Dear Editor: I thank my grandfather for a phrase he used with my siblings and me decades ago: “Check your moral compass frequently.”
I was five when I first heard it and had no idea what it meant. I do now. He taught me to stop from time to time and ask myself whether something feels right.
I have known Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins since he was a kid. I have watched him grow and generously give his time to Sitka’s high school exchange students during their annual legislative visits. I respect him for running for governor.
That is why I have been trying to understand what bothers me about the way his campaign began.
Jonathan entered the race February 4. Almost immediately, headlines and social media highlighted the substantial money his campaign had raised, giving the impression of extraordinary early support.
I looked more closely at the campaign-finance records.
According to Alaska Public Offices Commission records, $32,000 came into the campaign the day before his announcement and $220,000 on announcement day. Of that $252,000, $202,000 came from five Anthropic employees; another $50,000 came from an AI-related researcher.
Through July 17, the campaign reported approximately $1.85 million in contributions. Only about $372,000 came from Alaska addresses—roughly 20%. About 80% came from outside Alaska.
More than 1,500 Alaskans have contributed, many with small-dollar donations. But four out of every five campaign dollars coming from outside Alaska gives me pause.
That financial support has also helped create extraordinary visibility. Jonathan has traveled to all 19 boroughs and extensively throughout rural Alaska—by snowmachine, boat and floatplane—meeting people and documenting those visits on social media.
Yet Alaskans could not see the full picture of who was financing the campaign until the July disclosure, months after the campaign began and only weeks before the primary.
Did the combination of early outside money, delayed disclosure and extraordinary visibility create an impression of Alaska support that did not reflect the full financial picture?
I don’t know the answer. But learning this has unsettled my trust in Jonathan as a potential governor.
For me, this is about transparency, independence, judgment and accountability—and the kind of leadership I want to trust.
My grandfather told me to check my moral compass frequently. I have tried to do that throughout this process.
And something still bothers me.
Krisanne Rice, Sitka
