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Border Patrol applications highest in history under Trump

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Border Patrol applications highest in history under Trump

By BETHANY BLANKLEY | THE CENTER SQUARE

Since President Donald Trump took office, U.S. Border Patrol has seen an unprecedented surge in applications from men and women who want to serve at the U.S. borders.

From January to April 2025, USBP received 34,650 applications, representing a 44% increase over the same four-month period in 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection says.

“This historic spike in applicants is a direct reflection of the renewed national commitment to border security under the leadership of President Trump, the Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection,” it said.

Under Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks, Texas’ first Border Czar, the first quarter of 2025 marks “the most successful four-month recruitment stretch in the agency’s history.”

In January, the month Trump was sworn into office, Border Patrol received the highest number of applications in recorded history since the agency’s founding in 1924.

“The continued surge in applications speaks volumes about the pride and purpose Americans see in joining the U.S. Border Patrol,” Banks said. “We thank President Trump and Secretary Noem for their leadership and commitment to strengthening our workforce and mission readiness.”

The increase in applicants also underscores the public’s confidence in the Trump administration’s enforcement priorities “and the sense of purpose Americans feel in answering the call to protect the homeland,” CBP said.

Recruitment gains also increased after the agency enhanced its outreach, including targeted hiring incentives, and reached out to veterans and law enforcement professionals who bring mission-ready experience to consider serving in Border Patrol.

The news is a reversal of morale under the Biden administration when agents retired, resigned or committed suicide in record numbers.

At the height of the border crisis under the Biden administration, 17 Border Patrol agents committed suicide in 2022. At a congressional hearing in 2023, Chris Cabrera, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, testified before Congress about the hardships Border Patrol agents were experiencing, The Center Square reported.

“To put that in perspective,” the New York Police Department’s roughly 35,000-man force lost four to suicide, he said.

“We see a lot of stuff out there that the average person doesn’t see. What hits folks the hardest is what happens with the children,” he said, referring to human trafficking and unaccompanied minors being smuggled across the border.

“It’s a difficult job. It’s increasingly getting harder by the fact that we’re not put in a position to do the job that we were trained to do,” he said, referring to agents being pulled from patrolling the border and fulfilling their mission of national security. Under the Biden administration, they were ordered to release foreign nationals into the country instead of processing them for removal. Those orders violated federal law, he argued, by  implementing a policy of “catch and release,” a policy President Donald Trump ended.

At the time, he and others argued Border Patrol needed several thousand more agents to respond to the crisis, adding to roughly 19,300 working in USBP at the time.

Under the Biden administration, USBP’s attrition rate was 6.9% – 72% higher than that of the Office of Field Operations – and was “expected to climb to over 9% by 2028.”

Under Trump, who was endorsed by the Border Patrol union, that trajectory has reversed in just a few short months.

David Boyle: Anchorage School District is shortsighted fiscally, ignoring huge budget deficit

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David Boyle: Anchorage School District is shortsighted fiscally, ignoring huge budget deficit

By DAVID BOYLE

The Anchorage School Board has developed a next year’s budget based on the Legislature increasing the Base Student Allocation by $560, which would provide the district with an additional $39.8 million for the next school year.  

But the district further states that it will have a $74 million budget deficit in 2027.

This is shortsighted at best and counts on the Legislature to provide even more funding when the state is facing a fiscal cliff.

The district allocates about $30 million of the new funding to “direct instruction”, the classroom.  This includes increasing the pupil-teacher ratio by only one student versus the original increase of that ratio by four students in the previous FY26 budget.  

This “direct instruction” would include funding the IGNITE program, elementary summer school, preschool, Battle of the Books, elementary immersion teachers, and elementary special ed teachers.  

It also funds 21 “holdback teachers” and adds another 5 of these teachers who are used to fill in for teachers who are absent from their classrooms.  It doesn’t seem like this would be a direct instruction factor.  This may provide flexibility, but it could also bea “slush” fund.

The $30 million in new funding pays for more than 213 full-time employees (FTE). Remember, these are positions not real live teachers. Here is the chart showing the $30 million expenditures:

By reversing cuts to the gifted program, elementary school immersion teachers, and adding funding to charter schools, the district has garnered the support of those parent groups to fight for even more funding next year. 

