Gov. Mike Dunleavy cares about Alaska and wants good things for its citizens. But that doesn’t change the fact that he has done serious and likely permanent damage to the state ferry system; that he has not supported adequate school funding; that he sliced the University of Alaska budget, cutting into student enrollment; and that his fixation on the size of the Permanent Fund dividend is politically popular but fiscally irresponsible.

If re-elected, will Dunleavy’s second term be a repeat of his first year in office in 2019, when he was headed to a recall vote before the pandemic shut d...