Former Legislative Finance director Teal named co-chair of Walker campaign, but Knowles, Fischer endorse Gara for governor

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David Teal

David Teal, who was the director of the Legislative Finance Division until 2019, has signed on to support the campaign of former Gov. Bill Walker as one of his newest campaign co-chairs, as Walker makes another run for governor. Campaign co-chairs typically help raise funds for the candidate.

Conservatives found Teal to lean toward promoting taxes during his final year as the Legislature’s chief budget analyst. He had been in that role since 1997.

In addition to Teal, Walker announced a number of other well-known politicos as co-chairs, including Marilyn Stewart of Anchorage, who was once a supporter and appointee of Gov. Mike Dunleavy. Co-chairs also include Mike Navarre, who had been interested in throwing his name in the hat for governor. Navarre is a Democrat and former Kenai Borough mayor and House representative.

Former Gov. Bill Walker shakes hands with China President Xi Jinping in 2017.

Also on the Walker team are Rep. Dan Ortiz of Ketchikan, former Democrat Sen. Beth Kerttula of Juneau, Dr. Jack Hickel of Anchorage, former AFL-CIO President Vince Beltrami of Cooper Landing, former Walker staffer Barbara Blake of Juneau, Chris Dimond of Anchorage (formerly of Juneau), former Democrat Sen. Berta Gardner of Anchorage, Robert Gottstein of Anchorage, Denise Michels of Nome, Hugh Short of Girdwood, Lee Ryan of Anchorage, former Lt. Gov. Fran Ulmer of Anchorage, Bryan Zak of Homer, Tiffany Zulkosy of Bethel, and Charlie Cole of Fairbanks.

Others named in a flyer were Blain Gilman of Kenai, Randall Kowalke of Wasilla, Alyssa McDonald of Unalaska, Megan Alvanna-Stimpfle of Nome, Stosh Anderson of Kodiak, and Rico Work of Juneau.

Les Gara

Bringing support for Democrat and former Anchorage House Rep. Les Gara for governor is former Gov. Tony Knowles. Also supporting Gara is the last surviving delegate of the pre-statehood Constitutional Convention, Vic Fischer. Fischer was one of the backers of the Recall Dunleavy Committee.

As co-hosts to the Gara kickoff fundraiser earlier this month, many Democrats came together in support, including Native rights attorneys Heather Kendall-Miller and Lloyd Miller, Jane Angvik, Mike Williams, Robin Samuelson, Eleanor Andrews, Debra Call, April Ferguson, AlexAnna Salmon, former Sen. Hollis French, former Rep. Woodie Salmon, former Sen. Suzanne Little, Juneau Assemblywoman Carole Triem, Anchorage Assemblywomen Meg Zaletel and Suzanne LaFrance, Fairbanks Assemblywoman Mindy O’Neall, Juneau Assemblywoman Alicia Hughes Skandi, April Ferguson, Al Kookesh, Jr., Anchorage School Board members Kelly Lessens and Carol Jacobs, Alaska Democratic Party former national committeewoman Kim Metcalfe, Alaska Democratic Party Chairwoman Casey Steinau, Lorie Harden, former Alaska Democratic Party Finance Chair Rocky Plotnick, retired judge Peter and Jo Michalski.

The 2022 primary ends on Aug. 16, 2022. The top four vote-getters on that ballot go to the General Election ranked choice voting system, which will be a new method for Alaska voters, who are going to be asked to rank their preferences from 1-4 from those who make the General Election ballot.

56 COMMENTS

  1. How appropriate that the announcement comes today: Dividend Day! Bill “Dividend Thief” Walker is the reason your dividend is 1/4 of what it should be. Don’t elect Dividend Thief Walker to take the rest of your PFD!

    • The uninformed or stupid in ANC and the bush will automatically vote democrat, even when they are stealing their PFD.

      • Agree. Although ironically they won’t actually be voting “Democrat,” leftists will be voting “RINO” (Murkowski) and “Independent” (Walker)

  2. As I recall, Gara was instrumental in getting laws passed to allow little girls to have abortions without parental consent. Am I recalling correctly?

  3. So the big guns are lining up… And the big donors. We have a lot of work to do to preserve a Dunleavy majority. Hopefully the left splits their votes between Gara and Walker – but they will gather enough to keep us from getting the winning 50% +1 in the first round.

  4. Sad to say but I believe I have begun to see the logic in all this.

    We have rewarded our lawlesslature for their theft of our PFD payments by re-electing and returning them to power.

