Girl Scouts of Alaska dropping off their donations to Anchorage Animal Care and Control.
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Category: Alaska News
Girl Scouts of Alaska collected pet food, toys, blankets and other supplies for Anchorage Animal Care and Control as a way to honor the animals that helped people during 9/11. The girls say the project gave them a meaningful way…
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)
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.
The Alaska Division of Elections director’s office in Downtown Juneau is seen on Aug. 26, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
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.
“I’ve talked to probably 10 legislators, and probably eight of them had something on that list that was just bogus,” said Rep. Julie Coulombe, R-Anchorage and one of the candidates in the report, “property they don’t even own anymore, businesses they don’t own, and yet they’re on the list.”
The department’s errors matter because Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, who administers the state’s elections, used the Department of Law report on Sept. 4 as justification to restore Republican governor candidate Treg Taylor and state House candidate Jose Tagle to Alaska’s general election ballot.
“On the basis of that additional information, the Lieutenant Governor will certify the two candidates,” said a statement released by Dahlstrom’s office at the time.
That restoration reversed one Dahlstrom took just five days before. On Aug. 31, Dahlstrom followed recommendations from the Alaska Public Offices Commission and disqualified Taylor and Tagle based on the fact that they had not submitted full Public Official Financial Disclosure forms within a 30-day deadline set by state law.
Taylor, a former attorney general who used to lead the Department of Law, had been asked in 2025 to provide a list of tenants at his rental properties in Anchorage. He did not provide a partial list until late July, about three weeks before the primary election.
“My biggest issue is that APOC never reached out to me with any discrepancies when I filed the disclosure,” Coulombe said. “And so the difference with Treg (Taylor) is that he knew that there was an issue and chose not to change it.”
The Department of Law’s review was extraordinary. When they register to run for office, candidates are required to submit a form listing their personal finances from the previous year. If they don’t submit one, they cannot run. Normally, any gaps in a disclosure only come to light when someone files a complaint with the commission.
Officials with the Department of Law said at a Monday news conference with Dahlstrom and Gov. Mike Dunleavy that they initiated their review last week, expediting it ahead of ballot printing deadlines.
Rachel Witty, director of the civil division of the Department of Law, said the review was done in the course of a day and a half.
“So I can’t emphasize enough that this is a preliminary review. We didn’t have time to contact candidates. We didn’t have time to verify every apparent match. Nor is it our role to do that. There might be mistaken identities. It was not conducted with the kind of due diligence that APOC would do before making a determination that someone had violated the law.”
Witty said paralegals, not attorneys, conducted a search by reviewing business licensing databases, property records, and a large national database called TLOXP.
It’s unclear whether APOC, the agency that regulates financial and political disclosures, will follow up with candidates or take any enforcement actions.
Among the candidates flagged for review were all four lieutenant governor candidates and all four candidates for governor.
Republican candidates Dave Bronson and Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, through a campaign spokesperson, denied the department’s findings, and defended their financial disclosures. Kreiss-Tomkins immediately corrected one error that was identified.
Taylor and Republican Bernadette Wilson did not respond to requests for comment.
“This is getting more absurd by the moment,” said Edgmon when informed by the Beacon that the Department of Law had identified him as director and president of Inland Empire Fire Protection, a fire sprinkler company in Spokane, Washington.
That company is a subsidiary of Choggiung, Ltd., an Alaska Native corporation based in Dillingham.
Until 2017, Edgmon served as chairman of the board for Choggiung, but he hasn’t been in that role for almost a decade.
“I’ve never had a personal relationship with them,” he said of the fire sprinkler company.
The Department of Law report also said Edgmon failed to properly disclose some rental properties in Dillingham — they’re listed, but in the “debts” section of the report, rather than under “interests.”
The Department of Law flagged Rep. Will Stapp, R-Fairbanks, as possibly being the owner of William B Stapp LLC but also noted that the firm was dissolved in 2015, five years before Stapp first ran for office.
“I’m not actually sure why they even flagged me,” Stapp said on Friday.
Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage, published a video on social media after the report listed him as owning a business in Switzerland. Gray said he’s both never been to Switzerland and never owned a business.
