Chronically Absent Mary Peltola Drew Highest Salary in Alaska Legislature, Billed Taxpayers Hawaii Vacation

Democrat Mary Peltola was Alaska’s highest-paid state house representative yet missed 18.6 percent of votes in her five terms in office in the legislature, yet she found the time to bill taxpayers for a corporate retreat in Hawaii. In 2008, Peltola’s final year in office, she drew a taxpayer-funded salary of $77,884 while missing nearly one-fifth of votes.

Her time in office was marked by leading Alaska’s “tolerance commission” to implement woke DEI policies and also advocating for reintroducing a state income tax to “protect the rich,” according to one news outlet. The “tolerance commission” recommended banning state employees from asking the immigration status of people seeking taxpayer-funded services, providing health care for sex offenders, and diversity training for state employees and law enforcement.

Peltola established a pattern of running for office and missing large stretches of votes before cashing out and lobbying her former colleagues in her home state and in Washington.

The Hawaii conference was reported by the Anchorage Daily News. In 2006, the outlet revealed, “lawmakers billed the state for more than just plane tickets. Some get per diems, meals, and hotel rooms,” which included $1,525.06 to Peltola.

In 2011, she was elected to the Bethel City Council in western Alaska. Peltola missed more than a third of the city’s official meetings during her time in office. She subsequently became a lobbyist for the city, where she raked in at least $144,999.66 from 2015 to 2017, records from the Alaska Office of Public Commission showed.

Peltola was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2022 and again missed stretches of votes while not seeing any legislation signed into law. Her tenure was marked by one of the highest staff turnover rates in Congress.

More concerning, she is described as having a pattern of angry outbursts, physical abuse, and slurs including the n-word.

After losing her re-election in 2024, Peltola landed at a lobbying firm seeking to cash out on her short tenure. A federal financial disclosure indicates Peltola received a salary of $342,400.16 from a Washington law firm, with one Alaska outlet writing her “lucrative post-Congress lobbying work raises concerns.”

Peltola faces Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan in November. President Trump has praised Sullivan and will be in the state on Tuesday for a rally.

Follow Matt Mercer on X: @mattmercer.