A preliminary review conducted by the Alaska Department of Law found that 91 out of 121 candidates had “some sort of inaccuracy” on their financial disclosure statements, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom said Monday.

That was the reason that Dahlstrom, a Republican who oversees Alaska’s elections, said she decided Friday to reinstate Republican former Attorney General Treg Taylor onto the governor’s race ballot, despite his refusal to disclose the name of his tenants as required by law.

“My decision, I believe, was necessary for the integrity and orderly administration of the election, and I believe this decision serves the public,” said Dahlstrom during a press conference.

The Alaska Public Offices Commission, a bipartisan agency responsible for enforcing Alaska’s campaign disclosure laws, had recommended last month that Taylor be disqualified from running for office after he had refused to comply with the state’s disclosure laws, after months of prodding from the commissioners.

Dahlstrom initially heeded the commission’s request to disqualify Taylor, but late Friday night announced she had reversed her decision. She said that was because she was no longer confident that the standards that had led the commission to recommend Taylor’s disqualification had been applied to all candidates.

The decision means that Taylor, a Republican, will join Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and Republicans Bernadette Wilson and Dave Bronson on the November gubernatorial ballot. Only a court order could change the general election lineup, Dahlstrom said Monday.

According to the Department of Law review, all candidates for governor had potentially omitted some information from their financial disclosure form, which must include all income sources exceeding $1,000 in the preceding year, along with property ownership and stakes in companies and organizations.

The purpose of the law is “to discourage public officials from acting upon a private or business interest in the performance of a public duty” and “to assure that public officials in their official acts are free of the influence of undisclosed private or business interests.”

Rachel Witty, who directs the state Department of Law’s Civil Division, said Monday that the department had initiated the review of financial disclosures last week, after Dahlstrom had decided to keep Taylor off the ballot. Witty said the review was done to assess whether the state could be sued on the basis of that decision.

The review was conducted by paralegals and investigators, comparing financial disclosure forms against public records of property and businesses. The review found that in a majority of cases, candidates had property or business interests that were not adequately disclosed. None of the candidates were contacted in the course of the review, Witty said.

“There’s no implication of wrongdoing by any of these candidates,” Witty said. “Many candidates probably have a very good explanation for what they did.”

“But even with these limitations, our review told us something important. The potential discrepancies were not isolated to a few candidates who had gone through the APOC process. We identified potential issues in a substantial number of other filings. That changed the litigation risk picture for the state,” Witty said.

Also speaking at the press conference was Stephen Cox, who had been picked by Gov. Mike Dunleavy to succeed Taylor as attorney general last year but was rejected by the Legislature in May. Mike Dunleavy then named Cox his personal counsel, a role that did not previously exist.

Cox said Monday that he works with the Department of Law “on a daily basis” and worked with Witty on the legal review of candidates’ financial disclosures.

Unlike the broad review conducted by the Department of Law, most commission investigations stem from citizen-initiated complaints. However, commission staff have the authority to initiate their own investigations, and did so in Taylor’s case.

The Public Offices Commission has long faced questions about its effectiveness in enforcing Alaska’s campaign disclosure laws. For years, the agency has warned that it lacks sufficient staffing to conduct proactive investigations. In 2014, the agency had 14 positions, including three attorneys. Now, it has nine funded positions, and no staff attorneys.

Dunleavy said the recent findings indicate that the Public Offices Commission may require reforms under the state’s next governor.

An independent committee should be formed to review “all the laws, the regulations, the processes, the practices, the remediation, the whole list of everything involved in APOC,” Dunleavy said. He did not propose such a committee during his eight years as governor, but said he would recommend “a framework” for the next governor to implement.

“That’s something that I’ve been thinking about quite honestly for some time, and this just kind of hits home that it is long overdue,” Dunleavy said.

Officials with the Department of Law said it would be up to the Public Offices Commission to take action based on the findings from the preliminary review.

Staff for the commission did not immediately respond to the Department of Law’s initial findings.

Complaints against Wilson and Johnson

An organization led by Republican operatives filed complaints with the Public Offices Commission on Friday against two candidates in the governor’s race.

The Alaska Accountability Project was formed earlier this year by Republican Kelly Tshibaka, a former commissioner of the Department of Administration who unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski in 2022. Tshibaka said earlier that she intended to review campaign disclosure forms and file complaints when needed.

Joel Borgquist, a Republican political strategist who works for Tshibaka’s organization, filed complaints against Wilson, a Republican, and independent lieutenant governor candidate Zac Johnson — who is running alongside Kreiss-Tomkins, a Democrat — alleging that both Wilson and Johnson had failed to disclose business income, just as Taylor had.

In a statement, Borgquist said the complaints he filed played a “major role” in Dahlstrom’s decision regarding Taylor’s candidacy.

Dahlstrom said Monday that she was not aware of the complaints filed by Borgquist and that they were not tied to her decisions.

Borgquist said in an email that the Alaska Accountability Project “looked into all gubernatorial candidates who made the general election ballot. While it’s possible we missed something, the only candidates we found with clear and verifiable deficiencies were the three candidates in question: Taylor, Johnson, and Wilson.”

However, the Department of Law review also found some omissions by Bronson and his running mate, Josh Church; by Kreiss-Tomkins; by Taylor’s running mate, Candi English; and by Wilson. The only candidate in the race with no findings by the Department of Law was Wilson’s running mate, former state Sen. Mike Shower.

Additionally, the review found dozens of legislative candidates, including many sitting lawmakers, may have not fully disclosed their financial interests.

The complaint against Wilson alleges that Wilson violated the financial disclosure laws by failing to disclose that she is a majority owner of Denali Disposal, a garbage collection company in which she has a 75% ownership interest. The remaining 25% is owned by her mother. The law requires the disclosure of the names of clients who paid the company more than $1,000 in the preceding year. Wilson’s report listed no such clients.

Wilson did not respond to a request for comment regarding the complaint, nor to a list of questions about her business interests. On Saturday, Wilson posted a social media video in which she said her campaign decisions are guided by “a group of attorneys.”

“Depending on how your business is set up, you have a different guideline to follow with APOC,” she said.

“Don’t let the bastards get you down,” she concluded.

Denali Disposal has faced multiple lawsuits resulting in judgments against it. In 2023 and 2024, Wilson’s Permanent Fund dividends were garnished to pay off a court-ordered judgement in favor of Shoreside Petroleum. Wilson’s mother, Roberta Zipay, also had her dividends garnished to pay off the company’s debt.

The complaint against Johnson, a current Anchorage Assembly member, alleges that he failed to disclose income from multiple businesses he owns in Indiana.

News coverage from 2024 cited in Borgquist’s complaint indicated that a horse stable had signed a long-term lease with Johnson to operate on land he owns. The complaint alleges that Johnson should have reported income from that lease.

In 2024, the Indianapolis Business Journal reported that a $500 million housing project would be built on a piece of Indiana land that had once been owned by Johnson’s grandmother, who died in 2022. Johnson told the journal at the time that his family had reviewed about a dozen development proposals, and declined to provide the property’s sale price.

Johnson did not respond to a request for comment on the complaint.

It is not immediately clear how the complaints, or any further action taken by the commission, will impact the governor’s race moving forward. Complaints typically lead to monthslong investigations, which often culminate in fines if deficiencies are found.

Daily News reporter Chris Aadland contributed.

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Click here to view the Alaska Department of Law’s full informal review of candidates’ personal financial disclosures.

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