom rejected that recommendation, citing problems with other candidates’ disclosures, and reinstated him on the ballot.
The Alaska Division of Elections director’s office in Downtown Juneau is seen on Aug. 26, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
By Corinne Smith and James Brooks
Rep. Andrew Gray of Anchorage is not a Swiss businessman. Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon is not selling fire sprinkler systems. Lieutenant governor candidate Zac Johnson isn’t running an equestrian fox-hunting club in Indiana.
Days after the Alaska Department of Law said it found possible gaps in dozens of political candidates’ financial disclosure forms, a review by the Alaska Beacon and interviews with the affected candidates found many of the problems identified by the department either don’t exist, rely on old information, or amount to minor errors.
Alaska gubernatorial candidates appeared at a Sept. 9, 2026 fisheries debate in Kodiak. From left are former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson, former Attorney General Treg Taylor, business owner and radio talk-show host Bernadette Wilson and former state Rep. Konathan Kreiss-Tomkins. (Photo by Brian Venua)
By Corinne Smith and James Brooks
Alaska candidates for governor defended their financial disclosure reports this week, following a review by the Alaska Department of Law that claimed several possible omissions.
The logo of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources is seen on Tuesday, June 14, 2022 outside the office of the commissioner in Juneau, Alaska. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
By James Brooks
Acting like a waiter presenting a divided restaurant dinner table with the bill, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources filed suit against nine different North Slope oil and gas operators last month, seeking to determine who is financially responsible for three semi-abandoned wells.
A screenshot of a map by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources in a proposal for nearly 20,000 acres of land to be transferred to AIDEA near Houston for a proposed multi-use industrial and energy development district that may include a data center. (Alaska Department of Natural Resources)
COMMENTARY
By Grace Yang, Emily Brubaker, Sadie Cooper, Gemma Alderfer, Lupine Reifler
The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority’s plans to develop industrial facilities on land that currently belongs to Alaskan citizens has generated extensive criticism for many reasons. As a group of teens working to preserve our environment to the best of our abilities, we feel that it is our responsibility to inform Alaskans about how our land is at risk.
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