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.
In a Labor Day news conference, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom said her decision to restore Republican governor candidate Treg Taylor to the general election ballot was based in part on the report, which indicated that many other candidates for office had the same kinds of errors in their financial disclosure reports.
In August, the Alaska Public Offices Commission recommended Taylor’s disqualification for failing to report his rent-paying tenants at several properties. Dahlstrom has followed that recommendation disqualifying him, then reversed the decision on Sep. 4
Among the candidates listed in the Department of Law report were all four governor candidates and three of the four lieutenant governor candidates:
Dave Bronson and Josh Church
Republican Dave Bronson responded to the report Monday night, immediately following the governor’s news conference.
“Josh and I take our financial disclosure obligations seriously and have made every effort to comply with APOC’s POFD requirements,” he said in an email.
Bronson emphasized there is an “important difference” between non-compliance with disclosure laws initially cited by Dahlstrom in disqualifying the candidates and “a technical disclosure question, accidental omission, or information that is factually incorrect,” he wrote.
Bronson responded to each issue flagged in his disclosures saying it was incorrect.
The department said Bronson’s POFD failed to disclose he was the manager of Piper LLC, that he is the director of an Arizona-registered corporation called Bible Archaeology Search and Exploration Foundation and is the director of the nonprofit Alaska Governor’s Prayer Breakfast.
Bronson said Piper LLC generates no income and is for “asset purposes only.” A campaign spokeswoman said the LLC simply holds his plane.
He said his participation with the nonprofits, including the one in Arizona, is “entirely voluntary and unpaid.”
“I received no compensation or financial benefit for serving. I served as a volunteer committee member of the Governor’s Prayer Breakfast and resigned before running for office,” he wrote.
The department said after reviewing land records it flagged Bronson “having an interest in an Eagle River property” that was not disclosed.
Bronson said he co-signed a mortgage on a house for his son in 2025, and was “subsequently removed from the property in February” this year.
“I received no compensation, payment, or other financial benefit from that property and had no financial gain from it,” he said.
The department said Bronson’s lieutenant governor candidate, Josh Church, had failed to disclose being a director of the Amanita Heights Subdivision Homeowners Association Inc., a nonprofit in Fairbanks.
Bronson said that is wrong and Church had never served on that board.
The department also said Church failed to list financial interests in properties in Fairbanks and North Carolina sold last year. But Bronson said that was also an error.
“Josh sold the first listed property in North Carolina in or around 2016, while he was serving in the Marines. The second property is listed on his POFD,” he said. “That property has two known addresses as it spans a city block.”
“None of the issues being raised involve hiding income, clients or receiving an undisclosed financial benefit,” he reiterated. “There was no compensation from nonprofit service, no financial gain from the property in question, and no income generated through Piper LLC.”
“Our record reflects our commitment to transparency. We will continue to be transparent, cooperate with APOC, and let the facts speak for themselves.”
Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and Zac Johnson
Democratic Republican candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins responded Tuesday through a campaign spokesperson who defended his campaign disclosure filings and those of his running mate Zac Johnson, an independent currently serving on the Anchorage Assembly.
One issue flagged by the department was that Kreiss-Tomkins failed to disclose a business interest as a director on the board of Outer Coast, a liberal arts undergraduate program in Sitka. He submitted an amended disclosure on Tuesday.
Kreiss-Tomkins’ POFD lists Outer Coast as a tenant because he owns a tiny home near the campus which he rents to rotating staff and faculty, according to campaign spokesperson Shannon Mason.
“He received no compensation for serving on the Outer Coast board; the income disclosed was rent paid for use of the property,” Mason said.
The department flagged Kreiss-Tomkins as being a member of Borealis LLC, and having ties to a Sitka property. Mason said that is incorrect. Borealis LLC was dissolved in 2021, according to a search of state business licenses.
Likewise, the business interests that the department also flagged for Kreiss-Tomkins’ running mate — Charity Horse Shows Inc. and Traders Point Hunt Club in Indiana — were dissolved in 2023 and 2021, according to a search of Indiana state business records.
Mason said both businesses were tied to Johnson’s late grandmother and generated no revenue at the time of her passing. “As part of settling her estate, Zac worked with a local attorney to dissolve the two entities. That was his only association with either entity,” she wrote.
A complaint filed by Republican strategist Joel Borgquist against Johnson is currently being considered by APOC.
In the complaint, Borgquist alleges a range of issues in Johnson’s financial disclosures, including failing to disclose income and rent-paying tenants at horse properties in Indiana.
Johnson responded, filing a sworn affidavit with APOC that the complaint is factually inaccurate, and he has disclosed all income and business interests. He said he manages properties for his family, as well as a family trust, and disclosed all the income generated from those holdings.
“We’re confident APOC’s review will help clear up the confusion surrounding these issues,” Mason said by email.
APOC held a special hearing on Thursday to consider whether to take up an expedited investigation and hearing on the complaint, but it denied that request. Commissioners said staff will investigate over the next several weeks and a hearing is expected on Oct. 8.
Treg Taylor and Candi English
The Taylor campaign did not respond to a list of questions on Wednesday or Thursday about his financial disclosure reports.
Taylor has been in an ongoing dispute with APOC over a list of his rent-paying tenants at several properties in Anchorage. Taylor had not provided a list by the end of June, the deadline to do so.
APOC recommended in August that Lt. Gov. Dahlstrom not certify Taylor as a candidate for the general election, citing his failure to disclose his tenants on time.
Taylor filed a partial list of tenants’ first names and last initials in late July. He did not answer a question asking whether he would disclose the full list of tenants at his properties, including a large rental and extended-stay apartment complex, Inlet View Tower.
The Department of Law reviewed the financial disclosure reports of his running mate, Republican Candi English, and said she failed to disclose ties to properties in Big Lake, Anchorage, Seldovia and others in Alabama and Oregon.
Bernadette Wilson and Mike Shower
The Wilson campaign also did not respond to a list of questions about financial disclosure filings on Wednesday or Thursday.
The Department of Law identified Wilson as director, president and shareholder of Denali Disposal, an Anchorage based garbage disposal company, but her financial reports only list her as a general manager.
The issue was also challenged by Borgquist in a separate complaint filed with APOC, where he argued that she should disclose being a 75% owner and each customer that paid her more than $1,000 per year for services, as required by state law.
APOC also denied an expedited review of the complaint on Thursday, and directed staff to investigate and a hearing is expected on Oct. 8.
