Three candidates for governor pledge tribal affairs offices or liaisons at AFN forum

Three candidates for Alaska governor told delegates to the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in Anchorage on Friday that they would add tribal affairs offices, advisors or liaisons to state government.

Republican Dave Bronson, a former Anchorage mayor, Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, a former state representative, and Republican Treg Taylor, a former attorney general, took part in the forum, 11 days before the Nov. 3 election. The fourth candidate on the ballot, Republican Bernadette Wilson, did not. AFN's board decided this year not to endorse anyone.

Bronson said he would create an Office of Tribal Affairs in the governor's office that would sit in on cabinet-level meetings. The office would bring in someone who knows the issues in urban and rural Alaska, he said, "'cause again Anchorage is the largest Native village in the state."

Kreiss-Tomkins wants to bring back a Native and tribal affairs advisor with cabinet-level status. He would also revive the Governor's Tribal Advisory Council, which he said had been all but disbanded under Gov. Mike Dunleavy. Taylor said that as attorney general he created two tribal liaison jobs at the Department of Law, and that he would want liaisons in every state department.

"If I were governor, I would sign that election reform bill," Kreiss-Tomkins said of a bill Dunleavy vetoed this year. It would have let voters track their ballots online and fix minor errors before the ballots were rejected. In May the Legislature fell two votes short of overriding the veto, Alaska News reported. Kreiss-Tomkins said he helped negotiate the original compromise as a legislator in 2022.

Taylor said he would support ballot tracking and a way for voters to fix problems that get ballots rejected. He suggested compacting with tribes or villages to keep polling places staffed. Bronson said the state isn't spending what it should to run elections in rural Alaska. "We've got airplanes," he said. "We can dispatch teams to villages, to rural Alaska to get this job done."

Bronson would also grow the Board of Fisheries and Board of Game, which each have seven members appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Legislature. "My commitment is to bring both boards up to 11 members, appoint them, and get those greater voices," he said. Kreiss-Tomkins said there must be Native voices on both boards. Taylor said nominees' names "should never be a surprise to the Native community" before lawmakers vote on them.

Kreiss-Tomkins recalled the delayed response when a girl was killed in Kake while he represented the village in the Legislature. "There has to be faster response time in rural Alaska when someone goes missing or is murdered," he said. Taylor committed to fully funding the Village Public Safety Officer program and said he wants more state officers cross-deputized with tribal police. Bronson talked about human trafficking and a program he backed as mayor to spot trafficking victims at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.