Former Democratic Senator Tom Begich announced last August that he would be running for Governor of Alaska in 2026. He is one of nearly 20 candidates whose name will likely be on the ballot.
Tom Begich, a former Senate Minority Leader originally from Anchorage, recently visited Ketchikan. He spoke with KRBD’s Sydney Dauphinais about his goals to fully fund public education, create a state Department of Energy, and make the Alaska Marine Highway System more affordable.
Tom Begich: I’m running for governor because I’ve been living and working in this state for decades, and what I’ve seen is very much a decline over the last eight years. And I think we can do better. I’m certain that we can fully fund education, we can forward fund education, and we can do so in a sustainable manner for years to come. I’m also certain that we can create an atmosphere that provides affordable energy for Alaskans across the state, that’s on two of the issues I worked on when I was in the state Senate and serving as minority leader. And finally, I know that we actually have the fiscal resources to do it. What we often don’t have is either the will or the ability for a governor to communicate with our legislature to make it happen. So today, maybe I can lay out for you a little bit of how we can have the funds to make this happen, how we can provide that education that will matter to all Alaskans, and how we can ensure that energy is affordable across the state. I’ve also, since I’ve been on the campaign trail, learned a lot more about the need for affordable housing. I’ve learned a lot more about the need to ensure that we have adequate access to health care in Alaska. And finally, when it comes to fishing issues, all Alaskans have an opinion.
Sydney Dauphinais: You mentioned that we do, as a state, have enough resources to fully fund education and fund some of the other things you mentioned. So what’s going wrong right now?
Tom Begich: Well, the big issue is a governor has to be present in Juneau when the legislature is meeting, because that relationship actually makes things happen. When I was in the majority and minority, Minority Leader of the State Senate, part of what made me effective was my ability to, every day, meet with my my other colleagues, and ensure that they understood the issues we were putting on the table, understanding all the background of those issues, so that they could feel more comfortable voting for an issue, even though I was of the opposite party. But what’s happened over the last few years is the animosity between the governor and the legislature has been so clear and so absolutely volatile that it’s led to a breakdown in that communication.
I have a strong working relationship with both the minorities and the majorities in the legislature. Today, I helped build the bipartisan coalition in the Senate. These things matter because that relationship means that when I’m able to put an issue on the table, I’ll be able to work with them to get those issues resolved. It’s not happening now. So for example, the internet fee, this is a fee collected by 36 other states. It wouldn’t cost anybody anything. It’s worth $35 million, the Governor vetoed it, despite it being passed by a bipartisan coalition. Same goes with the exception to the Hilcorp tax break. That’s a bill that everyone should be behind. This is the only oil company not paying corporate income tax. That meant that when they bought the assets of British Petroleum, it cost the state $100 million that day of not collected revenue. That money needs to be back in our coffers. Hilcorp should be paying its fair share. And finally, if you reduce the oil and gas tax credits that we provide today, whether it’s on Kuparuk or Prudhoe or Alpine, the three legacy fields that could be worth as much as $200 million to $250 million, conservatively, and according to the Resource Committee in the Senate today, it could be worth as much as $400-$450 million. So we’re talking between $450 million to $650 million being left on the table. So it requires a governor who can communicate and the will to collect those resources.
None of those resources I just mentioned cost you anything, but what they do is fully fund education. They fully fund the ability to retrofit your home, make it energy efficient, or to use new alternative energy technologies. These things you could be doing now, if the state collected those resources. We could also be strengthening our permanent fund. All of those matter, but it takes that communication and that will to act on these things to make it happen.
Sydney Dauphinais: You talked a little bit about your desire to really reach across the aisle in order to make things more productive. What are other ways that you might differ from other candidates?
Tom Begich: I’m willing to take and develop a State Department of Energy where we take all these different disparate groups. Alaska Energy Authority, what AIDA is trying to do, Alaska Housing Finance Corporation… take all these different components of energy, for the energy state that everyone says we are, and for the first time in history, actually create a Department of Energy with an energy plan for Alaska that actually looks to lower the cost of energy for schools. Because every dollar spent on energy in a school means less money is spent on a teacher. These things are real, and it means that for every dollar you spend for energy, energy that’s costing you too much. If we had an energy plan in Alaska that understood those differences and how and why you’re paying more, we could actually control that in a much better way. Plus, you’d be getting rid of some of these high-paid jobs at whether it’s the Energy Authority or AIDEA that are actually getting more money than even the governor makes. So you consolidate, you create a plan, and you work on that plan in the benefit of Alaskans, as opposed to some out of state multinational corporations. That’s different. Nobody else is talking about that.
I’ve also talked about taking state land, whether it’s University of Alaska land or Mental Health Trust land that are within municipal boundaries, and allowing ways for us to work with communities to actually address their housing needs. Nobody else is talking about that out there right now. And that plan I gave you for how we get to fiscal stability in the state of Alaska, that’s my plan, not anyone else’s plan. Most people are afraid to talk about those kinds of things. We have to talk about them. The future of Alaska depends not just on whether or not we get by and muddle through or the next crisis happens that kicks up the price of oil. It’s about sustainable budgets for the next 20 or 30 years.
Sydney Dauphinais: While you’re here in Ketchikan, I would like to ask about some Southeast Alaska issues, one of them being the ferry system. Is that something that is a priority for you? Can you speak to that a little bit?
Tom Begich: It is a priority for me. I was endorsed by the Inland Boatman’s Union for a reason. I’m talking about setting us up again with an Alaska Marine Highway Authority, separate from the Department of Transportation, which tends to treat the marine highway system like a stepchild. In a poor, poor way we manage this system. So number one, we would set up the authority. Number two, we would ensure that not only are we properly using the federal funds that we’re getting so that we’re actually creating a fleet that is interchangeable — the inland ferry system does it, we should be able to do it with the Alaska Marine Highway System.
We also need to make it affordable. It’s a highway. This is the connector for highway seven. I don’t pay extra money driving from Anchorage to Palmer. I don’t have to give somebody some money. You guys have a toll road down here in Southeast. I use your toll road. Why do Alaskans pay so much to drive our highway in Southeast but nowhere else in the state? I believe that it is the state’s responsibility to fund that system and fund it fully. That’s why you have to have an authority. Imagine an authority with the board driven by the communities that actually use the system, as opposed to one driven by some political appointees who may or may not value the system to start with.
