Donna Gilbert, who was elected to the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly and later to the Fairbanks City Council, has died. She was one of the most well-known Fairbanks advocates for the tax cap, and was honored on Monday evening at the Borough Assembly.
Raised in Fairbanks, Gilbert was known for ending her tax cap advocacy voicemails with, “Meet you at the borough building.” She served on borough Assembly from 1989-1992 and then on the city council from 2001-2004.
She formed Interior Taxpayers Association and advocated or passage of the borough tax cap. The group she built is still active today and recently activated to defeat a ballot effort in Fairbanks to blow through the tax cap. She also managed the Ranch Motel until it closed in 2013 and she moved to Leesburg, Florida.
Her sister relayed that Donna died in her sleep; she was 80 years old.
Watch as she advocates for a tax cap in this video from a candidate forum in 2007:
One of the fieryist conservative wenches in town.
A valuable leader of the Right, who knew how to mess up a good day for Jerry Norum. We will miss you, Donna. RIP.
Donna was Steve Agbaba’s favorite guest on his radio talk show. Donna came on every night at about 8:00 pm to lay out the left-wing’s latest agenda……and to ruin it. This was in the 80’s and 90’s. Good times, fun, and games.
When we returned to Fairbanks in 2004 after life in the service, my husband became a city employee. We heard she was crazy. It took a bit to see why certain people were saying that but we learned.
The left wing nuts and their hatred is strong.
God bless Donna and all her hard work for Fairbanks. She will never be forgotten.
RIP patriot and a loving leader of this cause!
I’d like to think Fairbanks North Star Borough Voters honored Donna in the recent special election where the left pushed a big property tax increase where they thought they could win with a low voter turnout. The left lost. Badly. Voters rejected the tax increase by a 2:1 margin. It was a monumental landslide. Those on the left that were pushing this big tax hike are going to be on the ballot this October in the normal borough election. Voters will not forget those who were pushing this tax hike- like Democrats Grier Hopkins, and Savannah Fletcher.
She who laughs last, laughs best. I hope Donna had a big smile on her face.
RIP Donna Gilbert. You were pretty special.
I can’t think of one person who devoted her energy to a cause more than Donna. And she succeeded! Cutting off the money is by far the most effective way to contain liberals. Don’t argue about uses just cut off the money. Fairbanks benefited so much from her “just say no” efforts.