A campaign mailer in which Anchorage mayoral candidate Amy Demboski accuses rival Dan Coffey of buying Anchorage Assembly votes has led to a counter-move from Coffey -- a robocall accusing Demboski of slander.
The mailer, sent out recently by Demboski's campaign, lists positive bullet points on Demboski and goes negative on Coffey and two other opponents, Ethan Berkowitz and Andrew Halcro.
Next to Coffey's photo, a bullet point states that Coffey "paid Assembly Members for their votes."
Coffey denies he ever did that.
Demboski said in an interview that her campaign drew that claim directly from Coffey's website, where he has released files on himself to voters. His files include a transcript of a private 2008 conversation between him and Assembly member Bill Starr that includes Coffey talking about withholding campaign contributions from Assembly candidates if they "didn't vote right."
The conversation, accidentally recorded and later widely distributed, recently veered back into the public eye when a lawyer for Coffey sent a letter warning news media not to re-broadcast the tape. At least one talk radio show, the "Glen Biegel Show" on KOAN 95.1 FM, played the tape after Coffey said he didn't actually plan to sue anyone.
Demboski said the mailer's accusation that Coffey paid Assembly members for votes was based on the 2008 taped conversation.
"When someone's caught on tape, and readily admitted to paying people to vote a certain way, it's clear that … that's what he said," Demboski said.
The conversation prompted a campaign finance investigation at the time by the Alaska Public Offices Commission. Coffey said he was cleared of wrongdoing.
On Tuesday, some Alaska households received a robocall from Coffey's campaign. In the recording, Coffey's wife, Pauline, is the speaker. According to a transcript provided by Coffey's campaign, Pauline Coffey introduces herself and says she wishes she "did not have to make this call."
"But I must. Amy Demboski has made slanderous statements about my husband, Dan Coffey, that simply are not true," Pauline Coffey says, according to the transcript. "By slandering my husband, Amy Demboski has shown she has neither the integrity nor ethics she claims."
She goes on to say that Coffey has the support of past conservative Republican mayors, and concludes, "Shame on you, Amy Demboski."
The robocall does not explain or elaborate on specific statements by Demboski. But Coffey said in an interview that his campaign recorded the robocall Tuesday morning to combat the Demboski mailer's accusation that he paid for votes.
As in recent weeks, Coffey said he was joking when he made his remarks to Starr about "doling out" contributions. He has noted that the men can be heard laughing on the tape.
"The only evidence I did that was me shooting my mouth off and making a bad joke," Coffey said. "But (Demboski is) playing it for political gain."
He said that Demboski is accusing him of bribing Assembly members, which he said would be a felony if it were true.
Marc Hellenthal, a political consultant working for Coffey, said the robocall went out to a list of registered Republicans and independents. Hellenthal said it was a quick and cheap way to respond to Demboski's mailer.
He said he wasn't sure yet how many people received the call or how much the call will cost the campaign.
A second bullet point on Demboski's mailer states that Coffey was "fined for violating lobbying laws," a reference to a $12,000 Alaska Public Offices Commission fine assessed against Coffey in early 2013.
The mailer also says that candidates Ethan Berkowitz and Andrew Halcro supported a state income tax and supported "raiding the PFD (Permanent Fund dividend) for government spending."