It’s been over a month since the legislative session started, but it feels like its been a lot longer. The big and shocking news this week, which happened on Friday (2/20/2026), was the arrest of now-former legislative staffer Craig Valdez for very serious charges including child pornography and solicitation of minors. The first round of campaign finance reports came out for gubernatorial and legislative candidates. Governor Mike Dunleavy (R – Alaska) submitted his budget amendments, which propose another $145 million in spending. The Senate Resources Committee fundamentally rewrote Governor Dunleavy’s fiscal plan bill. Senator Dan Sullivan (R – Alaska) gave his annual address to the Alaska Legislature. And yet another person filed to run for governor, taking to total to 17 candidates. 

If you have not seen the newest feature on the Landmine, make sure to check out “Juneau on the Loose: Juneau’s Unofficial Events Calendar.” If you know about or have an event happening in Juneau, like a reception or fundraiser or party, please send me the info (jeff@alaskalandmine.com) and I will get it added to the calendar. Thanks to the people who have sent events so far. There are already seven for the upcoming week! 

A friendly message and reminder to all our readers. The Landmine is made possible by myself and a team of awesome Alaskans. I have been covering the legislative session in Juneau for the last seven years and am now here for my eighth session. We will be covering all the 2026 Alaska elections in-depth. If you enjoy the content we provide, please consider making a one time or recurring monthly donation. You can click here to donate. We have a system that makes it super easy. We would really appreciate it. And thanks to everyone who has been supportive. 

Wild Friday in Juneau

On Friday morning, legislative staffer Craig Valdez was arrested by federal agents at the Juneau airport. He was headed to D.C. for a Republican conference. I heard about it not long after it happened. Valdez has worked as a legislative staffer for many years. For the last three years he’s worked for former Representative and now-Senator George Rauscher (R – Sutton). Prior to that he worked for former Senator Roger Holland. 

I saw Valdez at legislative bowling the night before he was arrested. The charges are serious. But what is described in the detention memo is depraved. Why the Anchorage Police Department did not arrest him in October when the mother of a 15-year-old girl tracked her to his home is just baffling. Read the detention memo. It will make your blood boil. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, he is facing 15 years to life in prison. His life is over. 

A lot of people are running for governor. We dug into the first campaign finance reports

The following is an excerpt from a recent special edition of the Alaska Political Report. You can click here for more information about the Political Report. A subscription is $1,299/year per organization. Discounted pricing is available for non-profits and government entities. Our coverage of the budget starts with the governor’s proposed budget, and we track everything in detail through the entire process. If you have any questions or would like to subscribe, please email jeff@akpoliticalreport.com.

Of the 17 candidates who have so far filed to run for governor (12 Republicans, 3 Democrats, 2 independents), 13 filed year-start campaign finance reports, though only nine reported raising more than $200,000. Candidates collectively reported raising $4.3 million.   

Several of the candidates contributed to their own campaigns. Most notably Republican Matt Heilala, a doctor, who contributed an eye dropping $1.28 million to his campaign. Republican Treg Taylor came in second with a $287,000 contribution to his campaign. And former Republican Sen. Shelley Hughes came in third with a $227,000 contribution to her campaign. 

Note that several of the candidates donated some amounts of money to their campaigns through non-monetary contributions. These are sometimes hard to track as APOC lists non-monetary contributions under both income and expenditures so they offset. For example, a person could be listed as providing a non-monetary contribution for donating food or campaign services. But a candidate could also buy themselves a plane ticket or pay a bill, and that is also listed as a non-monetary contribution even though it is a candidate expense. We did our best to parse out the non-monetary contributions that are actually expenses paid by candidates.   

Some of the candidates who had previously run for office listed some starting money they transferred from future campaign accounts. 

Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, who filed after Feb. 1 and therefore did not have to file a year-start report, announced he raised over $750,000 in the two weeks since he filed. 

