What previously undisclosed financial dealings are in Alaska’s governor candidate records?

The Alaska Department of Law conducted a nationwide search to find possible gaps in legally required documents

The doors to the Office of the Governor are seen Monday, Aug. 1, 2022, on the third floor of the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau, Alaska. (James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)

By James Brooks

Alaska Beacon

On Monday, the Alaska Department of Law released a report that identified potential gaps in the Public Official Financial Disclosure documents filed by 91 different candidates for state office this year.

The gaps were uncovered by department staff who consulted business licensing databases, property records, and a large national database called TLOXP. 

Among the 91 candidates flagged for possible omissions are all four finalists — one Democrat and three Republicans — in Alaska’s election to replace Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

Here’s what the report said about each governor and lieutenant governor candidate, in alphabetical order:

Dave Bronson and Josh Church

According to state corporate records, Republican Dave Bronson is the manager of Piper LLC, an entity owned entirely by the DWB Revocable Trust. That affiliation wasn’t listed on his POFD.

His POFD also doesn’t show him as being a director of an Arizona-registered corporation called Bible Archaeology Search and Exploration Foundation or as being director of the nonprofit Alaska Governor’s Prayer Breakfast.

Land records show him as having an interest in an Eagle River property that wasn’t listed on his POFD.

The POFD filed by Bronson’s lieutenant governor candidate, Josh Church of Fairbanks, didn’t list him as being director of the Amanita Heights Subdivision Homeowners Association Inc., a nonprofit, and it didn’t list him as having a financial interest in a Fairbanks property or in a North Carolina property sold last year. 

Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and Zac Johnson

The Department of Law flagged three Sitka-related business ties that went undisclosed by Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins. These include his status as a “member” of Borealis LLC, a company at the same address as his self-named company, JKT LLC. 

He also has an undisclosed property interest in Sitka and was listed as director and vice president of Outer Coast, a liberal arts undergraduate program he helped start. His POFD lists Outer Coast as a tenant but not a business interest.

According to the Department of Law, Zac Johnson, an independent and currently serving on the Anchorage Assembly, has previously undisclosed business interests in Indiana with Charity Horse Shows Inc. and Traders Point Hunt Club, two organizations with addresses that are the same as a previously disclosed separate business.

Treg Taylor and Candi English

Republican Treg Taylor has been in a year-old dispute with the Alaska Public Offices Commission over whether or not he is legally required to disclose the full names of the tenants at properties he owns in Anchorage.

The largest of these properties is the rental and extended stay apartment complex, Inlet View Tower in Anchorage. 

Taylor initially did not list any renters’ names, but after a deadline to disclose them, he amended his POFD with a partial list that includes either a first or last name and an initial. 

The POFD filed by Candi English, Taylor’s lieutenant governor — and briefly, a governor candidate in her own right — is missing accurate information about six different properties, the Department of Law said. One is in Big Lake, another is in Anchorage, another is in Montgomery, Alabama; a fourth is in Seldovia, and a fifth is in Deschutes County, Oregon.

 A sixth property is listed in her POFD with only an Alaska zip code, but the Department of Law couldn’t find any ownership records for it. Two other properties were listed under another Alaska zip code, but the Department could verify only one in land records.

Bernadette Wilson and Mike Shower

The report for Republican Bernadette Wilson notes that she is president, director and shareholder of Denali Disposal, a garbage company, but her POFD lists her only as its salaried general manager.

The POFD for Shower, Wilson’s lieutenant governor candidate, had no known problems.

• 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.