The organizations that have accused backers of the 2008 Clean Water Initiative of election law violations have their own case to wrangle with the Alaska Public Offices Commission. Art Hackney, one of those accused by foes of the initiative, filed his own complaint against Alaskans Against the Mining Shutdown (AAMS), Council of Alaska Producers (CAP) and NANA Regional Corporation.
APOC investigators found merit in several of the complaints against AAMS and CAP for failure to report expenditures in a timely manner. The staff recommended maximum fines for the violations, which total $21,500 for CAP and $61,200 for AAMS.
Essentially, the fines are for not reporting expenditures before the vote took place. The groups put the information on their year-end reports instead of on reports that were required before the Aug. 26 election.
Given the millions spent on the initiative fight and the dueling accusations, it's tempting to say a pox on both houses.
But there's a difference. The violations by the initiative foes -- which they intend to contest -- involve late reporting. APOC investigators found no evidence the parties attempted to hide contributions or the identity of contributors or expenditures -- as they did in the case of Bob Gillam and his allies, who were supporting the initiative.
What backers of the initiative did was far more offensive to the integrity and transparency of Alaska elections. While the proposed fines on both sides of the cases are comparably large, the severity of the violations is not.
BOTTOM LINE: Not all election violations are equal.