'Yeah, that's bullshit. OK? You could quote me. That's bullshit."---Gov. Mike Dunleavy

Here is a portion of the transcript, recorded for posterity by a Juneau reporter, of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s gasline emissions at the conclusion of the last special session.

Dunleavy, who has yet to introduce a bill for the third special session, ended the last one by insulting key members of the Senate majority. The gasline negotiator was speaking with reporters from the Alaska Beacon, Alaska Public Media and the Juneau Independent after a press conference in which he said reporters should ask members of the Senate majority why they insisted on closing the Hilcorp loophole, the so-called “S corp” tax, as part of the gasline tax cut bill.

Mark Sabbatini, editor of the Juneau Independent, told Dunleavy that Sen. Bill Wielechowski had claimed that Dunleavy opposed closing the Hilcorp loophole because Texas billionaire Jeff Hildebrand, the owner of Hilcorp, wants the loophole to remain. There is no question that Dunleavy is siding with Hildebrand on this, which may explain the intemperance of his denial.

Dunleavy: Yeah, that's bullshit. OK? That's bullshit. You could quote me, that's bullshit. Okay, he's a bullshitter. He’s one of a handful in the Senate and the Democrats that are going to try and kill this gas line for the very people they purport to represent—poor people, single moms with kids, that their bills are going through the roof. Why doesn't he give a rip about them? Why doesn't he care about them? So you can't get an S corp bill passed that's unvetted, that nobody really knows what it does, unless you hold the people hostage with a gas bill.

Well, that's a representative for you. That's a senator for you. That's that's pretty sad, to be perfectly honest with you, Mark. Pretty sad. So great. We just, I recommend that that we don't vote, or we we veto a combination S corp with a gas bill. And the gas side I said 100 times was pretty dang good, and the House sent one out without an S corp. But I'm doing this because of billionaires in Texas?

Why is he doing it? Why is he insisting on an S corp? Why is he insisting on an S Corp in this bill? In this bill? Why don't you ask him?" Just tell him Dunleavy, go text him back.

Sabbatini: He's going to say that he's doing this on behalf of Alaskans because this generates revenue.

Dunleavy: Great, then do a separate bill because you just told me that 80% of Alaskans want it. It should be a slam dunk in this Senate and in this House. 80% of the people want it. Easy peasy. Why isn't he doing it separately? Why isn't he doing it separately, Mark? 

Sabbatini: Okay. 

Dunleavy: Well, just find out.

Sabbatini: And I'm sure he'll have plenty to say. 

Dunleavy: Oh, he'll have plenty to say. He always has plenty to say. Always has plenty to say. 

After more back and forth about the six conference committee members, who agreed that closing the Hilcorp loophole would require more work in the future, Dunleavy continued to attack Wielechowski and added Sen. Cathy Giessel to his whinefest.

Dunleavy: They all six of them struggled with this S corp, but it's Wielechowski, and you can quote me on it, and it's Giessel and you can quote me on it, that insists there's an S Corp because they got something up, whatever, on this whole billionaire, millionaire thing.

And they don't care if it craters the investment world here in Alaska, and they don't care about turning the lights on for people.

Ask them why they just don't run the bill they have. It was live for two years. They had an S corp separately, because the only way they're going to get their S corp—which is confusing—is to hold the people of Alaska hostage over gas. That's pretty shameful, to be perfectly honest with you. And you can quote me on that.

Another reporter: Governor what is the strategy to get people back here for special session? 

Dunleavy: They get on an airplane and they come down and represent their constituents. Or they tell their constituents we're too tired, we don't want to, or we don't want to do this. I don't think that's going to happen.

You're going to see the majority of people here. Whether they continue to play games with the future of Alaska over an S corp, which again separate it out, Mark. Separate the S corp out.

Sabbatini and James Brooks of the Alaska Beacon then asked Dunleavy about his comments in November when Dunleavy predicted that Glenfarne was ready to order pipe and get the project going without a state tax cut. Dunleavy said he would be shocked, not surprised, if Glenfarne didn’t commit to build the project in early 2026. What changed?

Dunleavy: Calculations. Calculations. And those guys having discussions with folks that are going to finance the project that over a billion dollars would be taken out even before gas is moving. I’m gonna go.

These are “calculations” that Glenfarne and Dunleavy were not aware of—even as late as last November—many months after the company agreed to take on one of the largest infrastructure projects in the United States? The “calculations” were brought to their attention by the “folks that are going to finance the project?’

To quote our eloquent governor, “That’s bullshit.”

Your contributions help support independent analysis and political commentary by Alaska reporter and author Dermot Cole. Thank you for reading and for your support. Either click here to use PayPal or send checks to: Dermot Cole, Box 10673, Fairbanks, AK 99710-0673.