On Thursday, September 17, Commonwealth North hosted its Final Four gubernatorial forum in Anchorage, sponsored by GCI and moderated by board member Moira Smith. Republicans Treg Taylor and Dave Bronson and Democrat Jonathon Kreiss-Tomkins participated. The discussion focused on how to pay for the state, how to keep the lights on, and how to stop working families from leaving.
Taylor said state systems are failing children. More than 23,000 kids have fallen off Medicaid in three years, he said, not because they left poverty but because paperwork sat for months. He pointed to OCS and to schools where only 4 percent of Western Alaska students read at grade level and Anchorage and Fairbanks set a goal of 48 percent. Resource development, he argued, is “Alaska’s ESG”: poverty near Red Dog fell from 75 percent to 21 percent, on the North Slope from 50 percent to 12 percent, and life expectancy there rose 12 years after development. He wants more land in private hands, permitting that moves at the speed of business, a balanced budget, public safety, more infrastructure, and the gas line.
Bronson, a retired Air Force and airline pilot, put up a chart from the ACES tax era and called the gap between inflation-adjusted spending and actual appropriations a $25 billion overspend. A full statutory dividend of roughly $3,800–$4,000 is no longer math, he said; wiping out every state payroll still covers only about half of one year’s full PFD. He proposes protecting the $90 billion Permanent Fund with a constitutionally locked single-account endowment, taking royalties instead of new taxes, and building Ambler, West Susitna, and especially the gas line. He opposed taxing S-corps as C-corps and a statewide sales tax. He emphasized poor public education as a driving factor for out-migration.
Kreiss-Tomkins, who represented Sitka in the House, identified a constitutional single-account endowment as his first priority so a simple majority cannot raid the earnings reserve. He backs a “sustainable” dividend, taxing S-corps like C-corps, collecting the online sales tax Dunleavy vetoed, and a studs-out review of agency statutes—possibly with a McKinsey-style consultant—to find inefficiencies. On energy he pointed Bradley Lake, an integrated Railbelt grid, and more Cook Inlet gas, including targeted royalty relief. Trails, public-use cabins, and an alpine hut system, he said, would help families stay.
In the moderated Q&A all three said the budget must be balanced. Taylor’s hard truth was child protection and literacy. Bronson emphasized that the full PFD is mathematically impossible and the gas line is overdue. Kreiss-Tomkins said the idea that the State can afford a $4,000 dividend, no additional taxes, and full services is “intellectually dishonest.”
Watch the full forum:
Commonwealth North provides a full transcript of the debate, which has been lightly edited for clarity and length, here: The Final Four Candidate Forum: Alaska’s Next Governor, On the Record | Commonwealth North
