If the fine proposed for Alaskans for Open Government holds, it would be the largest penalty for a campaign money violation in Alaska.
Backers of the controversial Ballot Measure 1 say it targets sweetheart deals and seeks to curb undue influence by government contract holders and unions.
Opponents say it would crush the ability of many Alaskans to lobby government and have a voice in political campaigns. Even a village mayor would be barred from traveling to Juneau to lobby, they say.
The measure is on the Aug. 24 primary election ballot.
Alaskans for Open Government was the top financial contributor to Clean Team Alaska, the group behind Measure 1, but it didn't file its first financial disclosure report to the state -- revealing the source of its money -- until June, long after various deadlines had passed, according to a letter sent this month by the Alaska Public Offices Commission.
The June report shows that the money Alaskans for Open Government pumped into the "yes" on Measure 1 campaign came from two groups led by Howie Rich, who made a fortune in Manhattan real estate and has been linked to similar campaigns in other states to rein in government.
APOC is proposing to fine Alaskans for Open Government $339,650. The group intends to challenge that, its Anchorage attorney Ken Jacobus said. It has $197.83 left in its bank account, he said.
Separately, the election watchdog agency is proposing to fine Clean Team Alaska more than $90 for failing to file a report that was due July 26. That report still hadn't been filed as of Monday.
THE BATTLE LINES
The proposed big fine is just the latest twist in the battle over Measure 1.
The backers of it, including former state Rep. Dick Randolph, say it's been misinterpreted. They are no longer actively campaigning, though they want it to pass.
Those opposed include groups with varied interests organized as the Stop the Gag Law committee: unions and local governments, the AARP and the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association, the Resource Development Council and various chambers of commerce.
The state Attorney General's office says the proposal would prevent public money from being spent for political campaigns and lobbying. It also would bar people with government contracts from making campaign contributions and extend that prohibition to relatives, the analysis says. The initiative defines relatives broadly as including in-laws, grandparents and grandchildren, nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles. Legislators and their aides would be barred from working for a government contract holder for two years.
Violating the law would amount to a crime.
The two sides disagree on what Measure 1 would do.
Opponents say school districts, villages, cities and other governmental organizations wouldn't be allowed to send leaders to Juneau to make a pitch for funding because that would amount to using public money for lobbying. They say a restaurant owner with a contract to cater food for government couldn't make campaign contributions, and neither could anyone in the person's extended family.
Backers say it wouldn't go that far.
AMASSING THE FINES
Alaskans for Open Government is in trouble with APOC for filing financial disclosures late -- in some cases over a year late:
• Under state law, the group was supposed to report each contribution of $500 or more to Clean Team within 30 days of making it. In June, it reported 21 such contributions made over the previous two years -- with 20 of them violating the 30-day rule. The APOC is proposing a $276,600 fine for this.
• State law required Alaskans for Open Government to register as a group by Aug. 7, 2008, as its Clean Team contributions ramped up. It registered June 2, 2010. The APOC is proposing a $33,200 fine for this.
• The APOC is proposing a $29,850 fine for the group's late filing of its year-end 2008 and 2009 reports. The group filed one report June 12, 2010, covering both years.
Alaskans for Open Government was the main source of money for Clean Team, at least as of February when Clean Team last filed a financial disclosure to APOC. In all, it gave Clean Team $140,220 since May 2008, according to its APOC filing dated June 26.
Jacobus said Alaskans for Open Government didn't initially file reports with APOC because he didn't think it had to.
"We're really not in the interest of keeping anything secret because part of the initiative is for transparency," Jacobus said, referring to a provision of Measure 1 that would require the state to post its contracts on the Web.
Clean Team backers dropped its campaign June 10 just as the state was pushing Alaskans for Open Government to disclose its finances.
THE VIRGINIA CONNECTION
So where does Alaskans for Open Government get its money? From two groups, according to its recent disclosures to APOC: Americans for Limited Government and the Legislative Education Action Drive, both at the same Fairfax, Va., address. Most of the money came from Americans for Limited Government.
Rich founded and leads both groups. He didn't respond to e-mails sent through the conservative Website Townhall.com, where his columns appear.
He is described on Wikipedia as "a Manhattan-based real estate developer who is notable for funding Libertarian-oriented political initiatives such as term limits, school choice, parental rights regarding education, limited government and property rights."
According to Clean Team's Web site, he's also a longtime associate of Randolph, the former Fairbanks legislator and Libertarian governor candidate in the 1980s.
Did the money provided to Clean Team originally come from Rich? Jacobus said he doesn't know.
Anyway, Americans for Limited Government "didn't want APOC to try and dig into where their money came from and submit themselves to the jurisdiction of APOC because apparently they had some problem in another state related to that," Jacobus said.
THE OTHER SIDE
The Stop the Gag Law group had spent more than three-quarters of a million dollars as of late July, much of that on radio and television ads trying to convince Alaskans that the measure would have far-reaching and unwanted consequences. By the time of the election next week, the group expects to have spent $1 million.
They say even though there's not an organized campaign for Measure 1, it has populist appeal as "anti-corruption" and they must work hard to provide information on what it would really do.
"The more people know about this, the more apt they are to vote against it," said Josh Applebee, campaign manager for Stop the Gag Law committee.
His group's biggest contributors are the National Education Association, which had put in $400,000 as of July 23, the Alaska State Employees Association, with $100,000, and the Alaska Public Employees Association. While the latter had donated $35,000 as of the July report, it since has put in additional money to become a top contributor, Applebee said.
The next reports to APOC are due today.
Find Lisa Demer online at adn.com/contact/ldemer or call 257-4390.
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