The district has decided to use another $9.8 million to pay for “instructional support” employees. These additions are much more controversial and are not directly related to classroom learning.

This includes the following FTEs: 12.5 librarians, 13 elementary nurses, 5 principals, 8 library assistants, 3.5 counselors, and 2.5 elementary counselors. The total FTEs is increased by 59 for a $9.8 million cost.  

This chart shows those positions (FTEs) added to the FY26 budget:

Why is the district adding more non-teachers, known as overhead, when it faces a horribly large deficit of $74.5 million in 2027? 

Here’s why. The AEA, the ASD teachers’ union, knows very well that it is losing teachers due to the decreasing number of students in the future. Thus, it will be losing union members.

But the AEA also knows that it can increase its membership by adding librarians, nurses, library assistants, and counselors.  And that is what’s happening in the ASD FY26 budget. 

ASD is gambling that it can extort more funding from the legislature and the AEA can also maintain its membership and power by adding employees this next year.

So, while the school board is adding more personnel back to the budget and adding more costs, it should be saving this funding for the next fiscal year which looks even more bleak.  

Adding more personnel when the student population is decreasing and the state is facing a huge fiscal crisis in the coming years is unfathomable.

The administration projects a huge $74.5 million budget hole for the next fiscal year.  It could save the $9.8 million shown above for the “instructional support” cost and help fill next year’s budget hole and further avoid giving “pink slips” to newly hired employees.

But it is apparent that the district is counting on getting even more funding from the Legislature next session. That may be very difficult if the price of oil plummets and even more people leave Alaska.  

We can look forward to the Education Establishment demanding more money to improve student outcomes even when those outcomes are not linked to more funding.

And that may mean an even smaller PFD — or maybe none at all.

David Boyle is a writer for Must Read Alaska.

David Boyle: Alaska Legislature shortchanges parents and students
David Boyle: What about constitutional right of privacy for high school graduates?

Michael Tavoliero: Operating manual for Alaska’s next governor

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Michael Tavoliero: Operating manual for Alaska’s next governor

By MICHAEL TAVOLIERO

President Donald J. Trump taught a brutal but necessary lesson to anyone serious about becoming Alaska’s next governor: If you aren’t fully armed with your team, your playbook, and your orders before your hand leaves the Bible — you’ve already lost.

My late and sharp-minded friend Art Chance (Recommended reading for every Alaska candidate, “Red on Blue: Establishing Republican Governance,” by Art Chance) put it best: the moment your hand comes off that Bible, you must act with ruthless precision.

No waiting, no hesitation. Executive orders? Filed. Departmental overhauls? Filed. Appointments, lawsuits, administrative purges? Filed. Every reform, every dismantling, every necessary battle plan — already mapped, locked, and loaded for immediate execution.

If you hesitate, you will be poked with a fork because you’re already done.

And yet, time after time, Alaska has elected dreamers — good on the stump, paralyzed in power. They step into the governor’s mansion full of hope, and within days, the choking white noise of entrenched bureaucracy and revenge-seeking legislature strangles their resolve. Vision fades to confusion. Action drowns in static. Another administration dies before it even begins.

“Not this time!” many of Alaska’s political elite now declare. But words are not enough.

The next governor must come ready for war — against apathy, against inertia, against the bureaucratic rot that steals Alaska’s future, and a Legislature riddled with RINOs who repeatedly hand power to the Left and its enforcers: the union cabal and its media lackeys. Like President Trump, he or she must embody the Boy Scout motto in its purest form: Be prepared. Act immediately. Never retreat.

Anything less is surrender.

The Trump Doctrine for Executive Success in Alaska

To win and to govern with purpose, Alaska’s next chief executive must embrace the following strategic pillars now:

1. Personnel is Policy: Vet, Appoint, Fire

  • Have every commissioner, deputy, and legal counsel selected before taking office. Their loyalty must be to the people, not the bureaucracy.
  • Use Schedule F-style reforms at the state level: reclassify or remove entrenched bureaucrats who sabotage reform.
  • Purge state departments of career obstructionists embedded in agencies like Health, Education, and Natural Resources.

