Dahlstrom files ethics complaint against Rep. Zack Fields over his unhinged attack on elections director

By THE ALASKA STORY

Aug. 12, 2026 – Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom has filed a formal legislative ethics complaint against Anchorage Democrat Rep. Zack Fields, accusing him of using his public office and legislative email account to launch a deeply personal, late-night attack on Alaska Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher.

The three-page complaint, dated Aug. 11, asks the Select Committee on Legislative Ethics to investigate an email Fields sent Beecher at 10:52 pm on July 23.

The Zack Fields subject line read: “What on earth is wrong with you?”

Fields sent the email amid a dispute over the Division of Elections’ decision to move more than 3,000 voters to inactive status after Division of Motor Vehicles records indicated they might not be U.S. citizens. Some of the DMV information was outdated, and hundreds of people later contacted the division to affirm that they were citizens.

Those placed on the inactive list were not prohibited from voting. They could be returned to active status by affirming their citizenship and could still cast an absentee or questioned ballot after attesting to their eligibility.

Fields did not limit his email to disputing the division’s policy or its interpretation of election law.

“What on earth is wrong with you that you would take obviously flawed data and terminate the most fundamental rights of Alaskans?” Fields wrote to Beecher. “Do you aspire to be an executioner of the democratic process? Do you lack a conscience? Are you such a craven political appointee you will do anything to advance your career?”

Fields then compared Beecher with officials serving some of the most notorious authoritarian governments of the 20th century.

“There is a long history of apparatchiks who will dismantle the rule of law, from the Nazis to Franco to Pinochet, and you are absolutely following in that tradition,” he wrote.

Elections director: More than 100 noncitizens were registered to vote in Alaska

Dahlstrom, whose office oversees the Division of Elections, told the ethics committee that disagreement with a government policy does not justify personally abusing a career public employee.

“Representative Zack Fields’ treatment of Director of Elections Carol Beecher is beneath the dignity of the office he holds,” Dahlstrom wrote. “And it is conduct that should concern every member of the Legislature, regardless of party or ideology.”

Dahlstrom described Beecher as a public servant with more than 20 years of service under governors and administrations of different political parties.

“Like every public servant, she is sometimes required to make difficult decisions, to implement the law as written, and to withstand criticism from those who disagree with those decisions,” Dahlstrom wrote. “That is part of the job. Personal abuse is not.”

The complaint presents the ethics committee with two possible grounds for investigating Fields, who represents urban Anchorage.

If Fields was exercising legislative investigative or oversight authority when he sent the email, Dahlstrom argues that his treatment of Beecher may have violated Article I, Section 7 of the Alaska Constitution. That provision guarantees people “fair and just treatment” during legislative and executive investigations.

Dahlstrom cited an Aug. 7 Alaska Supreme Supreme Court opinion in Reinbold v. State, in which the court said that constitutional protection was adopted to guard against tactics associated with the late U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy, including vilification, character assassination and insinuations of guilt by association.

“Comparing her to the functionaries of Nazi Germany violates that guarantee,” Dahlstrom wrote.

If Fields was not exercising legislative oversight authority, Dahlstrom argues that another ethics issue arises: his use of a state legislative email account and the prestige of his office for what she describes as a purely personal attack.

State law prohibits legislators from using public funds, facilities, equipment, services or other government resources for a nonlegislative purpose.

Dahlstrom noted that the Legislature was not in session when Fields sent the email. She said it was not connected to a committee hearing, pending legislation or a legislative investigation. Fields requested no information, sought no explanation and advanced no legislative business, she wrote.

“It served only to condemn and personally berate a public servant carrying out her official responsibilities,” the complaint states.

The underlying voter-status decision drew criticism from a bipartisan group of 23 legislators, who asked Beecher to restore the affected voters to active status. The Division of Elections reported last week that approximately 685 people had contacted the agency and affirmed that they were citizens. They were returned to active status. More than 100 others reportedly said they were not citizens and asked that their registrations be canceled.

Beecher said those who remained on the inactive list could still vote after affirming their citizenship.

Dahlstrom said legislators have every right to ask hard questions, challenge executive-branch decisions and advocate forcefully for constituents. Her complaint draws the line at using a legislative position and government resources to demean an individual employee.

“Representative Fields is free to disagree with the Division of Elections. He is free to criticize my office. He is free to criticize me,” Dahlstrom wrote. “But he is not free from accountability for the manner in which he exercises the authority and prestige of his office.”

Dahlstrom asked the committee to determine whether Fields’ conduct complies with the Legislative Ethics Act and “the dignity expected of members of the Alaska Legislature.”