The founder of the influential conservative political website Must Read Alaska, Suzanne Downing, resigned earlier this week after the site’s owner asked her to remove or modify a story about former attorney general Treg Taylor, she said in an interview.
“I'm not going to allow people to take down my stories because they just simply don't want them up,” Downing said in a phone interview Wednesday.
The story, which remained live on the site on Thursday, highlighted Taylor’s request to withhold the names of tenants renting property from Taylor and his wife, Jodi Taylor, on financial disclosure forms during his time as attorney general. Taylor resigned as attorney general last month and is expected to run for governor.
“I think the story has great validity,” she said. “When you have the state's top lawman telling one of his client agencies that he wants a special carve-out for him and his wife, who are millionaires, so that they don't have to report things in the way that everybody else has to report things, that is of interest, and I think that people need to know about that.”
Jodi Taylor told the Alaska Public Offices Commission Wednesday that the request for an exemption was an effort to protect tenants and property managers from harassment.
Downing’s exit from the blog she founded was first reported by the Alaska Landmine, a political website.
Downing, 71, founded Must Read Alaska in 2015 as a newsletter while serving as communications director for the Alaska Republican Party. She launched a website independent of party control in 2016 to share what she describes as “the conservative side of the news.”
“There is a conservative side of the news, and there's a liberal side of the news, and anybody tells you differently as a stone-cold liar,” she said.
She sold the site in 2023 to Alaska Gold Communications, headed by Homer businessman Jon Faulkner, to allow her to spend more time with her grandchild, she said. Reached by phone, Faulkner declined to comment on Downing’s departure.
Downing continued to work for the site as a contractor until this week, she said. She launched a new website following her resignation but said a noncompete agreement prohibits her from covering “local issues” for the next six weeks.
The vice president of the Alaska Gold Communications’ board of directors, Todd Lindley, posted a statement confirming Downing’s resignation and thanking her for her service.
“As we wish Suzanne every success in her next chapter, we remain committed to prioritizing the high-quality, independent journalism that our readers rely on,” the statement says. “The Board of Directors at Must Read Alaska is dedicated to promoting and protecting a free press and to delivering comprehensive reporting on issues that affect Alaska and our communities.”
Rep. Jamie Allard, a staunchly conservative Republican representing Eagle River in the state Legislature, praised Downing’s work on Must Read Alaska and mourned her departure.
“She has, for the past decade, given the conservative voice a platform in which to voice their policies, who they are, and to move forward with the ideals of the conservatives who want to see the state move forward,” she said in a phone interview. “Without Suzanne on Must Read Alaska, that's going to take away a platform for more than half the constituents in the state of Alaska.”
Political consultant Jim Lottsfeldt, who generally helps Democrats and moderate Republicans, said he was “not a fan” of Downing’s output. Her influence, though, is undeniable, he said.
“She fed into an echo chamber and just effectively became the voice for conservatives, with conservatives reading it and liberals reading it to see what the conservatives were talking about,” he said. “And thus, they started to sort of control the debate.”
Downing’s conservative writing has vexed Democrats and moderate Republicans alike. The state House earlier this year took the rare step of voting down a legislative citation honoring her. Rep. Zack Fields, an Anchorage Democrat, said on the House floor at the time Downing had a “long record of outright dishonesty” that was “caustic” to political discourse. Fields declined to comment on Downing’s departure from the site.
“That’s what they say about anybody who they disagree with,” Downing said, though she acknowledged that she occasionally made mistakes and corrected them.
Downing has consistently written favorably about one of Taylor’s possible rivals in the 2026 gubernatorial race, conservative activist and first-time candidate Bernadette Wilson. Downing livestreamed Wilson’s campaign launch from Juneau. Asked whether she was supporting any particular candidate in the race, Downing said she was undecided, but said that, in her view, that Wilson was the only candidate actively campaigning.
“We've got one candidate right now,” she said.
But Downing said she would likely back whoever the top conservative candidate turns out to be in the August 2026 primary election, whether that’s Wilson, Taylor or someone else.
Lottsfeldt, the political consultant, said he was bullish on Downing’s future — but he said Downing’s exit was a significant blow to the future of Must Read Alaska.
“I think this is really bad news for Jon Faulkner,” he said. “I think without her, there's no reason to go to that page.”