In a comment posted by Fairbanks writer Dermot Cole, independent state House candidate Joy Beth Cottle of Fairbanks said that the Department of Law review incorrectly flagged her as having an out-of-date disclosure form.
Cottle filed to run for office in 2025, a year ahead of the deadline, and thus filed a form covering the 2024 tax year. State law doesn’t require an updated POFD in that case. Several other candidates were dinged for the same reason.
Cottle also noted that she was linked to a property she “sold in 2013 and has since burnt to the ground and changed owners several times. I drove by and took a picture of it — it’s a vacant lot.”
In Anchorage, Coulombe said she was faulted for not listing her husband’s last name. After 40-plus years of marriage, she said, she thought it would be assumed that they had the same last name.
She was also faulted for listing only the zip code of a rental property. She’s since submitted a revised form to fix the problem.
“If a mistake or something happened, then OK, email me and I’ll fix it,” Coulombe said. “But you know, the whole idea of putting this big list out like we’re all hiding something is just — I have no words for that.”
Coulombe and other legislators named in the report said they are suspicious of the way the Department of Law and Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration handled it.
Anchorage Republican Sen. Cathy Giessel was surprised to hear she was flagged by the review. The department said she failed to disclose being a director of Anchorage Community Mental Health Services, Inc., but that is the old name of the Anchorage Behavioral Health which was changed in 2020. Giessel is president of the board, which is listed on her disclosure report.
“Well, see, the Department of Law is going after anyone that is not a staunch radical right Republican,” she said. “So that is really immaterial to me.”
The list of candidates in the department’s review include 24 Democrats, 49 Republicans and 17 independents.
“I have huge concerns about what the Dunleavy administration is doing with the departments under its control,” she said. “This is unbelievable — the overreach that’s happening, the inappropriate behavior, the obvious interference in elections. It’s no wonder, many of my constituents, as I knock door-to-door, don’t trust this election system because they’re seeing all of this, very — I’ll call it ‘very unusual’ in quotes — behavior by state government and the federal government.”
Witty responded to Giessel’s comment by email on Friday.
“I have worked for the Department of Law for 20 years, through five administrations, and I can tell you unequivocally, that what occurred last week was not motivated by politics. The informal review was done completely internally by line level staff who only want to do good work for the people of Alaska,” she said. “The list includes candidates from all party affiliations and does not target one political party over another. By its nature, it had to be done on an extremely expedited timeline and could not be as thorough as anyone would have wanted it to be. We have been very open that the list likely contained errors and we have consistently messaged this to the candidates and to the public. However, the preliminary findings contained enough potential discrepancies to raise questions about whether the law was being applied fairly across the field of candidates. The bottom line is that candidates were added back onto the ballot and the field remains broad — allowing voters to have the final say.”
Sarah Short, Republican candidate for House District 13, is seen in a photo from 2025. (Sarah Short photo)
Sarah Short, a Republican candidate for House District 13 in Anchorage, sued the Alaska Public Offices Commission and the Alaska Division of Elections on Thursday, arguing that she was improperly disqualified from running in the primary after failing to file a personal financial disclosure form on time.
Short is representing herself in the case. An official with the Alaska Department of Law said on Friday afternoon that the state had not yet been served with the suit. Thursday was the deadline to file an election-related challenge.
Part of her complaint is based on Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom’s decision to allow state House candidate Jose Tagle and governor candidate Treg Taylor to run in the general election despite filing problematic Public Official Financial Disclosure forms.
“I request my name be put on the 2026 general election ballot for Alaska House Seat 13 as a remedy for this wrongful, arbitrary and capricious denial, given that several candidates have submitted far less “complete” POFD forms, one in fact (Jose Anthony Tagle) had NO FINANCIAL information on it whatsoever,” she wrote.
By phone on Friday, Short said she had attempted to submit a disclosure on June 1, the deadline to run for office, but technical problems meant the commission — which handles disclosures — never received her signature.
When they register to run for office, candidates are required to submit a form listing their personal finances from the previous year. If they don’t submit one, they cannot run.
Because Short was on the East Coast, settling the estate of her grandmother, she could not act in person, she said. That issue, other family matters, and a lack of support from the Alaska Republican Party, kept her from filing a legal challenge earlier, she said.
