Copyright Anchorage Daily News
Corruption takes many forms, but in government it’s not difficult to define: the abuse of public duty for private gain. Sadly, Alaska experienced its own homegrown episode of corruption in the mid-2000s. The Veco/oil tax scandal resulted in bribery convictions of approximately 10% of the Alaska Legislature, triggered decades of mistrust and disfunction between public agency and private industry, and culminated in a uniquely complicated and burdensome oil and gas production tax that lingers to this day. What’s happening now at the highest levels of American governance overshadows our local experience including the extent of the economic damage that is sure to result. In February 2025, the Trump administration suspended the 1977 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and launched Washington’s departure from its traditional role as the global leader in business ethical standards and anticorruption practices. Since then, the Trump Administration has openly taken abuse of public duty for private gain to a whole new level. Put aside for a moment President Trump’s prodigious personal profiteering from public service and consider the economic consequences of the tectonic shift away from traditional American anticorruption guardrails to autocratic governance where power is concentrated in the hands of a single leader and his cronies. Beyond a brazen disregard of foreign corrupt practices are the corrosive erosion of the checks and balances of three equal branches of government and the unsettling interference with the Fed and with the agencies that report economic data, to name a few. Under autocratic leadership, the invisible hand of American market democracy is replaced with partisan public spending, political manipulation of the economy on behalf of campaign donors, and judicial/regulatory favoritism. Trump is obliterating the customary guideposts that protect civil and property rights, ensure contractual fairness, and provide equal access and opportunity for all, except to the privileged technology oligarchs and Trump loyalists. There’s more. Corruption diverts productive resources and leads to careless public spending. Funds are spent on projects based on kickbacks (the $300 million White House Ball Room) instead of need (SNAP, Medicaid and affordable health insurance). Thirty thousand Alaskans along with 40 million Americans are bracing for the massive rise in American Care Act health insurance premiums, which for many Alaskans will add thousands of dollars in additional health care costs. Trump’s recent cancellation of more than $300 million in Alaska energy infrastructure and the halt to $1.2 billion in wind energy development for the Railbelt is devastating for our state and a direct violation of congressionally-appropriated funds. These critical wind energy projects and jobs formerly in the hopper would have delivered lower costs and energy diversity for Railbelt utilities. It gets worse. Corruption acts like an unofficial tax that raises uncertainty and the costs of doing business. It clouds expectations which, in turn, freezes business decision-making and discourages investment. These impacts are especially pronounced and concerning when combined with the Trump administration’s capricious tariff policy, dictated without genuine economic justification and without any involvement from the tragically weakened Congress, as required under Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. The $66 billion Alaska LNG pipeline project, already on shaky economic ground, is not helped by Trump tariffs on machinery, construction materials and other critical inputs, all further compounded by the careless 25% tariff on imported steel. If there’s a miracle and the project advances, Alaskans can expect the price of energy to skyrocket. The continuing departure from the United States’ anti-corruption legacy is a losing proposition for Alaska and for America. Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich — where are you? Are you listening? Will Nebesky is an economist, pilot, and former oil and gas industry tax analyst who lives in Anchorage.
