August is less than a week away. Summer is really flying by! I hope everyone in Southcentral enjoyed the incredible weather we had this weekend. Governor Mike Dunleavy’s (R – Alaska) not so special session is set to start August 2 at 10 am. Yet another Republican has entered the governor’s race. Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum put in his resignation, which is part of his plan to run for governor. Three more representatives filed letters of intent for re-election. Some wild security footage obtained by the Landmine revealed a lot more about the shooting at the Gaslight last weekend. And some more politicos are on the move. 

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 returned from Juneau in May. 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. 

Not so special session

The special session called by Governor Dunleavy to try and block veto overrides starts on Saturday at 10 am in Juneau. The big item is Dunleavy’s veto of $200 of the $700 increase to the Base Student Allocation (BSA) approved by the Legislature this session. Dunleavy vetoed the bill with the increase, but the Legislature voted 46-14 to override that – six more votes than were needed. Keep in mind it takes 45 votes to override a veto of an appropriation. This is where Dunleavy vetoed the $200 from the BSA. 

Assuming all the members show up, his veto of $200 from the BSA in the budget should have the 45 votes needed for override. But Dunleavy was counting on some legislators having other obligations. He also asked Republicans in the House minority not to go, but it sounds like many are going anyway.

Senator Forrest Dunbar (D – Anchorage), a definite yes vote on override, is currently deployed in Poland. It was assumed he would not be able to attend. But in a surprising post this week, he said he was able to get permission to attend. 

It’s hard to predict how many legislators will be there on Saturday. They have five days to vote on veto overrides once the special session starts. But it sounds like it will probably happen on the first or second day. Many legislators are supposed to be in Boston for the National Council of State Legislatures from August 4-6.

There are also several bills Dunleavy vetoed. Vetoes of non-revenue or spending bills only require 40 votes to be overridden. So it’s more likely some of the bills he vetoed are overridden than the $200 BSA veto. It would be really embarrassing for Dunleavy if several of the bills he vetoed are overridden during a special session that he called. 

Even if they Legislature fails to override the $200 BSA veto, they can easily run a supplemental appropriation bill for that amount in January after the session starts. Once Dunleavy vetoes that, they will have another opportunity for a veto override with everyone present in Juneau.  

Another Republican in the governor’s race!

Senator Shelley Hughes (R – Palmer) announced this week that she is running for governor. She is now the seventh Republican to enter the race. The others are Lieutenant Governor Nancy Dahlstrom (R – Alaska), former Senator Click Bishop, Mat-Su Borough Mayor Edna DeVries, James Parkin, Bernadette Wilson, and Matt Heilala. 

Hughes‘ campaign got off to a bit of a rough start. After this Landmine post, Hughes made some changes to her website. The supporters page now says “check back for updates.” 

What is interesting about Hughes entering the governor’s race is her Senate seat is now vacant. Hughes is up for re-election next year. The two representatives in her Senate district are Cathy Tilton (R – Wasilla) and DeLena Johnson (R – Palmer). Tilton filed a letter of intent on June 18 and did not indicate an office. Johnson has not yet filed a letter of intent. I would wager that Tilton is soon going to announce she will run for Hughes‘ Senate seat. 

Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum, a Republican, put in his resignation this week. His last day is August 8. Crum has been telling people he’s going to run for governor for months. He would make Republican number eight in the race. Crum is one of two Dunleavy cabinet officials who have been running a shadow campaign for governor. State officials are not allowed to run for office. So it’s nice to milk that $168,000 salary for as long as possible. When Alaska Public Media called Crum about his intentions, he actually read from a statement when he spoke to them. Talk about amateur hour. 

The other cabinet official running a shadow campaign for governor is Attorney General Treg Taylor. Taylor has been hosting events all over the state for months under the guise of his job as attorney general. One even prompted former Representative Ben Carpenter to say “this is not a campaign event.” 

Taylor chairs the Attorney General Alliance. They are scheduled to hold a meeting in Alaska at the end of August. It appears Taylor is planning to hold the meeting, get a bunch of press, then leave his job in September to announce he is running for governor. Taylor actually earns a salary of more than $200,000. This is because he worked at the Department of Law before he became attorney general (which has a salary defined in law), so he was able to keep his previous state salary. This is allowed in state law. He would make Republican number nine if Crum gets in too. 

Dunleavy should have done a way better job policing these guys by not letting them campaign while they are state employees.

Other Happenings 

If you have not seen my video breaking down the security footage we obtained from the Gaslight of the shooting last weekend, you can see it here. YouTube took down the video sequence we made of the entire thing from the raw footage we obtained, but it can still be seen on Facebook. It’s wild that we have allowed Downtown Anchorage to look like Mogadishu or Sarajevo on weekend nights. 

Three more representatives filed letters of intent this week for re-election: 

• Representative Ky Holland (I – Anchorage) 
• Representative Justin Ruffridge (R – Soldotna)
• Representative Jubilee Underwood (R – Wasilla) 

This whole thing was rather loose. Kooky Mike Coons filed an ethics complaint against Representative Chuck Kopp (R – Anchorage). Coons accused Kopp of not disclosing certain income, but he also referenced the income he disclosed. Total clown show. Kopp hired attorney Scott Kendall to represent him. The complaint was dismissed by the Ethics Committee. The real question is who put up Mike Coons to file the complaint. That may soon be revealed. 

Wendy Lindskoog, formerly the VP of government affairs at Royal Caribbean, is now the external affairs manager at Donlin Gold. Congrats, Wendy! 

Corey Mulder, daughter of lobbyists Wendy Chamberlain and Eldon Mulder, is taking a new role as liaison between Governor Dunleavy and President Donald Trump’s administration. Sounds like she will work directly with cabinet members and the White House on Alaska projects. Erick Cordero will replace Mulder as Dunleavy’s body man. Congrats to them both!

This Week’s Loose Unit

Mike Coons was definitely in the running this week for his super loose ethics complaint. But two other people, that I both really like, edged him out. This week’s Loose Unit is a tie between Senators Lisa Murkowski (R – Alaska) and Senator Dan Sullivan (R – Alaska). Two of Alaska’s three federal judge positions have been vacant for a long time. One is for Judge Timothy Burgess, who went on senior status on December 31, 2021. The other is for former Judge Josh Kindred, who resigned on July 8, 2024. 

Murkowski and Sullivan are basically tasked with recommending to the president who they want to fill these positions. This is how it works in all states. Either home-state senator can file a “blue slip” to block a nomination. Because Murkowski and Sullivan have very different ideas of who they want to serve as federal judges in Alaska, we get no one. They can’t even agree to each pick one. It is very loose behavior. The other judges on senior status have to pick up cases. And we also have to rely on visiting judges from other states to pick up the slack. It’s not only embarrassing for our state, it is classic Loose Unit behavior. 

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.