2. Preload Executive Orders and Legal Challenges

  • Draft every EO for the first 100 days before Election Day. Don’t plan — execute.
  • Anticipate litigation. Pre-write legal arguments. Pick your courtroom battlegrounds.
  • Prepare challenges against unconstitutional federal overreach, especially in energy, land use, and tribal jurisdiction.

3. Create a Parallel Power Structure

  • Empower external advisory councils and citizen working groups to bypass agency roadblocks.
  • Use local governance commissions to decentralize administrative authority.
  • Create public oversight tools for transparency, real-time spending audits, and whistleblower protection.
  • Harvest from these bodies loyal and capable individuals for your administration as well as legislative candidates.

4. Own the Narrative

  • Control the messaging pipeline. Traditional media will be hostile.
  • Deploy a rapid-response digital communications team. Use direct-to-voter media, not legacy outlets.
  • Educate Alaskans: your agenda isn’t radical — it’s restorative.

5. Declare Legislative Contingency

  • The single most productive reality of state government will be a conservative majority in Alaska’s legislature. Work directly with the Alaska Republican Party and all Alaska conservative groups to make this a reality in 2026.
  • If that doesn’t happen, prepare for a hostile Legislature. Expect betrayal. Don’t depend on a majority — build policy tools that don’t require one.
  • Use the veto, executive reorganization powers, and statutory reform through regulation.
  • Force public accountability: make lawmakers vote against their own constituents in broad daylight.

6. Dismantle the Union Machine

  • Audit every union contract and grievance system.
  • Redirect resources from union-dominated programs to direct services for families and small businesses.
  • Empower school choice, eliminate forced dues, and challenge unlawful bargaining practices.

The Battlefield Is Already Set

The deep state isn’t limited to Washington. It thrives in Juneau — in boards, commissions, regulatory fiefdoms and activist departments. The only way to win is to enter the fight like Trump in 2024: with precision, preparedness, and a war cabinet, not a transition team.

Alaska needs a wartime governor. A peacetime candidate — however likable, however polished — will be devoured before the snow melts in April.

It’s time to break the pattern — to elevate not just a politician, but a commander-in-chief of Alaska’s recovery. The blueprint has been tested. The opposition is entrenched. The stakes are existential.

So here is the final question every candidate must answer before they ask for your vote:

“Are you ready — truly ready — the moment your hand comes off that Bible?”

If not, you’re already too late.

Michael Tavoliero: HB 57 is shellac on a moose pellet
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The race is on for District 18: Cliff Groh to attempt to unseat Rep. David Nelson

Suzanne Downing
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The race is on for District 18: Cliff Groh to attempt to unseat Rep. David Nelson

Democrat Cliff Groh, who served one term in the Alaska House before being unseated by Republican Rep. David Nelson, filed a letter of intent with the Alaska Public Offices Commission to seek election to Alaska State House District 18.

The history shows a lot of seesawing in the seat. Nelson beat indicted Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux in 2020, when the district was known as District 15. Then, Groh bounced Nelson from his seat in 2022. But in the presidential election year of 2024, Nelson was able to win the seat back — by the thinnest of margins.

The district includes Government Hill, North Muldoon, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, and the northern parts of downtown Anchorage, Falrview, and Mountainview.

“North Anchorage working families deserve a representative who works just as hard as they do. we can’t afford to have someone who just sits on the sidelines. l’m committed to fighting crime, reducing homelessness, fully supporting our students and teachers, and making sure that we do everything we can to keep the prices for basic necessities like energy as low as possible,” said Cliff Groh, although he has done little since being unelected, other than strategize a comeback.

Groh, 71, outperformed then-US House Rep. Mary Peltola. who had the best Democratic statewide performance in a presidential election since Mark Begich in 2008, Groh pointed out in his press release. She still lost statewide.

“This result represents the single biggest overperformance in a head-to-head Democratic-Republican matchup across all State House candidates in Alaska in 2024,” Groh stated.