Below are summaries of the reports each candidate filed. It is ranked from the highest reported fundraising. 

If you would like to see the rest of this section, which includes a comprehensive breakdown of all the gubernatorial candidates’ APOC reports, please consider subscribing to the Alaska Political Report. Email jeff@akpoliticalreport.com for a copy of the latest special report. 

Other Happenings 

Governor Dunleavy submitted his budget amendments on February 18, the statutory deadline. In total, his amendments add $145 million in spending –  $104 million to the proposed FY2027 budget and $41.7 million to the FY2026 supplemental budget. Under his proposed budget, 70% of the Constitutional Budget Reserve (CBR) would be drained. But that includes his proposed full Permanent Fund Dividend, a cost of $2.36 billion. Legislative leaders have made it clear the dividend will likely be around $1,000, or $640 million. In that situation, there would only be a deficit for the FY2026 supplemental budget. 

The supplemental budget is in third and final reading tomorrow in the House. Paying for it requires tapping into the CBR. A CBR draw needs a three-fourths majority, which is 30 votes in the House. If the vote on an amendment from Representative Frank Tomaszewski (R – Fairbanks) – that proposed to take $2.4 billion from the Permanent Fund to pay a mega-dividend, is any indication of where the House is – they may be a few votes short for a CBR draw. The construction industry has been pushing hard to fund the $70 million in the supplemental (the total supplemental budget is $466 million) for road projects this summer. The money comes with a 9-1 federal match.  

Senator Sullivan gave his annual address to the Alaska Legislature on Wednesday (2/18/2026). You can watch it here. There were several protestors in the hallway outside the House chamber. Many were holding these signs that read “We the people do not consent.” No clue what they were not consenting to. Several of them booed Sullivan and shouted “coward!” One said, “you love pedophiles.” They must be a blast to hang out with. 

The Senate Resources Committee, chaired by Senator Cathy Giessel (R – Anchorage), totally rewrote Governor Dunleavy’s fiscal plan bill – which was basically DOA anyway. The committee removed the sales tax provision and proposed to change our oil tax system from a net tax to a gross tax. That’s probably not the worst idea, but to do it with no modeling is really odd. The bill now heads to the finance committee, which should be fun to watch. 

“Independent” Meda DeWitt filed to run for governor this week. She was a key figure in the Recall Dunleavy effort. She makes the seventeenth candidate in the race. An Alaska Public Media article described her as a “traditional healer,” whatever the hell that means. 

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dave Bronson has succumbed to the dividend delusion.  

After I posted this video I learned this is a Mormon thing called a “dirty soda.” What an utterly disgusting drink. 

Former Representative Tom McKay has been appointed by Governor Dunleavy to the Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission. 

This was a pretty loose vote. Citations are rarely objected to. The no vote by Representative Ky Holland (I – Anchorage) tho! 

My god.

ANS crude is above $70/barrel for the first time since September. 

Pretty incredible that lobbyist Kris Knauss, who is on the board of USA Hockey, is in the photo after the U.S. men’s hockey team won gold at the Olympics! He’s the last one on the left. 

This Week’s Loose Unit 

This was a very loose week. There were many deserving candidates, but one stood out. This week’s Loose Unit is Representative Frank Tomaszewski.

As noted above, Tomaszewski introduced an amendment to the supplemental budget that aimed to pull $2.4 billion out of the Permanent Fund earnings reserve account to pay a mega-dividend. That’s 2.7% of the Permanent Fund! Hyper loose behavior.

What’s even more loose is that 11 House members voted for the amendment. Imagine if these people were actually in charge. They would liquidate the fund to pay mega-dividends until it was gone. Maximum loose behavior. Thank god there are enough rational people in the Legislature to not fall for the dividend delusion.  

If you have a nomination for this week’s Loose Unit, or if you have any political news, stories or gossip (or any old pics of politicians or public officials) please email me at jeff@alaskalandmine.com.