Currently, Democratic candidate Lisa Keller is the sole remaining candidate running in House District 13. The seat was vacated by Rep. Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage, who is retiring and did not seek re-election.
Short said that if her lawsuit is unsuccessful, she intends to run a write-in campaign for the seat.
“My platform is super simple: faith, family, freedom, and fighting fraud for future generations,” she said.
Short said she has been alarmed by the rise in the number of unhoused Anchorage residents and she says that the situation is causing both safety and humanitarian issues.
“I have a daughter that needs to be protected. We already have an egregious amount of sexual assaults against both men and women, and we have a failure of the system to address or hold those people committing those crimes accountable,” Short said. “We have substances like fentanyl and heroin on the streets in epic proportions, and people are dying, and it doesn’t matter if you are red or blue. Doesn’t matter what your politics are. Those people out there on the street are somebody’s family, and we’re not taking care of them and getting them back on the road. And when we don’t, every fractured family is a fractured community.”
Short said she has requested that the Anchorage Superior Court take up her case on an expedited basis.
The Alaska Division of Elections has said that it expects to begin sending ballots to military and overseas voters on Sept. 18.
Correction: The initial version of this article included an incorrect filing date. The lawsuit was filed Thursday.
After eight and a half years of work, a production reclaiming Lingít epic storytelling through emotional historical accounts of war in Sitka will come to life onstage for the first time Friday.
“Ḵutulagaaw: The Tlingit – Russian Battles” was commissioned by Sealaska Heritage Institute President Rosita Kaaháni Worl to further Lingít voices in Western performing arts, harkening back to ancient forms of oratory and dance performed in natural amphitheaters. Ḵutulagaaw loosely translates to “the war…
NOTN- The Juneau Assembly will consider changes to sales tax exemptions for nonprofit organizations during its regular meeting Monday at 6 p.m.
Ordinance 2026-32(b) would require qualifying nonprofits to collect and remit sales tax on most sales, services and rentals. Exceptions would include direct social services for vulnerable or disadvantaged people, such as food, housing and disability assistance.
The ordinance would also preserve exemptions for intermittent fundraising events, including auctions, bake sales and temporary markets. Those events could last no more than 14 consecutive days and happen no more than four times a year.
Below is the announcement released by CBJ.
Currently, sales, services, and rentals made by qualifying 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), and 501(c)(19) organizations are broadly exempt from sales tax. At Monday’s meeting, the Assembly will take public testimony on ordinance 2026-32(b), which would narrow sales tax exemptions in the following ways:
- When a non-profit is selling items or services or providing rentals, they will need to collect and remit sales tax from their customers unless they fall into the two categories below:
- Sales of social services provided by a qualifying non-profit, defined as direct services to vulnerable, disadvantaged, or distressed individuals to meet basic life needs (food assistance, housing assistance, disability support, day services, senior and assisted living support).
- Sales of goods, services, and rentals tied to intermittent fundraising events, defined as a discrete campaign, gala, auction, bake sale, or temporary market drive lasting no more than 14 consecutive days and occurring no more than four times per calendar year.
A non-profit that purchases items, services or rentals may continue to procure those items without paying sales tax with a sales-exempt card from CBJ. Non-profits with ongoing or regular sales activity that fall outside of these three categories would need to collect and remit sales tax. The existing sales tax exemption on essential food and utilities would continue to apply to non-profit sales of SNAP-eligible foods.
Ordinance 2026-32(b), if adopted, would take effect January 1, 2027.
Residents who want to provide testimony on this ordinance or any other topics may email BoroughAssembly@juneau.gov on or before September 14. They can also sign up for in-person testimony before the meeting in the Assembly Chambers, or testify remotely by calling the City Clerk’s Office at 907-586-5278 before 4 p.m. on the day of the meeting.
For questions, contact communications@juneau.gov.
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)
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.
The Department of Natural Resources has proposed transferring nearly 20,000 acres of land near Houston, Alaska to AIDEA. That state agency finances and promotes development projects, and the new land transfer could give them control of public lands to be sacrificed for another “industrial park.”
