Tshibaka-led Alaska Accountability Project says its research helped prompt Dahlstrom’s ballot reversal

By SUZANNE DOWNING

Sept. 5, 2026 — The Alaska Accountability Project says months of research into candidate financial disclosures helped expose inconsistencies in Alaska’s enforcement system and contributed to Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom’s late-Friday decision to restore two candidates to the November ballot.

The organization, chaired by former US Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka, issued a statement Saturday claiming a “major role” in the reversal that returned former Attorney General Treg Taylor to the governor’s race and Jose Tagle to the House District 22 contest.

Tshibaka, who was the commissioner of the Department of Administration for Gov. Mike Dunleavy for several months in his first term, said she provided state officials with verified information about apparent discrepancies in disclosure filings submitted by other candidates after the Alaska Public Offices Commission recommended that Taylor and Tagle not be certified.

“Candidates deserve equal scrutiny and a consistent process under the law,” the organization said. “Our state government owes that to the public.”

Dahlstrom announced Aug. 31 that she would not certify Taylor or Tagle after APOC concluded that their Public Official Financial Disclosure statements did not substantially comply with Alaska law.

Taylor’s filing reported more than $1 million in rental income but did not identify tenants by their full names. Tagle submitted a disclosure containing no reportable information. APOC recommended against certification under a regulation allowing the commission to advise the lieutenant governor when a candidate has failed to comply with disclosure requirements.

The lieutenant governor reversed herself late Friday, saying a preliminary review by the Alaska Department of Law had uncovered “numerous potential discrepancies” between other candidates’ disclosure statements and public records.

The department’s review was informal and incomplete, and it did not determine that any candidate had violated state law. Candidates whose filings were questioned had also not been given an opportunity to respond.

But the findings raised concerns about whether Taylor, Tagle and a third candidate had been subjected to scrutiny that was not applied across the full field.

“I will not withhold certification from two candidates on recommendations that, in light of this additional information, I cannot apply with confidence across the field of candidates,” Dahlstrom said. “Certification decisions have to rest on a process that can be defended as to every candidate.”

The Department of Law provided an initial working draft of its findings to APOC on Thursday evening, according to the Division of Elections. The commission did not meet to reconsider its recommendations before the deadline for finalizing ballots.

The Alaska Accountability Project said it has investigated candidate and campaign disclosures since January, drawing on public records and information supplied by members of the public.

After APOC recommended disqualification, the organization said its researchers moved quickly to provide information about filings by other candidates in the affected races. It contends that APOC’s procedures are confusing, inconsistently applied and capable of leading candidates to believe they have complied when their filings may still be deficient.

The organization did not identify in Saturday’s release which candidates it researched, what specific discrepancies it found or which materials it submitted to state officials. Dahlstrom and the Department of Law also have not publicly identified the candidates whose filings raised questions.

The state’s announcement confirms that the Law Department’s review influenced Dahlstrom’s decision, but neither Dahlstrom nor the department publicly credited the Alaska Accountability Project with initiating or supplying that review. The organization’s assertion that its work played a major role therefore remains its own account of the events.

Tshibaka said the episode demonstrated the need for an election process that treats candidates consistently.

“This is a critical time for Alaska’s elections,” she said. “The public deserve a process they can trust.”

The organization said it possesses additional documents and leads involving possible unlisted investments, unreported contributions and undisclosed campaign expenditures. It pledged to release verified findings involving candidates across the political spectrum.

Tshibaka also called on Gov. Mike Dunleavy and the Legislature to examine the state’s candidate-disclosure and certification system, particularly the division of responsibility among APOC, the Division of Elections and the lieutenant governor.

Dahlstrom’s reversal places Taylor and his original running mate, Candi English, back on the ballot. It also unwinds the temporary ticket created after Taylor’s initial exclusion, when English moved into the governor’s position and selected Taylor’s wife, Jodi Taylor, as her running mate.

Taylor will join Republican candidates Bernadette Wilson and Dave Bronson and Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins on the four-candidate general-election ballot. Tagle will face Democratic Rep. Ted Eischeid in House District 22.

The underlying APOC findings have not been withdrawn, and the department’s preliminary review could lead to further examination of disclosures filed by Taylor, Tagle and other candidates.

What began as a dispute over two financial-disclosure filings has now opened a much larger question: whether Alaska applied the same standard to everyone seeking a place on the ballot.

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Breaking: Dahlstrom reverses course, puts Treg Taylor back on governor’s ballot