Video Clips
Quoted moments from Alaska public meetings, hearings, and press conferences.
0:38
Hollis French
“If a prisoner with no ties to the state of Alaska in New York State can be put on the ballot for federal office in the state of Alaska, I think the Division of Elections is sort of foreclosed from then on from, from engaging in what they've engaged in this case. I'll rely on my experience as a prosecutor and tell you it is extremely difficult, if not almost impossible, to prove someone's motive.”Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260622-1300 · Jun 22, 2026
0:31
Thomas Amodio“the Division has always taken the position it is not their job, it is not their duty— in cases I have been involved in, let me, let me, you know, put that caveat in there.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260622-1300 · Jun 22, 2026
0:44
Thomas Amodio“when I was involved with the Haffner case and I saw the case law generally out there for federal office, I was shocked that you could, I could run for a, a House of Representatives in Texas today by filing whatever Texas requires. And according to the case law and ultimately what was decided in that case, all I have to do is show up in Texas on the day of the election or the day before, and I'm an inhabitant of Texas.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260622-1300 · Jun 22, 2026
0:26
Thomas Amodio“Even the division's own regulations do not address good motives versus bad motives or that type of thing. I think it would be a very difficult sliding, slippery slope to navigate.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260622-1300 · Jun 22, 2026
0:46
Thomas Amodio“in my view, the Division's decision to exclude the second Dan Sullivan because his name is inconsistent with what the division has always done before and the positions it's taken in terms of, you know, it's up to the voters to decide, not, not the division.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260622-1300 · Jun 22, 2026
0:11
Thomas Amodio“They've got their playbook. They stick to it in terms of counting votes. And, you know, they follow the law. It's— they do a terrific, commendable job.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260622-1300 · Jun 22, 2026
0:51
Ashley Carrick“my biggest concern here is that if quote unquote good faith, as was stated in the memo from the Division of Elections, becomes an additional implicit standard for candidacy, Alaska will have added more than just an additional requirement. We will have functionally added a subjective standard for qualification to run for office determined by what is currently an apolitical body, which is an extremely strong contrast to the simple objective federal and state standards that are in place today.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260622-1300 · Jun 22, 2026
0:33
Thomas Amodio“no, I don't, I don't believe, uh, that that would be, uh, that, that authority is, uh, in our, uh, in the state law.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260622-1300 · Jun 22, 2026
0:50
Thomas Amodio“I have not encountered that before. I don't know what the motive of Mr. Haffner, a convicted felon in New Jersey, is for running for office in Alaska, but I would certainly suggest it would not be of the utmost high-mindedness. Type of motive, and where would you draw the line as far as a good motive versus an inferior motive or an unacceptable motive? Anyway, that's— I don't believe our laws allow that investigation.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260622-1300 · Jun 22, 2026
0:26
Thomas Amodio“My understanding with the federal is that if you meet the age requirement under federal law, you don't have to be a resident of Alaska for a day. You know what I mean? It's not— it's the way the federal law is worded. It's inhabitant, not resident.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260622-1300 · Jun 22, 2026
0:26
Thomas Amodio“I've not seen— I've not seen that before in my 30-plus, 35 years of practice before APOC, the Division of Elections. And let me just say real quickly, I admire the Division of Elections. I've seen them recounts. They are hardworking. They're terrific.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260622-1300 · Jun 22, 2026
0:31
Thomas Amodio“The declaration of candidacy is essentially sacrosanct. If you say, "I can be— meet those qualifications," and obviously you are the right, you know, got to be significant to be applicable age.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260622-1300 · Jun 22, 2026
0:18
Thomas Amodio“None that I'm aware of. There's nothing that says your motives have to be clean and, you know, above board. You could be running for the— because you want a paycheck. You could be running because you disagree on an issue with others.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260622-1300 · Jun 22, 2026
0:37
Thomas Amodio“This decision by the division has surprised me somewhat, but, you know, I'm, like I say, I don't represent the division, so it's, I'm not involved with them. But, um, yeah, so in my experience, that's, uh, um, uh, they, they haven't inquired into, I've never seen an inquiry into that area before, what the motives of the candidate are for running.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260622-1300 · Jun 22, 2026
0:31
Andrew Gray“for the first time in recent memory, the division appears to have moved beyond evaluating objective qualifications and into the realm of evaluating intent. It did not merely ask whether a candidate met the constitutional requirements for office. It asked whether the candidate's motives were genuine.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260622-1300 · Jun 22, 2026
0:58