AIDEA is a corporation with a history of bad investments that have resulted in nearly $233.3 million in losses over the last 35 years, according to an analysis by economists Milt Barker and Gregg Erickson in 2022. These investments included an Anchorage fish processing plant (now ChangePoint Church), the proposed Ambler Road and Mustang Oil. These projects, and more, misused Alaskans’ money and received major community backlash or failed on their own.
AIDEA says it plans to build roads, manufacturing pads and a data center on the land. Those plans could affect nearly 41.8 miles of trails used for running, biking and gathering firewood, along with supporting salmon, moose and other wildlife.
Data centers are being built in places all over the country to train and store data for artificial intelligence systems. A single medium-sized data center uses about 300,000 gallons of water a day along with lots of electricity, putting strain on the local communities’ power and water sources. Additionally, researchers have found that data centers harm the environment through carbon emissions and pollution from PFAS, chemicals that don’t break down in the environment over time.
Alaska Youth for Environmental Action teens from Anchorage are concerned because the proposed industrial park could be vastly harmful. We should not sacrifice our land, water and communities to power an industry serving distant demands. This for-profit development and industrialization can permanently alter the land which is the foundation of our food, culture and livelihoods. Rather, the state of Alaska should prioritize our Alaskan ecosystems and the people that depend on them.
The deadline for public comment is September 14th. It is important to have our voices heard.
AP- Americans commemorated the 25th anniversary of 9/11 on Friday, remembering the shock, the dead and the sweeping consequences of the al-Qaida attacks on symbols of U.S. might and prosperity.
The milestone anniversary brought memorial rituals — wreath-laying, flag-flying, moments of silence, vigils and readings of victims’ names — and volunteer projects in tribute to a day that about half of U.S. adults remember as the most historic event of their lifetime, according to a new poll. On Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida extremists hijacked four commercial jets and crashed them into New York’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing nearly 3,000 people.
Elsie Caldwell carried a photograph of her son Kenny Caldwell to the trade center to hear his name and all the others read aloud Friday morning. She last spoke to him that morning a quarter-century ago.
“Mom, I just want to let you know that I love you,” her son told her in a final phone call, she recalled. His remains, like those of many other victims, have never been recovered.
Trump attends Pentagon observance
The attacks brought down the World Trade Center’s twin towers — icons of U.S. economic power, and among the tallest buildings on Earth — and blew a hole in the Pentagon, the U.S. military’s fortress-like headquarters near Washington. The fourth plane was headed for Washington, officials concluded, but the aircraft went down in Pennsylvania after passengers and crew members stormed the cockpit and fought the hijackers.
“Sept. 11 reminded us of the terrible power of hate,” President Donald Trump said Friday at the Pentagon’s anniversary ceremony.
“The 25 years since have shown us the even greater power of the American spirit to endure and prevail, and to win,” added the Republican, who was in his native New York on 9/11.
Former President George W. Bush, who was in office on 9/11, attended the observance at the National Sept. 11 Memorial in New York, along with former Presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and current Vice President JD Vance. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick wiped away a tear as he revisited the place where the attacks killed 658 of his colleagues — including his brother, Gary Lutnick — at the investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum laid a wreath at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania after hailing the courage of the plane’s passengers and crew: “The actions they took should inspire us all.”
At ground zero, a new tribute to those who fell ill
For Angilic Casalduc, attending the New York commemoration “helps to show you’re not alone.” She lost her mother, Vivian Casalduc.
“There’s no timeline for grief, and unfortunately, no one can say how you can grieve, but coming here once a year makes it feel just a little bit better,” she said.
Traditionally, there are no political speeches at the ground zero commemoration, where victims’ relatives read aloud the long list of names and added personal messages. They thanked first responders and the military, invoked religious faith, appealed for national unity and touched on the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia. The kingdom was the homeland of most of the hijackers but denied any involvement in the attacks.
Mostly, relatives spoke of, and to, loved ones — whom some were too young to remember.
“You dreamed my whole life for me, and you only got eight months of it,” said Trisha Pakka, who lost her mother, Deepa Pakkala.
Kiersten Haub, who was 16 months old when the attacks killed her father, firefighter Michael Helmut Haub, said: “I carry you through every milestone.”