    Now we we have the opportunity to return to power the one individual who inspired the plot for “Grand Theft PFD”. Does it not follow then that Gara ought to step out of the way and allow us to do that which we do ourselves? Stick it to ourselves?

    • Walker is right when he says that he “isn’t Republican or Democrat.” He doesn’t follow partisan politics, his only agenda is stealing from the Alaskan people

  5. The left already has multiple candidates teaming up against Dunleavy in the rank choice election. When will a true conservative in the mold of David Eastman enter the race? We need more than one Republican, and we need a better option than the incumbent

    • We need people to start now and go door to door ????in YOUR precinct secure the household vote count and secure the conservative vote.

  6. A Walker admin will mean Alaskans will be under a totalitarian govn. He will be lockstep with EVERYTHING the Biden admin wants – not to mention our assembly.
    Meanwhile Dunleavy is busy convincing his base to never vote for him again, because he has no compass when it comes to standing up for basic human rights – I am speaking mainly about his NOT attempting to stop vaccine mandates. Mr. Dunleavy, please look at DeSantis and get a clue.
    Dunleavy says he doesn’t think he has the right to tell businesses what they can and can’t do… really? There are all kinds of laws and regulations on what businesses can and can’t do – some good and some horrible. Forcing people to take this shot is completely immoral and an massive slippery slope. It needs to be on the can’t do list – and a man or woman who doesn’t understand this is lost.

    • What difference does it make, fundamentally, if one is having one’s rights taken away by corporations and big business, rather than by the government? The loss of freedom is the same regardless.

    • Dunleavy is a joke. Biggest regret I’ve ever had in voting.

      I’m not kidding when I tell people to vote with their feet and leave the state. The judiciary is corrupt, the legislature inept, the governor useless and the biggest city is fascist.

      Add to it an active voting block of well less than 50% and the millions of dollars flowing in to the left from out of state.

      Alaska is screwed. Either join “the party” or get out while you can.

  7. We have we not done a forensic audit of that 2020 election? There where so many questions regarding if that ballot measure was indeed passed.

  8. Dominion Voting machines.
    Rank Choice balloting.
    Be good little RINO Squish’s and keep believing in the “integrity” of the voting process.
    The process is rigged.
    It is corrupt.
    The Left could care less about, “We the People” – didn’t you just watch what the Anchorage assembly just did?
    My grandfather’s what fought imperialism, naziism, and communism in WWII – knew what had to be done.
    Why don’t we? It’s in our own country now.

  9. Anyone who joins Walker has to get past the shame of being associated with corruption. That might be easy for the shameless Democrats and deep state types. But how do you get past being associated with a disgraced ex-governor who brought a pedophile onboard as his running mate?

    • Chrissy,
      Are you implying that anyone who supports Bill Walker for governor dismisses pedophilia as a crime, or a mental illness?

      • MA:
        Democrats are like lemmings. Mindless little creatures that fall into line like cars driving from the on ramp to the freeway. Character and behavior makes no matter. Bill Walker would sell-out our state to the Communist Chinese and turn his head away from nearby pedophilia activities. And Bill Walker is a very angry man, hell-bent on revenge. This makes Bill Walker extremely dangerous for Alaska.

        • Agree, Julia. Bill Walker experienced a near mental and emotional breakdown when he withdrew his name from the 2018 Governor’s race. I have it from a very close family source that he’s been in therapy for almost three years. A highly depressed man.

          • Even Tony Knowles understands that if you have a connection or association with a pedophile, you don’t get to swim above water. Bill Walker doesn’t know how bad it’s going to get for him in this governor’s race.

    • Easy. Only about 35% of the state regularly vote. Most of those are leftists.

      The leftists could care less how flawed of a man Walker is, provided he follows the agenda.

  10. The last thing our state needs is another democrat, the are corrupt unethical political whores. Everything bad happening in Juneau, Fairbanks and Anchorage has their finger prints all over it. Unfortunately Alaska News Source will be fighting for the democrats,

  11. If at first you don’t succeed, cheat harder!

    Honestly, I want to be supportive of Dunleavy, but he seems to be sleeping through some issues that would keep us supportive of him. For a huge guy, his R is awfully underdeveloped. Get some fight in you Mike! Fire it up!
    I’ve seen more help from Dave Bronson in the two months he has had than in your term thus far.

    1. Mandates. We don’t want them!
    2. CRT. We don’t want it!
    3. Economy. We want one back! Stop the payouts and get people to work.

