Anchorage Daily News

Editor's note: Jim Clark issued the following statement late Monday night via e-mail.

"Alaskans are right to be disappointed and upset with me. I today pled guilty to a federal offense, predicated upon what were in essence violations of Alaska campaign finance laws, which I committed by requesting pre-primary and primary campaign contributions from VECO.

"It is ethically and morally wrong for a public official to violate Alaska's laws under any circumstance. It is particularly wrong when it involves a request for campaign funds from a company such as VECO, which was supporting important legislation then before the Administration and the Legislature. No one is more aware of my inappropriate conduct than I am. For this I sincerely apologize to all Alaskans.

"I specifically apologize to then candidates for governor in the 2006 Republican primary, John Binkley and Sarah Palin. Nothing can justify breaking Alaska's campaign finance laws to unfairly benefit one candidate. Such actions hit at the heart of our democratic system by making the public cynical about government.

"I apologize, too, to Governor Frank Murkowski who trusted me to follow the law while acting in his behalf. I recognize that some people will unfairly attribute what I have done to him.

"I apologize to the Anchorage Daily News for denying last September that I asked Dave Dittman to bill a poll to VECO. At that time I confused the timing of work I did on the pre-campaign Dittman poll with the polling done by Mr. Dittman during the primary for which the campaign legally paid. I was wrong and clearly should have attempted a more careful review of the facts before issuing a denial.

"Not only were my violations of Alaska's campaign finance laws wrong and unethical, they were stupid. They were a shortcut to raising campaign funds because I saw myself as "too busy" to make the phone calls that I could have made to potential contributors to legally raise the money. I should have drawn a line between my job and the campaign and simply left fundraising to the campaign fundraisers. For this I especially apologize to my family for whom what was to have been four years of public service has been transformed into a nightmare.

"I acknowledge the FBI's hard work to eliminate from Alaska's political culture anything other than appropriate behavior from Alaskan officials. I will continue to cooperate with the government in its work going forward. Again, I am sorry for what I have done to harm Alaskans' trust in their public officials."

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