Groh was in Juneau in recent weeks to strategize with the Alaska Democratic Party about the various targeted seats that the party will focus on.

Groh is a lifelong Alaskan who was born and raised in Anchorage. While he was a staffer for the Alaska Legislature, he worked on issues relating to the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend, and now refers to himself as a primary author of the dividend. He is a lawyer.

Nelson, who is 27 years old, may be in one of the seats that the Democrats feel most confident they can take, and one that Republicans will need to fiercely defend.

David Nelson, candidate for District 15, takes on LeDoux

Race card thrown: Senate Education chair accuses Board of Regents of trying to ‘erase people like me’

Suzanne Downing
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Race card thrown: Senate Education chair accuses Board of Regents of trying to ‘erase people like me’

Sen. Loki Tobin, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, may have worn out her welcome in her own caucus of Democrats when she rose to speak agains the confirmation of Kristine Resler to the University of Alaska Board of Regents.

At issue for Tobin was the Regents’ decision earlier this year to comply with the executive order from President Donald Trump, which said any school that continues to push the “diversity-equity-inclusion” agenda of bias and discrimination would lose federal funding.

University Board of Regents votes to end campus DEI

“After listening to her testimony in Senate Education,” Tobin said, “the entire UA community was caught off-guard about this motion. There is real fear happening amongst our students, our faculty, our staff, our alumni, the diverse peoples of Alaska right now. And instead of ameliorating that fear with transparency and with public discourse, Ms. Resler chose to affirm the motion.”

Tobin went on to personalize it and say that Resler would erase people like her.

“When she was asked in the Senate Education Committee if she would defend the independent integrity of our state’s institutions of higher learning, she said she would do nothing different in the future. Mr. President, I cannot in good conscience vote for somebody who would be willing to violate the public trust so blatantly and willing to erase people like me from the university.”

It was clearly playing the race card. Ironically what she was calling for would jeopardize the higher education funding of the university system, which is a curious move for an “education advocate” like Tobin.

But for the quick action of the Board of Regents, the university might have millions of dollars less than it has today.

Resler’s nomination passed, with several Democrats, including hard-left Rep. Zack Fields, voting in the affirmative. The vote was 40-19, with Rep. Neal Foster not voting.

Shape-shifting: DEI wordplay seen at UAF after Trump executive orders to end discrimination

Will there be any penalties for Savannah Fletcher?

Suzanne Downing
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Will there be any penalties for Savannah Fletcher?

A continuation of the hearing on the penalty phase of former Fairbanks Assembly woman Savannah Fletcher’s ethics hearings will take place on Friday, May 16 at 6 pm at the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly Chambers. 

The earlier hearing was full of irregular events, from the nullification of the proper succession of the gavel and uses of conflicts to deny quorum. The continuation of the hearing  allows member Kristen Kelly an opportunity to participate. This is a meeting that all conservatives should watch, as there is nothing like a room full of eyes to serve as a check on shenanigans and maintain balance.

During the April 29 meeting, Fletcher was found by the board of ethics to have violated the ethics rules three times by running a series of radio spots on KFAR as a member of the FNSB Assembly.

The hearing, to be continued on the 16th, began with a nullification of the rules regarding the gavel.

Presiding Officer Mindy O’Neal walked the gavel over to member Brett Rotermund for the declaration of conflicts. The rules of succession regarding gavel handoff are that the gavel should go to the deputy presiding officer, who currently is Scott Crass,  and next to the Chair of Finance, Kristen Kelly. Kelly was absent due to a medical reason. By handing the gavel directly to Rotermund, O’Neal nullified the procedures. The only way to reclaim the gavel from Rotermund is a vote of those who were not  conflicted out. 

The events of the April 29 meeting seemed pre-planned before the meeting in an effort to deny a quorum. O’Neal declared a conflict in that she was too good of friends with Fletcher to rule. 

While Rotermund ruled she had a conflict, there is nothing about having an affection for a member in the rules — they are not blood relatives, spouses, or even business partners. However,  Fletcher did implicate O’Neal in the wording of one of the radio spots. If O’Neal participated in the radio spots, then she would have a legitimate conflict. 

