Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor hasn’t officially declared his candidacy for governor, but his actions tell a different story.
On Monday night, Taylor held yet another gathering — this time in a private Wasilla hangar — with no broad public invitation, no official campaign sponsoring it, no host organization listed, no disclaimer made — and RSVP required via a phone number with no name attached.
It’s unclear what role the State of Alaska played in the event, but Taylor used his official title and his family assures us this was not a campaign event.
Yet it wasn’t just an appearance at a conference or symposium. Taylor was the main event at this meet-and-greet. And his topic wasn’t just law and order. Alaska’s top lawman was talking about oil and gas, including the Alaska LNG project. He was talking about Alaska’s economic future. He was talking about things Republican candidates talk about.
AG Taylor has being doing more appearances this year, and the pace of public talks are out of character for both Taylor and for his attorney general predecessors, who generally have kept a low profile.
The events appear to be strategic pre-campaign opportunities intended to raise Taylor’ profile’s name ID among the donor class. As an attorney and Alaska’s top law officer, Taylor knows just how far he can go legally without breaking the law, but his actions give the appearance of someone laying the groundwork for a campaign, and doing so while holding a sworn office.
A little digging revealed that the RSVP phone number for the Wasilla event traces back to a now-dissolved company, Precision Exploration, linked in Dun & Bradstreet to Dmitry Kudryn, who has a fraud conviction on his record. Must Read Alaska found the press release from the Department of Justice describing his conviction, and writer Craig Medred wrote about Kudryn in this expansive column in 2019:
The sentencing announcement from the US Department of Justice supports what writer Medred described:
Must Read Alaska also found Dmitry Kudryn is a major donor to Republican candidates. In 2022 he donated $10,000 to Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s reelection campaign, and he has donated at least $2,500 to Wasilla Sen. Rob Yundt’s campaigns. His political donation record goes back years. His federal contributions to the Donald Trump campaign are impressive:
Thus, Dmitry Kudryn is likely political donor for upcoming statewide elections.
More documentation is below about now-dissolved Precision Exploration.
Vitaly Kudryn, who is the only name listed in the state records for Precision Exploration, is Dmitry’s brother and doesn’t appear to have any of the troubling court records that Dmitry has. The brothers are Ukrainian-Americans also associated with other businesses in Alaska, such as Crave LLC, which sold electronic accessories, iPhone/iPad cords, external charging batteries, decorative iPhone cases and other related items. That company is currently out of compliance at the Department of Commerce, according to state records.
But the main question remains: Since Monday’s event is one in a series of profile-building events Taylor has had in recent weeks, is AG Taylor running a stealth campaign already, without declaring that he is a candidate for governor?
Other Republicans who are declared candidates include Sen. Shelley Hughes, former Sen. Click Bishop, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, political activist Bernadette Wilson, Mat-Su Borough Mayor Edna DeVries, Dr. Matt Heilala, and former Angoon City Council member James Parkin. All are Republican. In addition, Commissioner of Revenue Adam Crum’s last day is Aug. 8, and he is expected to announce for governor shortly thereafter.
Tell us you don’t like Treg without saying you don’t like Treg…
AG Taylor has been fighting for Alaska for years against a hostile Biden admin. He is doing a great job for Alaskans. Part of that job is giving talks and answering Alaskans questions about the gas line.
That said I sure hope he does run though. Then he can start talking about what he’ll do for Alaska instead of just talking about the gas line. You know, campaigning.