North Pole voters, watch out for fake conservative McFarland

By DON TROMETTER

April 7, 2026 – North Pole District 33 families built this district on conservative principles: full Permanent Fund Dividends, lower energy costs, strong parental rights, and keeping taxes and big government off our backs. Yet one undeclared candidate is trying to hijack the Republican label while her record screams progressive.

Pepper McFarland would caucus with Democrats and the progressive majority in Juneau.

She has never voted Republican. She has never registered with any political party — not in Alaska, not in Washington state where she lived before moving here. She proudly declares she “doesn’t belong in any of the boxes.” That is not independence. It is a flat refusal to stand with the conservative values that define House District 33.

She is a relatively recent arrival with no deep roots here.

McFarland presents herself as a longtime North Pole teacher, but public records show she was born and raised in Washington state. She married Robert W. Kastner in 1989 (living as Pepper Kastner in Snohomish County before their divorce), then married Thomas James Beaucage in 1997 (living as Pepper Beaucage in Ferndale, WA). She only began using the name Pepper McFarland after moving to Alaska around 2004–2006.

She has lived in North Pole for roughly 16–20 years and taught 8th-grade Social Studies at North Pole Middle School in 2013–2014. She is not a multi-generational Alaskan conservative with deep local roots.

She owns the current progressive slate and the tax-cap clawback.

As Membership Secretary and Board member of the Fairbanks Education Association (FEA/NEA affiliate), McFarland helped steer the union’s political machine. Under her leadership, FEA endorsed progressive candidates for school board, borough assembly, and other local offices — including her own campaign treasurer, Garrett Armstrong. She personally endorsed progressive State House candidate Joy Beth Cottle.

Her campaign is tied to Planned Parenthood.

McFarland’s official treasurer, according to her Alaska Public Offices Commission filing, is Garrett Armstrong — a well-known progressive activist and public school teacher. Armstrong serves on the same Fairbanks Education Association board as McFarland. He was officially endorsed by Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates (PPAA / PP Votes Alaska) in his 2025 run for Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly. By choosing a Planned Parenthood-backed progressive to handle her campaign finances, McFarland has directly tied her candidacy to one of the most prominent progressive organizations in Alaska.

In late 2023, while on the FEA board, McFarland personally testified before the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly demanding more local school funding — even though the district already sat on over $11 million in reserves beyond what borough ordinance allowed. That same union became a driving force behind the 2024 Goldenheart Strong / Proposition A scheme to break the tax revenue cap and raise property taxes by up to $10 million a year. North Pole and Fairbanks voters crushed that tax grab at the ballot box.

She advances progressive social agendas in our schools.

In her official union capacity, McFarland testified at the March 4, 2025, Fairbanks North Star Borough School Board meeting demanding support for “our LGBTQ students.” The FEA newsletter praised her for it. This aligns with the union’s broader push against stronger parental notification and consent rules for social transitions and pronouns — policies many North Pole families believe belong with parents, not union-backed bureaucrats. She signed the 2025 “Canada Resolution” attacking Trump administration trade and border policies. On March 16, 2026, she used her personal Instagram to promote the “NO KINGS III” anti-Trump protest in Fairbanks and urged people to attend. These are not the actions of a conservative.

Her fiscal record is pure big government.

McFarland has never once called for the full statutory Permanent Fund Dividend. Her only idea for a bigger PFD is higher corporate taxes on the oil and gas industry. She wants the state to own the new LNG pipeline — a risky government takeover of private energy. She demands a return to defined-benefit pensions for public employees, the same bloated system that nearly bankrupted Alaska before we switched to defined-contribution plans.

North Pole conservatives face a crystal-clear choice. Pepper McFarland talks conservative when it suits her, but she is a Washington transplant who refuses to register Republican, owns the progressive slate, pushed for illegal-level reserves spending, lobbied to break the tax cap, advances identity politics in our schools, protests against Trump, ties her campaign to Planned Parenthood, and backs big-government policies that raise costs and expand Juneau’s control.Do not be fooled. HD 33 deserves a real conservative who fights for the full PFD, protects your wallet, and defends parental rights — not a union insider who refuses to even register Republican.

Do your homework. Ask the tough questions. And vote accordingly in the 2026 election.