Scott Crass declared he had too much animus against Rita Trometer, the complainant against Fletcher, to rule impartially, because School Board Member Bobby Burgess, with his own scandals, was an uncle to his children.

While Rotermund ruled that Crass had a conflict, this puts Crass in a very difficult situation.

If Crass’ family ties to Burgess are too strong to rule on this matter, then he should not have been able to participate in the censorship of Assemblywoman Barbara Haney, because the complainant was the wife of Bobby Burgess. 

In addition, Assembly members are expected to put aside their animus and rule on law, and he clearly stated he could not perform his duties in this case. As Scott Crass has so aptly pointed out repeatedly at assembly meetings when threatening other Assembly members over votes, failure to perform duties is a basis for recall. 

David Guttenberg and Liz Reeves Ramos are the only two with potentially legitimate conflicts on the record thus far. 

Guttenberg certainly has a conflict, as he declared that he helped pay for the radio spots. He presented no proof and the statement conflicts with Fletcher’s statements in the record that she paid for the radio spots.

Perhaps David Guttenberg created an issue in an attempt to deny quorum and something upon which to base a recall. However, there might be proof or receipts of some kind to verify his conflict. If he did help pay for the radio spots and can prove it, it could save him from a recall. 

Fletcher was, and may still be Reeves Ramos’s attorney. That is a disqualification under borough code and she cannot participate. Strangely, this conflict also protects her from a recall from failure to perform her duties. 

While Fletcher tried to argue Assemblywoman Haney had a conflict on her Superior Court appeal, that matter is fully briefed and ripe for decision after oral arguments. The cases are also quite different. Haney’s editorial in the newspaper was a letter to the editor, signed by herself and was clearly an opinion column. 

Fletcher’s case involves radio spots that were paid for and designed to sound like she was a spokesman for the Assembly when she was just an assembly member. 

These paid radio spots had no disclaimer. Because the radio spots were purchased on broadcast media, it does not have the same first amendment protection as a letter to the editor in a newspaper. 

Furthermore, Fletcher failed to identify her voice on the radio ads, and she did not have authorization to even place the ads. Since Fletcher is also a licensed attorney, and an appointed member of the Alaska Judicial Council, so her ethical violations as determined by the FNSB Board of Ethics now presents a greater concern at the state level.

Law fare attorney Savannah Fletcher is subject of Fairbanks Assembly special meeting on ethics ruling
Fairbanks leftist Savannah Fletcher has a huge conflict of interest she did not disclose

Janet Weiss: Alaska’s LNG moment: Powering the Railbelt, fueling the world

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR
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Janet Weiss: Alaska’s LNG moment: Powering the Railbelt, fueling the world

By JANET WEISS

Alaska’s North Slope natural gas is a sought-after resource for our state and for the world. Here in Alaska, our gas can reliably and affordably meet the energy needs of the Railbelt and help move the Interior off of heating sources like wood and fuel oil with high particulate emissions that caused the American Lung Association to label Fairbanks the “most polluted city in the nation.” In Asia, Alaska’s gas can help markets meet rapidly growing energy demand while moving away from coal. Alaska’s large North Slope gas supply can play an important role in global energy.

Internationally, markets, including Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Thailand, India and more, are all negotiating hard for access to LNG from Alaska. Long-term LNG agreements take time, and Glenfarne has only been in the driver’s seat for Alaska LNG for about six weeks. Shortly, Glenfarne will commence the final engineering work needed to produce definitive cost estimates, likely to increase Alaska LNG’s commercial tempo.

While project opponents dismiss preliminary agreements, they are a necessary step towards binding commitments. LNG contracts last for 20 or 30 years and much like buying a house, buying LNG is a multi-step process. In real estate, you have to find a listing, make an offer, perform inspections, and arrange financing, all before you go to closing. LNG buyers need non-binding agreements like a letter of intent or memorandum of understanding before reaching final deals.

