Alaska legislator asks state to prosecute candidate for Lt. Gov. and former attorney general

Democratic Rep. Andrew Gray is seeking action against two Republican politicians, accusing them of hypocrisy with election laws

Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage, speaks in favor of House Bill 62 on Friday, May 16, 2025. (James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

By James Brooks

Alaska Beacon

Anchorage Democrat Rep. Andrew Gray has asked acting attorney general Cori Mills to prosecute former attorney general Treg Taylor and his wife, Republican lieutenant governor candidate Jodi Taylor, for allegedly failing to file required financial reports.

Gray, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, made the request in a letter sent Tuesday and shared with reporters.

In the letter and speaking by phone, Gray said he was inspired to write the letter because the Alaska Department of Law is criminally prosecuting 11 Whittier residents from American Samoa for allegedly voting illegally.

Gray said those defendants were misinformed about the law, and it makes no sense to prosecute them while not prosecuting an attorney general who knowingly violated an election law.

“I just feel like it’s a no-brainer,” he said.

Treg Taylor had been a Republican candidate for governor until last week, when Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom ruled him ineligible because he failed to follow a state law mandating the disclosure of his personal financial information. 

The Alaska Public Offices Commission, which regulates candidates’ campaigns, had recommended that he be disqualified for failing to disclose the full names of people renting apartments that he owns.

Taylor’s lieutenant governor candidate, Candi English, took his spot as a governor candidate, and Jodi Taylor filed to run as English’s lieutenant governor candidate.

Together, the two make up one of four governor-lieutenant governor tickets in Alaska’s November general election.

Jodi Taylor’s financial disclosure form, filed last week, contains a partial list of renters that is similar to the one flagged as problematic by the commission.

Under state law, Jodi Taylor has 30 days to amend that disclosure. If she does not, she could be ruled ineligible, just as Treg Taylor was.

But federal law requires the state to mail ballots to military and overseas voters no later than 45 days before Election Day. 

To meet that deadline, the Alaska Division of Elections is planning to send out ballots starting Sept. 18, a week and a half before the deadline for changes to Taylor’s financial disclosure form.

If Dahlstrom rules Jodi Taylor ineligible as a candidate after that, Alaskans would end up using ballots containing an ineligible candidate.

For the moment, that remains a hypothetical scenario that depends on how Jodi Taylor, APOC and Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom may act. 

Treg Taylor’s previous campaign spokesperson no longer works for the English-Taylor campaign, and the Taylors’ daughter Quincy Azimi-Tabrizi — who spoke for the campaign last week — did not return phone calls seeking comment on Thursday.

A spokesman for the Alaska Department of Law also did not return phone calls or emails asking whether the attorney general had received the letter and if so, whether she had a response. 

Gray said on Thursday that he has not received any response either but is preparing a public letter about the issue.

He said he has been particularly taken aback by the idea that Treg Taylor, as attorney general, directed the criminal prosecution of voters in Whittier for allegedly breaking state elections law but isn’t being held to the same standard.

“It makes my head explode,” Gray said.

• James Brooks Cascade is a longtime Alaska reporter who lives in Juneau. He previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.