A conservative organization in Homer invited the five leading Republican candidates for governor to speak last night at their last monthly meeting before the August primary election. Three of the candidates declined to attend. Shelly Hughes couldn’t appear in person but sent a video message. Only one candidate made a personal appearance. It was Adam Crum, who had the meeting to himself and made the most of his opportunity.
Crum started out with a typical stump speech, similar to most of the candidates who have visited Homer. He described his motivations for running for governor, his qualifications, and his vision for our state going forward. All pretty traditional stuff. It was when he opened up the floor for questions that things got interesting.
The first question from the audience was about his tenure as Commissioner of Health and Social Services during the Covid pandemic. Mr. Crum was asked whether he had any regrets about how the state responded, and if he would do anything differently as governor. Crum admitted that in his view the state overreacted to the pandemic but said one of the driving factors was concern for Alaska’s native population. He said the state was given incorrect initial information that Covid was an airborne virus comparable to the influenza outbreak of 1918, and that historic records from that time indicated a fatality rate of 50% among Alaska’s natives. The state was concerned that Covid could be a repeat of that tragic event, which guided the initial response.
Crum said that initial information was incorrect, but by the time it was realized, that mistakes had been made by the state. It was refreshing to see the man step up and acknowledge where his organization could have done better.
It was in subsequent questions that Crum was able to share his vision for Alaska’s future. He channeled a little bit of former Governor Wally Hickel and talked about the lack of big infrastructure projects in Alaska needed to develop our resources. Commenting that Alaskans used to be proactive in identifying opportunities and making them happen. Now we can’t even build a pipeline to export a known natural gas resource from the North Slope because the legislature is so worried about how much money they can take in taxes that they are choking the project to death.
Mr. Crum gave two examples of projects that will spur resource development and provide alternate revenue streams for the state. First, Mr. Crum cited his support for the West Susitna Access Road which will provide access to mining claims on state land in the Yentna/Rainy Pass area. There are many mineral resources available there, including large coal reserves in the area which are located on state lands, but they need an access road to be economically viable. Crum says that not only would coal mines on state lands generate revenue for the state, if we switch to power generation burning coal, it would free up Cook Inlet natural gas for home heating instead of power generation.
Another project that Crum cited as a potential source of revenue for the state is the construction of AI data centers on the North Slope. Data Centers are very controversial, and most of the candidates for governor have avoided the issue. Mr. Crum noted that Stak Energy proposes to build one of these massive facilities off of the haul road, near Prudhoe Bay and at least one of the Democrat candidates has come out in opposition to the concept, but Crum sees things differently. Mr. Crum noted that the North Slope oil fields have been safely operated for many years with large facilities having similar power and water requirements. The natural gas needed to provide power to this data center is readily available near Prudhoe Bay, so this new facility would not have an undue negative impact. He also pointed out the potential to generate massive revenue for the state.
Using public information, he obtained from the SpaceX IPO, that shows the revenue stream from a similar facility, Crum says the state could receive revenue from corporate income tax of up to $1.4 billion annually. That revenue would be similar in magnitude to the $1.91 billion of unrestricted oil revenue the state received from the oil industry in 2025.
It was refreshing to see a gubernatorial candidate talking about developing Alaska’s resources and finding new sources of revenue to fund state government. For ten years our current legislature has relied on diminishing tax revenue from the North Slope oil fields and made up the difference by squeezing the people for an ever larger portion of their annual PFD check. Mr. Crum looks to be trying to break that cycle by searching for alternate revenue streams, a message that should resonate with all Alaskans.
Sunday night five gubernatorial candidates were invited to speak with conservatives in Homer. Only one appeared in person. With 17 candidates in this race, it is impossible to forecast the results of the primary election, but voters on the southern Kenai Peninsula, looking for a strong leader, might choose Adam Crum to be their candidate on August 18th. Don’t be surprised if he is one of the final four as we head to the general election in November.
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