Alaska LNG will produce 20 million tonnes of LNG a year. Taiwan interests have already signed a preliminary agreement for 6 tonnes and Thailand’s Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Energy just directed state energy companies to negotiate up to 5 million tonnes from Alaska LNG. These two agreements, plus two agreements previously in hand, mean that about 65% of Alaska LNG’s export volume now has identified customers.

It is important to note what changed with Alaska LNG to spark so much interest. In addition to bringing in Glenfarne to lead the project forward, the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC) developed the option to phase construction of the project to tackle the Cook Inlet gas supply shortage. AGDC, which provides oversight of Alaska LNG for the State of Alaska, determined that Alaska LNG’s overall size and complexity was an impediment to development. AGDC broke Alaska LNG into two phases. Phase 1 prioritizes the pipeline infrastructure to bring gas down from the North Slope to Interior and Southcentral Alaskans. Phase 2 is the export infrastructure.

Focusing on the pipeline first provides long-term energy security for Alaska’s largest population centers. Without Alaska LNG, we’ll need to commit to long-term imports, which will double our energy bills and shred budgets for our families, our schools, and our government. Renewables can help address the problem and help diversify Alaska’s energy sources, but the large gas resources from the North Slope bring reliability and affordability. Imagine gas prices less than half what we pay today for decades to come.

The benefits of phasing the project were also quickly obvious to the LNG market because of the increased likelihood of success, helping accelerate talks with Glenfarne, and intensifying interest among Asian buyers.

Add to that the strong support of our federal government. President Biden gave Alaska LNG an environmental green light and signed into law more than $30 billion in federal loan guarantees, thanks to our Alaska Congressional Delegation. President Trump, who authorized Alaska LNG in his first term, has recognized the geostrategic importance of Alaska LNG across the Pacific and made this project a national priority. This support is incredibly helpful in commercial discussions with potential buyers.

I’ve watched Alaska LNG progress forward since it started just over a decade ago. My husband and I moved to Alaska in 1986 to work for Arco, and I became president of BP Alaska on February 15, 2013. I remember it very well because one of the first things I did that day was to sign an agreement with the State of Alaska and the other owners of Prudhoe Bay and Point Thomson to advance the concept that became Alaska LNG. Today, I am incredibly proud to serve as the vice chair of the AGDC board of directors. I’ve been involved with Alaska LNG for 12 years from two different front-row seats, and there has never been more momentum behind this project than we have today.

Janet Weiss, former president of BP Alaska and vice chair of the board of directors for the Alaska Gasline Development Corp.

Win Gruening: Juneau property tax cap initiative, and safeguarding affordability for residents

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Win Gruening: Juneau property tax cap initiative, and safeguarding affordability for residents

By WIN GRUENING

City and Borough of Juneau (CBJ) residents hear a lot from city leaders about the importance keeping their community affordable. However, far too often, the actions and priorities of elected officials instead make Juneau less affordable.

Taxpayers have taken notice and a local citizen’s group is gathering signatures for three initiatives designed to rein in Assembly spending and make Juneau more affordable. The three initiatives filed are:

In my two previous columns, I explained why repealing mail-in voting and implementing a sales tax exemption on basic necessities promote community affordability. This column will discuss how a property tax cap, in combination with the other two initiatives, can lower the cost-of-living and make Juneau more affordable.

To be fair, affordability hasn’t been completely ignored. Affordable housing and childcare have been among CBJ municipal priority lists for years. Both programs receive millions of dollars each year. But it remains to be seen whether these sizable expenditures have significantly moved the needle by permanently lowering housing and childcare costs and increasing availability

What businesses and homeowners have seen is unchecked spending by the city assembly for discretionary projects and initiatives, some having been rejected by voters, which will make Juneau less affordable. 

Millions every year are handed out via “Assembly grants” with no accountability measures attached.

Millions of dollars have also been sequestered or spent for mail-in voting, proposed city offices and a massive new arts and culture “civic” center. Questionable tax exemptions remain on the books while basic necessities like groceries and utilities are fully taxed. 

If investing in these priorities resulted in meaningful private sector growth and more affordable outcomes, that would be laudable. But that hasn’t happened, and it is unlikely to happen in the future.

