Minnery’s political ministry claims to IRS that it does not do politics
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If you want to know what exactly what Jesus wants from political candidates, just ask Jim Minnery, the Anchorage politician who long had a habit of signing his communiques with “In His Name.”
Waving a flag in one hand and a cross in the other, Minnery excels at denouncing the forces of evil—nearly all of them Democrats—and spreading his blessing on the forces of decency—nearly all of them Republicans—under Donald Trump.
The “harsh reality,” as Minnery put it in 2020, is that “The vast majority of Democrats in Juneau are left-wing progressives who have contempt for traditional Christians and our values.”
The Anchorage holy man is wrong about that, of course, but his fallback position is always that God is on his side.
“As we see our state teeter on the edge of becoming Democrat led, think Governor JKT or Senator Peltola as realities, it's worth noting Democrats are now, in many ways, being led by the Democrat Socialists of America (DSA),” Minnery moaned the other day.
Minnery preaches that he is doing what Jesus teaches.
Freely mixing Bible quotations—which shows the depth of his faith—with GOP propaganda, he pitches political hackery as divinely inspired, calling for “bold steps to ensure our state does not lean toward the Marxist tendencies of the DSA.”
“Our effort is called the Union of Christ Initiative and it is modeled after what the labor unions have known and done for years,” says Minnery.
Check out his paean from 2025 about political pulpiteers: “For those pastors and churches wanting to engage Biblically in being salt and light in the public policy arena, Alaska Family Council stands ready to help them speak clearly and courageously. Because in a culture that is confused, clarity is compassion—and silence really shouldn't be an option.”
“Yes! We are asking pastors to get political,” he wrote the other day in a homily that came with a plea for dough.
From his lofty perch in Anchorage, he has decided that the most crucial issues in the Fairbanks elections are bathroom access, tax breaks for churches and censorship.
He might as well have asked if assembly candidates agree with eating the dogs and the cats or claimed the school district is teaching sharia law.
Minnery is one of the breed of Alaska politicians trying to end the separation of church and state, regardless of the freedoms promised by the First Amendment.
Minnery’s “Values Voter Guide,” his attempt to mimic a papal bull, is revealing and important in a way that is beyond Minnery’s comprehension.
Let me put it this way: Every local candidate who stooped to answer Minnery’s survey deserves to be defeated in the October 6th election for displaying terrible judgement.
The candidates foolish enough to answer to Minnery’s so-called ministry gave the mandatory “Yes” answers that Jesus and Jim demanded.
On the other hand, candidates who had the sense to ignore Minnery’s so-called ministry will tell you that taxes, schools, public safety, quality of life, land use, zoning, transportation, trash pickup, emergency services, a healthy environment and fire protection are the real priorities for local government.
There are a couple of important legal questions I want to mention as well.
First, Jim’s guide is formatted to make it appear to be something it is not—an official document with the imprimatur of the city and the borough. This is deliberate and dishonest.
The city and borough should tell him to cease and desist.
Second, Jim continues to claim to the IRS that his ministry does not “engage in direct or indirect political campaign activities on behalf or in opposition to candidates for public office.”
Yet the group admits that the guide is the work of its “political arm.”
The publication of this guide and similar ones for Anchorage and for state candidates are direct or indirect political campaign activities.
But Minnery makes the same claim every year about engaging in no political campaign activity every year on his reports to the IRS, while inserting the group directly into politics without fail.
That sounds like a Ninth Commandment issue to me.
“Yes! We are asking pastors to get political,” Minnery wrote September 9.
On page 2 of the so-called guide, Jim posts the political disclaimer required by state law.
Here is the form 990 from Alaska Family Action Inc. filed in keeping with its tax-exempt status.
Minnery set up Alaska Family Action Inc. 20 years ago as a “social welfare” organization that would do an “insubstantial amount of political related activities.”
The group is all about politics, however, as it tries to “strategically advance Biblical truth in the public arena,” which permits only Minnery’s version of truth.
In 2024, his group campaigned for removal of a judge who issued a decision that Minnery and his board did not like.
“Visit our No on Adolf Zeman site link below and spread the word. Who knows…maybe we’ll eventually take one out,” said Minnery.
Here is a 2024 APOC filing in which Minnery’s group said it politically supported candidates who filled out their survey: “Mountain City Church distributed voter guides on site for their members. This effort supports conservative mayoral and school board candidates in the upcoming Anchorage Municipal election, including all of the candidates that filled out the survey: Dave Bronson, Breck Craig, Nick Danger, Dustin Darden and Phil Isley, Kay Schuster and Chelsea Pohland.”
Save us from the sanctimonious sermons of those who are blind to what should be the dividing line between politics and preaching.
Minnery is paid $70,000 a year, not by Alaska Family Action Inc., but by a separate non-profit in his so-called ministry, the Alaska Family Council. Here is the form 990 of The Alaska Family Council.
The board char of Alaska Family Action is Jake Libbey, an ad man who is owner and publisher of the Christian nationalist Alaska Watchman website and a “amateur-apologist and lover of good communication.”
I’ll close by quoting former Sen. Fred Dyson, a respected conservative and Christian leader who helped start the Alaska Family Council 20 years ago, but split with the “nominally Christian” group in 2023 because he believed it had gone far astray.
“In my years on the Family Council board, I tried to explain that we (they) were not using God's way to a better world, and we were demeaning the reputation of the loving God we thought we were serving. In addition, we were greatly limiting our effectiveness,” Dyson wrote in 2024.
He wrote that most candidates for the Legislature don’t answer Minnery’s missives, most legislators don’t support the group, and it does not have strong support from Anchorage churches. Alaska Family Council needs to change its operation, he said.
“The attitude was that 'the bad guys lie, misrepresent, cheat, etc., and thus we must fight fire with fire to win the cultural war.' This is in complete contradiction to Christ's Sermon on the Mount,” Dyson wrote on October 24, 2024.
“The immediate issue now is the current ‘voters' guide’ from the Family Council,” he said, referring to the 2024 version for state candidates. (The 2026 edition has yet to be released, but it will be more of the same.)
“Some of the policy questions that are asked of candidates are often far from the purview of Biblical values and not relevant to the mission statement of the national organization. In addition, some statements are right out of the current ‘woke’ playbook. The distortions, lack of facts, prejudice, personal vendettas, lack of due diligence, appeal to base emotions and lack of civility and common courtesy are sad and disappointing to me. “
”The net effect of this well-meaning but misleading and unfair publication is a loss of credibility and influence, as well as giving a bad impression of the God we want to glorify and serve with humility,” said Dyson, who served 27 years as an Anchorage assembly member and legislator.
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Every year, Alaska Family Action reports to the IRS that does not engage in campaign activities.