Besides moments of silence at key points in the attack timeline, this year’s ceremony added another moment to honor people who were exposed to the clouds of toxic dust released by the twin towers’ fiery collapse and have since died of cancer and other illnesses. Questions remain about how many people developed health problems linked to the dust.
The impact of 9/11 endures
It’s a reminder of how the attacks’ long shadow has reached into many corners of life in the U.S. and beyond.
The U.S.-led global war on terrorism included invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan — the latter Washington’s longest war — and detentions and harsh interrogation of terror suspects in an international network of secret CIA prisons. The U.S. found and killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011, but the accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed still awaits a trial 23 years after his capture.
The attacks changed U.S. air travel, led to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, prompted new federal surveillance and intelligence-gathering powers and banking regulations and generated ongoing debate over the balance between security and freedom.
Sept. 11 engendered a culture of individual vigilance summed up by the slogan, “ If you see something, say something,” while a wave of patriotism propelled some Americans to join the military, fire departments and police forces.
Casey Kloepfer was 4 when his father, police Officer Ronald Kloepfer, was killed at the trade center. The son became an officer himself this June, wearing his dad’s badge number.
“It’s big footsteps to fill, but it’s definitely something that I take very seriously and want to continue to honor him and be the best police officer I can,” he said by phone this week.
New York’s mayor comes under scrutiny
Amid the post-9/11 calls to service and appeals for national unity, the attacks also fanned mistrust, prejudice and hate crimes directed at Muslims.
In the quarter-century since, Muslim Americans have played a growing role in public life from statehouses to Congress to New York City Hall, where Zohran Mamdani is the city’s first Muslim mayor. Yet he faced some criticism for attending the anniversary ceremony at ground zero.
Republican ex-Gov. George Pataki and 9/11 victims’ relatives cited, among other things, past remarks that some of Mamdani’s political associates have made about the attacks. Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Republican, also opposed Mamdani’s attendance, though the two shook hands there Friday.
Mamdani, a Democrat, said this week he loves the city and country and that he wanted the anniversary to focus on victims’ families, first responders and New Yorkers who helped one another after the attacks, which he called a “horrific act of terror.” The 34-year-old mayor was an elementary school student in New York on 9/11.
One victim’s son and namesake, Michael Massaroli, used his time at the podium Friday to deplore people “using this tragedy to spread hate” against Muslims and others.
“That’s wrong, and that does no honor to the victims here,” he said.
Times Square billboards pause advertisements
Remembrances extended far from the attack sites, including beams of light projected from New Hampshire’s Mount Washington, a stair climb at Mississippi State University’s football stadium and a ceremony at Honolulu’s 9/11 memorial.
Sept. 11 isn’t a federal holiday, but Congress has designated it both Patriot Day and a National Day of Service and Remembrance.
“One appropriate way to remember is by serving,” said Jay Winuk, who lost his brother Glenn Winuk and then co-founded the organization 9/11 Day with friend David Paine. The group coordinates volunteer opportunities and this year arranged for dozens of Times Square billboards to pause their advertising at 9:11 a.m. Friday.
Instead, they simply displayed the time.
A polling place sign at the State Office Building in Juneau on Aug. 15, 2022. (Photo by Lisa Phu/Alaska Beacon)
The Alaska Democratic Party filed a petition on Wednesday asking a state Superior Court judge to compel the Alaska Division of Elections to disqualify a candidate for the Alaska State House from the November ballot.
That’s after Republican Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom reversed an Aug. 31 decision not to certify two Republican candidates for the midterm election. She reinstated Jose Tagle, a candidate for House District 22, on Sep. 4, along with former attorney general, Treg Taylor, who is running for governor.
The petition only challenges Tagle’s reinstatement on the ballot, not Taylor’s.
The Alaska Public Offices Commission had officially recommended the division not certify the two candidates after finding that they failed to complete campaign finance disclosure reports within the 30 day period as required by state elections law.
Dahlstrom had initially followed that recommendation and declined to certify Tagle and Taylor. But she reversed that decision on Sep. 4, and later cited an unusual review by the Alaska Department of Law that found gaps in 91 other candidates’ financial disclosure reports.