Juneau’s cost-of-living is negatively impacted by a variety of factors. But the two most significant are lack of economic growth and rising municipal taxes. Yet, government entities seem ill-equipped to recognize that economic expansion and lowering taxes are the two most powerful strategies that can significantly enhance a community’s affordability.

The CBJ Assembly’s most recent approval of the Aak’w Landing cruise dock project is a long overdue and most welcome step in promoting economic growth in the community.

But the other half of the equation, equally as important, is controlling property taxes that fuel municipal spending. Moderating taxes, particularly property taxes, directly reduces the financial burden on business owners, homeowners, and families, making it easier for them to manage their finances.

The combined effect of economic expansion and lower taxes is particularly potent. As businesses expand, adding to the tax base, more jobs are created, wages increase, and more housing is built to meet demand, all of which helps keep prices in check and increases the supply of housing. 

A cap on spending is necessary for this to happen. No doubt, city officials will respond to the initiative with predictions of dire consequences, should this pass. We will hear that city services will be cut (not grants or discretionary projects), and everything from schools to parks will suffer.  Nonsense.

The existing basic property mill rate is 8.96 plus 1.08 mills for debt service equaling a total of 10.04. The proposed 9 mill rate cap is above the current mill rate and will not affect current expenditures. Debt service is not limited by a property tax cap. The city may still float additional bond issues as necessary for worthy projects when needed, but they must be approved by voters. 

Tax revenues will rise organically with inflation since they are tied to property tax assessments. If the economy grows, tax assessments increase, as will total property taxes. If the economy is contracting, the tax base will decrease, constraining expenditures and limiting budget increases.

Essentially, a tax cap acts as an automatic control on discretionary spending and gives voters say in how their tax dollars are spent.

Juneau voters who believe community affordability is a priority should sign these petitions and then make an informed choice on election day in October.

After retiring as the senior vice president in charge of business banking for Key Bank in Alaska, Win Gruening became a regular opinion page columnist for the Juneau Empire. He was born and raised in Juneau and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1970. He is involved in various local and statewide organizations.

Win Gruening: Should food be taxed in Juneau?

Bernadette Wilson files for governor

Suzanne Downing
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Bernadette Wilson files for governor

A well-known political figure and a competitive figure skater. A policy advisor and a business owner. A talk-show host and a mother of three. Bernadette Wilson is all those things … and now she is a candidate for governor.

Over the weekend, Bernadette quietly filed a letter of intent to run for governor in 2026, joining two other Republicans who have already announced — Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom and former state Sen. Click Bishop.

On the steps of the Alaska Capitol building in Juneau, Bernadette made it clear that she’s in it to win it: “America’s Strength Starts with Alaska!” Watch the live announcement here.

She then made a quick tour of a few offices in the Capitol before heading back to the airport to fly home and begin campaigning.

Bernadette Wilson was recently the executive director of the Alaska Policy Forum, and before that was state director for Americans for Prosperity Alaska. She started her political activism in 2010, working to get the “parental notification” ballot initiative passed, and she worked on several campaigns, including Joe Miller for Senate, winning the primary against Lisa Murkowski; Mead Treadwell for Governor; and Nick Begich for Congress. Currently, she is one of the sponsors of the RepealNow ballot initiative to repeal ranked-choice voting. The initiative aims to gather signatures to revisit the issue after a narrow defeat in 2024.

She is the great-niece of the late Gov. Walter J. Hickel and Ermalee Hickel, which takes her roots in Alaska to before Statehood. Many members of her family have been in the construction and trucking businesses. But the roots go deeper: Bernadette is a member of the Naknek Native Village tribe.

The longtime political activist and founder of Denali Disposal was identified last month as the favorite candidate among conservative voters for the Alaska gubernatorial race, according to reader surveys conducted by Must Read Alaska. Polls indicated strong support for Wilson over other potential candidates.

Poll position: Survey respondents tell Bernadette Wilson to start her engines

Wilson’s campaign website went live today at this link.

Her X account went live here.

You can watch the announcement on Must Read Alaska’s Facebook page.

Two Republicans — Nancy Dahlstrom and Click Bishop — file for governor
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