The location of the unidentified former flying object shot down over northern Alaska was not the only weekend geography mystery in the state.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s office found it necessary to conceal the governor’s location, perhaps because he was attending a rodeo in San Antonio and a sport hunting conference of Safari Club International in Muskegon, Michigan.

Dunleavy’s press agent released a statement about the UFO, which contained the obligatory snide remark about President Joe Biden, without mentioning that the governor was trying on a new cowboy hat in Texas.

“This latest intrusion into our airspace raises serious questions about the White House’s decision to not shoot down a Chinese spy balloon last week when it was above the Aleutian Chain,” Dunleavy was purported to say Friday.

Dunleavy’s statement falsely claimed that the second object was shot down “before it was flying over our land.” The object was tracked across Alaska for 24 hours. while Dunleavy was Outside, the latter fact concealed by his PR staff.

“Several people posited that Dunleavy was in Texas during the incident, based on sightings of the Republican governor at a Texas rodeo earlier in the week. Dunleavy spokesman Jeff Turner did not respond to several questions about Dunleavy’s whereabouts but said the governor was apprised on the unidentified object before it was shot down,” the Anchorage Daily News said.

There was no need to posit. On Thursday night, when F-35s first tracked the object floating over northern Alaska, Dunleavy was at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, which organizers claim is one of the greatest rodeos in North America. Dunleavy was introduced to the crowd and he stood to take a bow one hour and 27 minutes into the prime time rodeo broadcast in San Antonio.

After the rodeo, Dunleavy went to Muskegon, Michigan for a Safari Club International convention. Dunleavy has been a regular at Safari Club events and had the state sign onto a lawsuit with the club over federal hunting rules.

The problem with these events is not that Dunleavy went to a rodeo in Texas and to a hunting conference in Michigan, but that state employees felt the need to hide this from Alaskans when there were questions about his statement attacking Biden over the balloon affair.

Even worse than this bit of deception, however, was that Dunleavy skipped an important national meeting of governors in Washington, D.C. so he could go to the rodeo and the Safari Club meeting.

Dunleavy wants the state to spend millions more to hire high-priced lawyers and consultants to fight “federal overreach” and generate press releases, but rather than go to the White House with other members of the National Governors Association to try and solve problems, he opted to pursue his personal interests and wear a new hat.

Thirty-seven Republican and Democratic governors attended the Washington, D.C. event, while 31 attended the Saturday dinner at the White House, where Biden made a plea for working together. Among the missing were Dunleavy, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

“Biden and both associations' leaders, Republican Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah and Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey, spoke about the need to put aside the increasingly rancorous political differences in order to work together to better the nation,” the Associated Press said.

“It's symbolic to have Republicans and Democrats breaking bread together,” Cox said. “This is what is missing.”

Count Dunleavy among the missing.

Your contributions help support independent analysis and political commentary by Alaska reporter and author Dermot Cole. Thank you for reading and for your support. Either click here to use PayPal or send checks to: Dermot Cole, Box 10673, Fairbanks, AK 99710-0673