“I will not withhold certification from two candidates on recommendations that, in light of this additional information, I cannot apply with confidence across the field of candidates,” Dahlstrom said in a statement announcing her decision. “Certification decisions have to rest on a process that can be defended as to every candidate.”
Officials with the Alaska Democratic Party said in a statement announcing the new legal challenge that she “capitulated after apparently receiving outside pressure.” The statement did not include evidence of outside pressure.
“Dahlstrom’s about-face reflects a broader concern about an election system that has repeatedly required voters, advocacy organizations, and political parties to seek judicial intervention just to get clear answers,” the group wrote. “Alaskans should not have to rely on administrative complaints and litigation to simply understand which rules apply and whether the state intends to stick by its own decisions.”
Dahlstrom’s office and the Alaska Department of Law did not respond to a list of questions Thursday, including the reason for her decision to reinstate Tagle, whether potential litigation risk was a factor, and if there is a legal basis for reversing her initial decision and rejecting APOC’s recommendation to decline Tagle’s certifcation.
The new legal challenge stems from a lawsuit filed by the Alaska Democratic Party in June, which argues Tagle was ineligible to run in the primary election after he filed a completely blank financial disclosure report with his application to run for the seat.
Alaska Democrats sue elections officials after they approved candidate who didn’t disclose finances
In that case, attorneys on behalf of the Division of Elections argued that APOC is the regulatory agency that oversees candidates’ financial disclosures and has authority over candidates’ eligibility and compliance with state disclosure laws — not the division.
The judge ruled in favor of the division on Aug. 16, saying APOC has the authority to investigate candidates’ financial reports, while the division and the Lt. Governor’s office has the legal duty to administer elections, including enforcing deadlines for financial disclosures.
The court acknowledged that if the APOC fails to investigate, a candidate cannot advance on the ballot or be elected to office. “The law is clear that a candidate who fails to substantially comply with AS 39.50 within the time limits of AS 39.50.060(b) forfeits nomination and election,” Superior Court Judge Josie Garton wrote.
In the Alaska Democratic Party’s legal filing on Tuesday, the party argues that is the precise situation of Tagle, given APOC’s official recommendation to the division not to certify him.
“There is no legal basis for the division to reinstate Tagle as a candidate now that APOC has concluded he failed to comply with AS 39.50,” they wrote. “If the statute is to have any effect at all, this court must apply it as written and direct the division to remove Tagle from the general election ballot.”
They argue “at the very least” if Tagle wins the general election the court should prohibit Dahlstrom from allowing Tagle to take office.
Officials with the Alaska Democratic Party called for consistency from the division in enforcing campaign finance disclosure laws.
“You cannot tell a court one thing, tell candidates another, and then expect voters to trust whatever answer comes next,” said Jenny Marie Stryker, executive director of the Alaska Democratic Party in a statement Wednesday.
“This inconsistency is embarrassing and a poor example of public service,” she continued. “Whoever comes into office next will have a lot of work to do, because this DOE seems determined to leave a disastrous mess for others to clean up.”
Tagle did not respond to a text message requesting comment sent to a number listed for him on the division’s website on Wednesday. The voicemail box was full and not accepting new messages.
Following the ruling, on Aug. 16, Tagle updated his financial disclosure report with APOC to include his income and business interests.
When asked why the Alaska Democratic Party did not also file a legal challenge to the division reinstating gubernatorial candidate Treg Taylor, whose case is similar, a spokesperson said it was because the lawsuit against Tagle’s candidacy was already in play.
“It’s because our previous challenge was only in regard to Tagle. So we’re just finishing what we started,” said Jalen Lee by email on Thursday.
APOC investigated and issued an official recommendation on Aug. 27 that Lt. Gov Dahlstrom and the division not certify Taylor’s nomination for governor after he failed to comply with candidate financial disclosure requirements within the state deadline.
Taylor had failed to disclose the names of his renters at several properties in Anchorage, including a rental and extended stay apartment complex, Inlet View Tower. Taylor applied for a waiver, but was denied.
Taylor disclosed the first name and last initial of renters in July, but has not updated the report with information as requested by APOC.