    • Dunleavy 1) won’t block local mask mandates 2) won’t block local vaccine mandates 3) consistently fails on the PFD 4) consistently fails on budget cuts 5) consistently fails on election integrity. He talks tough but he’s a RINO inside, just like every other statewide elected official in Alaska

  12. One may wonder why Republican Majorities kept him in power for year after year; I can hardly remember when he wasn’t head of Leg Fin. In my whole time with the State at a level that mattered the Republican Legislature never had trustworthy staff other than their personal office staff.

    • Then you also know that rarely did any legislator ever question his numbers. Perhaps you will recall that time when you showed him up in front of ??????
      Heheh!

      • It was the rarest legislator or legislative staffer who had the knowledge necessary to question him. Likewise it was the rarest Leg Fin or Leg Legal weenie that would question me. In fact, I can’t remember that time when one actually did.

  13. The frightening part is that Dunleavy is the Invisible Man. Unless some conservative comes forward and fills the gap left by big Mike, we ARE screwed. What a surprise to see Suzanne LaFrance in attendance at Les’ coming out party; the list reads like a progressive’s wet dream. Unless the conservatives in Alaska start backing one another like the left does, just throw in the towel. At times we get hung up on minutia while the opposition laughs their a—- off all the way to the office they’re running for.

  14. Gara is a true believer, old school red, as in total commie, vastly more left than the average Alaskan. Walker is just a plain opportunistic scum bag. Good luck lefties.

    • Walker is a Republican, with the key caveat that he supports stealing the PFD. In his mind, “fiscal conservative” means doing whatever it takes to grab more dollars for the government

      • He’s (Walkers) not pro life either. He told many people many things and went against most all of them, and handed essentially the majority of power in his admin to the left. If you call that a Republican, I’m not even sure “In Name Only” would even apply… No, I see him as falling to the worst of both categories. He’s not just some RINO trying to save his job; he was someone who said anything he could to get it, then did anything he could to keep it. Right or left, these are the absolute WORST people to hold power.

  15. ALASKA … Used to be a great place to live, with with vast amounts of hope and prosperity. Nowadays, it’s nothing more than a nice place to visit.

  16. My humble opinion: All this discord and fighting is about what interests get control of the $81 billion or so Permanent Fund. When it comes to politicians – I don’t trust any of them, Republican, Democrat, or whatever. None of them are acting in the best interests of the “little people” like you and me who trusted them and voted for them. Voters, do your research carefully – your life’’s work and life’s savings depend on it. If you are a hard working Alaskan or a retiree who worked all your life, “they”, Republican, Democrat, Progressive, Socialist, Communist, or whatever you think fits, are after your hard earned life’s savings. None of them, regardless of what they call themselves, have proved anything different. Just open your wallet and bleed yourself out. Snort!

  17. I think that politics is so crooked that good people want nothing to do with it. At every level of politics, the vote goes to the one that won’t damage the state or people more, the best of the worst. No good person in their right mind would want anything to do with politics and if they do they won’t be good for long.

    • And if they are truly good people, the media with an apparent agenda will trash them out of the pool, hence Dunleavy, Bronson, Allard, et.al. Sickening!

  18. Every candidate that was close to Ethan Berkowitz needs to be asked “ what did you know….and when did you know it” in reference to the real reason for the swift departure of
    Berkowitz. If you think it’s just about an affair you are wrong.

  19. Gov. Dunleavy made a lot of promises to right size government spending, reduce regulatory burdens and return dividends stolen by Walker and the Legislature. Sadly, he came up against an impenetrable wall of Alaska swamp Democrat and RINO legislators. I do think he caved a little too easily under the threat of a recall election and I would be open to a stronger conservative candidate who didn’t care about re-election. Maybe Dunleavy can be that candidate with a 2nd term…

  20. I see so much in the comments here that have me concerned that many people will just give up. That is just what those people want, for these who care to just throw up their hands and sit one out. No, get in there, with what you know about Walker and Alaska’s own Deep State, name names, and keep it up. Talk to your neighbors and friends. Write letters to the editor. No quarter in this election. It is not money that is going to win this election, it is people and their concerns – for themselves and for Alaska. And the size of their fight. As for moving anywhere else, there is no place on earth as beautiful and worth saving as much as Alaska. I fell in love with Alaska when I was a young girl and would look at my Uncle Connie Nelson’s pictures that he took on his trips up to his cannery in Ketchikan. Uncle Connie is long gone, but my love for Alaska has not ceased in any way. The Great Land is well worth saving, along with the opportunities for Alaskans. But when Alaskans elect someone, they must still line up and join him in the fight to get it done. Democracy is not a spectator sport.

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