Less than a month before Election Day, a new group formed to oppose a ballot measure that seeks to boost Alaska’s minimum wage and require most Alaska employers to provide their workers paid sick leave.
Several groups representing Alaska businesses, including the Alaska Chamber of Commerce, previously took a position opposing the ballot initiative but said they would not raise and spend money on an opposition campaign.
But a new group called “Protect Our Small Businesses & Jobs” formed Oct. 8 to oppose the ballot measure, according to a filing submitted to the state. The group reported raising $1,312 so far, including $112 for a website domain purchased by the Alaska Chamber; $1,000 from the Alaska Support Industry Alliance, which represents oil and gas industry-related businesses; and $200 from Reeve Air Alaska, a charter flight service.
The group supporting the ballot measure has reported raising $2.6 million since launching its campaign. Most of the funding comes from The Fairness Project, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that supports similar ballot measures across the country. The initiative is also supported by labor organizations and unions based in Alaska.
The measure on the November ballot would raise Alaska’s minimum wage from $11.73 to $15 by 2027 and guarantee Alaska workers paid sick leave for the first time. It would also ban employers from requiring their employees to attend meetings of a political or religious nature, which can sometimes be used to dissuade employees from unionizing.
Supporters of the ballot initiative say that though most Alaska workers already earn above minimum wage, the measure would improve working conditions for some of the most vulnerable employees in the state. A $15 hourly wage is still far below a living wage in Alaska, according a metric developed by researchers at MIT. That calculation estimates the living wage for a single adult working full time in Alaska is $23.26 per hour.
Chamber President Kati Capozzi said that the industry groups that oppose the ballot measure decided that in order to comply with state law, “we needed to form a group and basically have one spot to point people to versus seven different places.” The groups’ previous strategy was to communicate about the ballot measure through their website and existing platforms, without a public campaign.
Capozzi said groups opposing the measure include the Alaska Chamber; the Alaska Support Industry Alliance; Associated General Contractors of Alaska; Associated Builders and Contractors of Alaska; the Alaska Travel Industry Association; the Alaska chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business; and Alaska CHARR, which represents bars, breweries, hotels, restaurants and grocery stores.
Capozzi said the website opposing the ballot measure has not launched yet. It will be built and launched ahead of the election, but there was no set timeline, she said, adding that other forms of campaign spending could also occur ahead of the election.
“What we’ve been hearing from a lot of our member companies is asking, ‘Who can we give money to? Because we are very concerned with this,’” said Capozzi.
Capozzi said that restaurants and bars could be most affected by the ballot measure. Alaska is one of a handful of states where all workers earn the same minimum wage, regardless of whether they also receive tips. According to data collected by the Alaska Department of Labor, the restaurant industry is the only one in which many categories of workers have average wages below $15 per hour. Bartenders, cafeteria attendants, dishwashers and fast food workers all have average hourly wages below $15. Average hourly wages for those workers exceed $14.
Capozzi said the owner of The Banks Alehouse in Fairbanks, Michael Cervantes, had reported that the increase in minimum wage and mandated sick leave would lead to increased costs to his business, which would drive up costs for customers.
However, many restaurants in Alaska already pay more than minimum wage to attract workers. A list of more than 100 businesses that support the ballot initiative includes several breweries and restaurants.
According to Capozzi, one business owner said that though they already pay above minimum wage and provide their workers with paid sick leave, they didn’t want to to be “told how to run their family business.”
Ranked choice voting opponents remain outspent
A separate ballot measure seeking to eliminate Alaska’s open primaries and ranked choice general election system has also seen heavily skewed fundraising efforts.
A group opposing Ballot Measure 2 is out-raising a group supporting the measure by more than 100 to one.
The group seeking to eliminate ranked choice voting and open primaries has so far raised $117,875. The amount is dwarfed by the nearly $12.3 million raised by the group opposing the ballot measure, mostly from out-of-state groups that are supporting similar election reforms in numerous states across the country.
The ballot measure to repeal Alaska’s election system is not affiliated with any major national groups. Its funders are mostly Alaska residents aligned with the Alaska Republican Party — which has endorsed the effort. Among the donors are Wasilla state Sen. Mike Shower, former Lt. Gov. Loren Leman and Jim Minnery, president of the Alaska Family Council, which primarily advocates against abortion access and LGBTQ+ rights.
Leaders of the Alaska Republican Party have argued that open primaries and ranked choice elections reduce the likelihood of electing conservative candidates and advancing right-wing policies.
Supporters of the election reform, which itself was adopted by ballot measure in 2020, say the system is meant to advantage candidates who are willing to work across the political aisle and appeal to a broad swath of voters.
The funding for the campaign opposing the ballot measure includes $4.4 million from Article IV, a Virginia-based group; $4 million from Unite America, a Colorado-based political action committee; and $2 million from the Texas-based Action Now Initiative. All three have spent similar sums in other states promoting election reform that mirrors parts of Alaska’s system.
The campaign against the ballot measure — and in favor of Alaska’s current election system — has used its massive cash advantage to flood Alaskans’ airwaves and mailboxes with ads extolling the advantages of the open primary system, and warning that a return to Alaska’s former election laws could lead political parties to close their primaries to non-party members.
The ads have drawn outrage from some members of the Alaska GOP, who say they have no intention of prohibiting nonpartisan and undeclared voters from participating in their partisan primaries, even if state law allows them to do so. But with less than four weeks remaining until Election Day, they have limited funds with which to buy ads that could spread their message to counter the “No on 2″ campaign.
Contact Iris Samuels at isamuels@adn.com.