By SUZANNE DOWNING
June 28, 2026 – Anchorage singer-songwriter Tom Begich, a Democratic candidate for governor, is criticizing Gov. Mike Dunleavy for vetoing House Bill 79, legislation that would have renamed the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Institute of Social and Economic Research after the late Vic Fischer and renamed Shoup Bay State Marine Park in Fischer’s honor.
On social media, Tom Begich wrote:
“Not only did the Governor veto workforce training funds on the anniversary of the attack on federal privacy rights, he also vetoed HB 79, a bill honoring one of Alaska’s greatest public servants and the last surviving author of our Constitution, Vic Fischer.
“Vic Fischer helped write Alaska’s Constitution, including the right to privacy that continues to protect Alaskans today. He championed independent research through ISER, stood up for working Alaskans, and helped build the Alaska we know today.
“Alaska should be proud to honor that legacy—not veto it.”
The governor’s office has offered a different explanation for the veto. According to the University of Alaska, Board of Regents Chairman Scott Jepsen recommended vetoing the measure because it bypassed the university’s longstanding policies for naming university facilities and academic programs. The governor’s office said it acted after consulting with university leadership and that university leaders actually asked for the veto. The university has a longstanding process that was not followed, and the university wasn’t consulted at all.
Here’s the process that the university has for naming facilities, which the bill sponsors ignored:
Facilities Naming Process and Policy
Begich’s post also omitted a significant chapter in the relationship between Fischer and Dunleavy.
In 2019, Fischer became one of the most recognizable public faces of the effort to recall Gov. Dunleavy after the governor proposed budget reductions, including cuts to the University of Alaska. Fischer served as a co-chair of the recall campaign, lending his name and reputation as a socialist-raised Democrat. While former campaign manager Scott Kendall and Democratic activists handled much of the legal strategy and day-to-day operations, Fischer lent stature as one of Alaska’s constitutional convention delegates.
Fischer’s life story was also more complex than the simplified portrait offered in Begich’s social media post.
Born in Berlin in 1924, Fischer grew up in a family of extreme leftist intellectuals. His father, journalist Louis Fischer, spent years reporting from the Soviet Union and was sympathetic to the communist experiment before becoming disillusioned with Stalin’s regime. The family lived in Moscow during part of Stalin’s rule before leaving the Soviet Union.
Vic Fischer later chronicled those experiences in his memoir, To Russia with Love. While he rejected Soviet authoritarianism, he remained throughout his public career a progressive Democrat with serious socialist leanings. He championed organized labor, government planning, university research, and big government.
His effort to recall Alaska’s 12th governor failed spectacularly.
Tom Begich is the leftist uncle of conservative Congressman Nick Begich. Tom is the brother of Democrat Mark Begich, former Anchorage mayor and former US Senator.
7 thoughts on “Tom Begich’s outrage over Vic Fischer veto leaves out two awkward details”
We didn’t name a State Park after Jack Coghill either…
Vic Fischer is not someone to look up to, he’s likely in an eternal place no one wants to be, no one wanted to believe existed, but the place where all go who lived their lives their way and not accepting God’s gift of salvation in Jesus Christ.
Vic Fischer was not a goid leader for Alaskans to look up to.
It’s not wise to make monuments and idols after one another. Who are we to be made into an idol. What have we ever done that was completely selfless. We do nothing that doesn’t build one’s self up.
For someone like Vic Fischer he got his rewards while living here, he had financial independence, he was invited to group meetings with “friends”, he had his physical needs met. Just like the rest of us and Don Young he doesn’t need to be made into an idol.
The Legislature needs to stop trying to name every program and place, those should always be local decisions. They need to learn to stay in their lane.
Former Senator Begich (an honorable guy, actually) also flubs the reference to the right of privacy in the Alaska Constitution. The right to privacy was not part of the 1955 Constitutional document. It was later added to the Constitution by amendment.
Vic Fischer, while an obvious Leftist, was a pleasant man.
Tom, I’m working with Big Mike now. The Begich family seems to be splintering, with Nicholas getting all of the attention.
Your best bet is to return to full-time song writing blues music. Your little siren running mate can be your back-up singer and banjo player.
She told me she plays the French horn.
Tom Begich is off key with this Vic Fisher tune!