The Alaska Public Offices Commission has affirmed previously agreed-to fines of two campaign groups with ties to Gov. Bill Walker's deputy chief of staff for taking actions that prevented contributors from being revealed.
The fines – $6,370 for Your Future Alaska and $1,338 for Alaskans First – were part of a consent agreement signed by the attorney for the group, Thomas Amodio, and staff with the APOC.
The groups violated campaign finance laws related to money they spent in fall 2014 to support Walker, an independent, and a slate of Democratic candidates.
They had been registered as nonprofit corporations by Marcia Davis, now Walker's deputy chief of staff. Davis also served as secretary and treasurer of the groups for a period of time.
Contributors to Your Future Alaska were not disclosed until October 2015, almost a year after the election and long after they should have been. The donors were philanthropist and former grocer Barney Gottstein, who gave $50,000; Bristol Bay Native Corp., which gave $20,000; and Ahtna Inc., which gave $5,000.
Your Future Alaska gave $21,000 to Alaskans First. The consent agreement said the two groups were involved in an illegal "pass-through technique" that obscured funding sources to Your Future Alaska, though it added that the actions may have happened "unintentionally."
The five-member APOC earlier this month agreed to decide privately whether to accept the consent agreement, following a request by Commissioner Mark Fish, a Libertarian appointed by Walker in 2015, to take the issue under advisement.
In its decision, the commission said it disagreed with the "implication" in the consent agreement that the violations only caused harm in the gubernatorial election.
"There was also significant harm caused in a legislative race," the decision said.
Anand Dubey, a Republican who lost a bid for a House seat in 2014, said at the commission meeting Feb. 10 that he was harmed by the groups' spending because some of the money spent by Alaskans First went to support Matt Claman, a Democrat who beat him by 90 votes.
"Nonetheless, the commission finds that it is in the public interest to approve the consent agreement because respondents have acknowledged the violations and have agreed to pay a civil penalty, and the penalty amount is significant," the decision said.
The independent political groups together could have been fined as much as $86,000, the agreement said. But APOC almost never fines to the maximum.