Andrew Gray“The Division rejected the complaint and allowed Representative Eastman to remain on the ballot. In the ensuing litigation, the Division consistently maintained that Alaska law and regulation, quote, carve out a narrow role for the Division to evaluate candidates' eligibility to be on the ballot, primarily concerned with a candidate meet the requirements for citizenship, age, and residency.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260622-1300 · Jun 22, 2026
0:53
Andrew Gray“Legislative Counsel Andrew Dunmire issued a memorandum concluding that the division likely lacked legal authority to remove Mr. Sullivan from the ballot because the United States Constitution sets forth the qualifications for serving in the U.S. Senate, and a requirement that a candidate be filed in good faith is not among them.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260622-1300 · Jun 22, 2026
0:30
Andrew Gray“What authority does the Division of Elections have to remove a candidate from the ballot? And has that authority been exercised consistently? Those questions matter because public confidence in elections depends on more than accurate vote counting. It depends on the public's confidence that the rules are applied equally to everyone.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260622-1300 · Jun 22, 2026
0:42
Thomas Amodio“all you have to do is be an inhabitant of Alaska when you are actually elected. So, you could literally come up here on Election Day That's my understanding. And that's the position that the Division of Elections took in the case that you were talking about. And the Supreme Court agreed in the sense that the Supreme Court said, yeah, this is not for the Division of Elections to investigate and decide. They absolutely can and must rely on the declaration of candidacy filed by a candidate, and that's it”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260622-1300 · Jun 22, 2026
0:45
Andrew Gray“the Division maintained that it lacked the authority to independently question a candidate's stated intent regarding future residency and argued against removing him from the ballot. The Division wrote in its briefing to the court that, quote, In his declaration of candidacy, Mr. Haffner certified to the Division that he would meet the residency requirement. However unlikely that may be in his case, the Division must treat him the same way it would treat any other qualified candidate who affirms an intention to meet the residency requirement by Election Day.”
Alaska Legislature: MISC-20260622-1300 · Jun 22, 2026
0:38
Amanda Tritt
“Youth participated in traditional activities such as moose hide tanning, fiddle dancing, plant medicine, beading, fishnet making, and more. Participants learned CPR and naloxone administration as well as gun safety. Talking circles with elders included topics like values, leadership, and advocacy. There were even special appearances by Get Out the Native Vote and Native Movement, as well as a visit from Chief Hildebrand and some of the executive board members. We are honored that our youth are preparing to step up and represent us and our traditions.”Tanana Chiefs Conference: TCC Weekly Episode 52 · Jun 22, 2026
0:25
Amanda Tritt
“Tanana Chiefs is pleased to announce that Joy Huntington has been selected as the new Director of Government Affairs.”Tanana Chiefs Conference: TCC Weekly Episode 52 · Jun 22, 2026
0:55
Amanda Tritt
“Joy brings more than 24 years of experience in government relations, strategic communications, stakeholder engagement, and advocacy to her new role. She began her career working directly with tribes and tribal organizations in environmental, housing, and cultural program roles before founding a statewide communications and government relations firm. She has previously served TCC as our lobbyist, successfully leading advocacy efforts in Juneau on behalf of our members tribes. We are excited to welcome Joy to this leadership position and look forward to her contributions as we work together toward healthy, strong, unified tribes.”Tanana Chiefs Conference: TCC Weekly Episode 52 · Jun 22, 2026
0:11
Cathy Giessel“Mr. President, I move that the Senate recede from its amendments to House Bill 381 and recommend that the Senate vote no.”
Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 20, 2026 11:00am · Jun 20, 2026
0:53
DeLena Johnson“the intention is to adjourn to, I think, around the 1st of July. With the intention that the conference committee will be meeting during that 10 days that we won't be in session, but they will have the opportunity to take things up, that people would be working in good faith and come to a resolution on this.”
Alaska Legislature: House Floor Session - July 20, 2026 10:00am · Jul 20, 2026
0:32
DeLena Johnson“this continuing resolution has been one of the things that has been of some concern because what we don't want to happen is we do not want to take it up, gavel out, not come back for a month, and sometimes things like that have happened. I just want to put on the record the conversation that I've had with you, Mr. Speaker, and what I understand the intention to be.”
Alaska Legislature: House Floor Session - July 20, 2026 10:00am · Jul 20, 2026
0:52
DeLena Johnson“my hope and my goal and my conversation has been that there will be a good faith effort to pass legislation that will continue the conversations that we're having, and that this won't be an excuse to not be here, that this will be— is just a method of being able to make things work well and work smoothly and acting in good faith and working with the other body to bring this legislation to a conclusion.”
Alaska Legislature: House Floor Session - July 20, 2026 10:00am · Jul 20, 2026
1:11
Bill Wielechowski“The fundamental question that we are being asked right now is how many billions in tax breaks shall we give to Glenfarn or whoever ends up producing this project so that they can make, according to the Department of Revenue's projections, $5 billion a year in profits?”
Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
0:21
Gary Stevens“7 Yeas, 13 nays. And so by a vote of 7 yeas to 13 nays, Amendment 1 to Amendment 2 has failed to pass the Senate.”
Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
0:26
Mike Cronk“I believe this body should move this legislation forward clean without— it's a tax burden which allows the developer and AGDC the best chance of success. Alaska's invested the billion dollars. You know, let's give this project— let's give them the opportunity to see if this project can be built.”
Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
0:44
Forrest Dunbar“in the construction phase, when you're not getting gas taxes, you are going to be losing oil revenue. So this bill, as it's currently written, unamended, it won't just raise very little in gas taxes in the long term, it'll also actually substantially harm Alaska's existing oil tax revenue in the short term and during the, and during the construction phase. That means less money for schools, less money for the PFD, less money for road maintenance”
Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
0:36
Forrest Dunbar“we know that Glenfarn, according to the modeling of Department of Revenue, will become one of the largest entities in our state. They estimated more than $400 million of revenue at full gas because of this provision. Now, that might have been overstated a little. We don't get to actually see Glenfarn's books, so We don't know how much money you would raise, but even if it was half of that, we're talking about a very substantial amount of money that Glenfarn originally said they were happy to pay, or at least they didn't fight.”
Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
0:28
Forrest Dunbar“This would create a stepped system for taxable income in oil and gas pass-through entities, not just S corps but also LLCs and similar legal entities. This is necessary.”
Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
0:35
Kelly Merrick“there is significant concern that the hard deadline for completion of Phase 1 will place doubt in the mind of investors, making it difficult to raise the needed capital for this project. Lenders take the most conservative view and will make a risk assumption that a delay may occur, resulting in a dramatic change in the developer's ability to service the debt.”
Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
0:39
Mike Cronk“Uncertainty surrounding a potential pass-through entity tax, investor tax treatment, or other unresolved fiscal issues will significantly impact current and prospective investors at a time when certainty is critical to advancing financing, commercial agreements, to and make final investment decisions.”
Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
0:20
Cathy Giessel“Article 9, Section 1 of our Constitution. Taxing power. The power of taxation shall never be surrendered. That's what the words say, Mr. President.”
Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
0:26
Bill Wielechowski“when this project goes into full development, we will be losing $462 million per year. That's not even inflation adjusted, Mr. President. Who knows what the number will be? That's according to Governor Don Levy's own Department of Revenue.”
Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
0:16
Gary Stevens“9 Yeas, 11 nays. By a vote of 9 yeas and 11 nays, Amendment 1 has failed to pass the Senate.”
Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
0:14
Gary Stevens“12 Yeas, 8 nays. And so by a vote of 12 yeas and 8 nays, Senate CS for CS for House Bill 381 Finance has passed the Senate.”
Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
0:48
Forrest Dunbar“the bill itself is geared around this date. This is not an arbitrary date. We know that the— as some folks call it, the kill switch, which reverts the bill back to the property tax system if there is no FID, that happens in 2028. Now, effectively what we are doing, if lease expenditures begin and construction begins, and those write-offs are occurring, and we've pushed this out another year, we have reduced oil revenue for that entire year to the tune of potentially tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
0:52
Robert Myers“When you take our state corporate rate of 9.4%, which is what this amendment is proposing, add it in with our federal corporate rate of 21%— 21%. You end up with a corporate rate that is higher than the corporate rate being charged in Canada to a similar project. And that's with Canada already having a lower property tax than what we are proposing in the underlying bill. So what we're doing with this amendment is we're taking one of the few places that we're actually a little more competitive than Canada and we're getting rid of it.”
Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
0:50
Cathy Giessel“One of the things that is said about this bill is it has not been modeled. Mr. President, then how the heck do you think we know that they will be making about $5 billion, Glenfarm, when this is at full production and we will be losing out on more than $400 million? Because it has been modeled by our own Department of Revenue, Mr. President.”
Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
0:27
Mike Cronk“the language is incomplete, untested, and poorly drafted. This proposal is incomplete and leaves major questions unanswered regarding entry-level treatment, apportionment, deductions, depreciation, loss carryforward, or as an investor taxation. Tax professionals from impacted parties agree the language is unworkable and would have chilling effects on the project's economics and the ability to attract investors.”
Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
0:17
Gary Stevens“14 Yeas, 6 nays. And so by a vote of 14 yeas to 6 nays, Amendment Number 12 has passed the Senate.”
Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
0:13
Cathy Giessel“our Department of Revenue is down 30 positions in the auditing division.”
Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
0:31
Jesse Kiehl“the other element that you will see in Amendment Number 5 that is added, Mr. President, is a requirement for at least 15% apprenticeship use on the project.”
Alaska Legislature: Senate Floor Session - June 19, 2026 2:15pm · Jun 19, 2026
0:35
Mike Dunleavy“the Glenn Farm was working with labor to negotiate an MOA. And the bill ends up going into law negotiating labor in, in the bill. And so, uh, I don't think that's something that is going to work. Um, and then there's a number of restrictions and triggers, uh, added to the bill.”
Source · Jun 19, 2026
