This article was republished with permission from dermotcole.com.
Tregarrick Taylor, the third attorney general under Gov. Mike Dunleavy, disputes the notion that anything he does from his state perch is motivated by personal opinion or interpretation.
“I don’t get to provide advice based on what the law could or should be; my duty is to provide advice based on what the law is,” Taylor proclaims in a stuffed-shirt document published in the Anchorage Daily News and elsewhere.
Taylor complains about the work of veteran investigative reporter Kyle Hopkins, who has demonstrated that the state changed policy on civil rights protections for LGBTQ people after Taylor sent an email to the Alaska State Commission on Human Rights last summer.
Taylor said the “article pointed to alleged actions I have taken in my personal life as proof that my actions as the attorney general are politically motivated. . .”
But some of Taylor’s actions as attorney general are based on his personal opinions about politics. He is a politician after all.
Taylor’s office produces more press releases than the governor and he has his own two-person PR staff to bombard the public with announcements highlighting the great things the AG does and promoting opinions, some of them Taylor’s personal opinions.
He is quick to add his name to every Republican dog whistle chain letter or lawsuit that strikes his fancy—ranging from advising drug stores not to sell an abortion pill to complaining that the Securities and Exchange Commission is moving toward a “command and control economy”and denouncing credit card companies for having a “category code” for gun stores. He has also opposed vaccination rules for public health, a new visa system for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela and a variety of other Biden administration moves. Federal overreach is a constant theme.
Last July, Taylor joined 21 other GOP attorneys general in claiming that a federal policy banning discrimination because of gender identity and sexual orientation was illegal.
Regarding the civil rights question on which Taylor clearly instigated a change in state policy—this happened after he sent an email to the commission last summer that led to a change in policy—reversing advice given previously by the Department of Law.
“As the attorney general for the state of Alaska, I don’t dictate policy decisions to state entities,” Taylor claimed in his press release.
Don’t be confused by word games. He didn’t dictate that the commission change its policy. He said the commission should change its policy—which is the same thing.
“Robert Corbisier, who has been executive director of the Alaska State Commission for Human Rights since 2019, said the attorney general directed him to make the change in an email, though Corbisier said he would not provide the news organizations with a copy of it. He said that Taylor said the Supreme Court case, known as Bostock v. Clayton County, was limited to employment discrimination and therefore the agency should limit its own enforcement to employment matters unless the state Legislature expanded its authority,” Hopkins wrote.
“Asked why the commission changed its policy based on a brief communication from the attorney general, Corbisier said, ‘The attorney general is counsel to the agency. And, I mean, I’m a lawyer. I’ve been in private practice. I think you should do what your lawyer tells you to do.’”
Taylor has refused to release the key documents or admit that all this came about because of a complaint by Jim Minnery, who has a right-wing political fundraising ministry that is in perfect sync with Taylor’s politics.
According to Taylor, the previous policy advice given to the commission by the Department of Law on discrimination was wrong and Taylor was setting things right.
Taylor, who had refused a request by Hopkins for an interview, hasn’t released the email he sent to the commission or other documents about his role in changing the state policy, only a press release that says he didn’t change state policy.
The governor’s office and Taylor have yet to reply to a request from the Alaska Public Interest Research Group about the change in state policy that took place because of Taylor’s intervention.
One thing to remember here is that Taylor is not a detached or independent arbiter. He had long been immersed in right-wing politics even before the Legislature ordained him as attorney general two years ago.
Running for the Anchorage assembly in 2016, he posed for a photo with a campaign sign that said he was “the only South Anchorage candidate that owns a gun!”
As far as his “alleged actions” go, there was nothing alleged about his well-documented actions.
As Hopkins wrote, “Since becoming attorney general, he has appeared on public records as the director for a group that paid for attack ads on Democratic candidates during the 2022 election cycle and is advertised as the host for a $15,000-a-head fundraiser the group is planning this summer.”
Alaska Policy Partners Inc., backed by Taylor and his wife Jodi Taylor, among others, ran the most scurrilous attack ads in the 2022 campaign, targeting Democrats and some moderate Republicans. The Taylor family put nearly $30,000 into the group.
”We amplify entrepreneurs’ collective voice through facilitating strategic relationships,” Alaska Policy Partners proclaims, adding, “We advocate for legislation and policies that will unleash opportunity for all Alaskans.”
Some of the campaign ads included lies and phony statistics about Democratic and moderate Republican candidates, with an asterisk claiming the information was meant as satire.
Two weeks after the November election, Taylor and Wasilla Rep. Jesse Sumner had their names removed from the corporate documents of Alaska Policy Partners. But the AG is still raising money for the group, as his hosting of the $15,000 “wild Alaskan fishing expedition” at Pybus Point Lodge on Admiralty Island shows.
The lodge says its normal five-day trips start at $7,000 per person.
Alaska Policy Partners is in the same Anchorage building as the Alaska Policy Forum, the right-wing group on which Jodi Taylor serves as board chair.
As a school board candidate in 2011, Tregarrick Taylor opposed tenure for public school teachers, supported school vouchers, complained about “museum-like schools,” claimed that “the focus is not on the classroom,” and that going “back to the basics” would improve matters. He wanted “more personal responsibility,” not to mention “limited and responsible government” and “civility and respect.”
Much of what candidate Taylor said during his unsuccessful run for the school board and during his later unsuccessful run for the Anchorage assembly is in line with what his wife and the Alaska Policy Forum say.
She complains about spending too much money on public school buildings. “Unfortunately, we are hobbling our kids’ academic opportunities by allocating far too many of our nation-leading education dollars to facilities,” Jodi Taylor wrote last year.
She also wrote that she thinks she should be given $8,000 from the state to reimburse her and General Taylor for correspondence study for their kids.
“My two youngest school-age children attend St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (SEAS) private school. They attend full time and are also enrolled in the Anchorage School District’s Family Partnership Charter School (FPCS). Next year, I will request that FPCS use funds in our correspondence study program annual student allotment to reimburse our family up to $4,000 for each of our children,” Jodi Taylor wrote last May on the Alaska Policy Forum blog.
Jodi Taylor told the Alaska Beacon she “learned of the state statute that says correspondence student allotment may be used to purchase nonsectarian private school services and materials from Alaska Policy Forum Chief Executive Office Bethany Marcum, who worked as a legislative staffer for Gov. Mike Dunleavy when Dunleavy was a state senator.”
Dunleavy recently appointed Marcum to the University of Alaska Board of Regents to set policy for higher education in the state.
The use of public funds for private schools is now the subject of a lawsuit saying the practice violates the language in the Alaska Constitution that prohibits using public funds for private schools.
After his wife publicized her plan to seek $8,000, General Taylor said he recused himself from the issue and the department issued an opinion saying that it is sometimes OK to use public funds for private schools, despite the constitutional ban.
All of this is about the law and opinions about the law, including those held by the attorney general.
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