Backers of Dunleavy’s 2022 reelection plan Supreme Court appeal to halt subpoenas

Backers of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s reelection campaign have indicated they plan to appeal to the state Supreme Court in an effort to halt subpoenas that could determine whether they violated Alaska’s campaign finance laws in the lead-up to the 2022 election.

Two watchdog organizations — the Alaska Public Interest Research Group and the 907 Initiative — filed a complaint in October 2022 alleging that the Republican Governors Association created an independent expenditure group called A Stronger Alaska as a shell entity to spend money in Alaska while illegally skirting its campaign disclosure laws, including a requirement that groups spending money to influence Alaska campaigns disclose their top donors.

The RGA receives contributions from corporations and individuals, and it spends millions of dollars supporting Republican candidates for governor, including by sending money to state-specific independent groups. The group is shielded from disclosing its donors under federal law.

The RGA reported donating $3 million to A Stronger Alaska in February 2021, shortly before new voter-approved campaign disclosure rules came into effect in Alaska. The complaint asserted that the groups were not separate, since they shared leadership and bank accounts.

The Alaska Public Offices Commission — the state’s campaign regulator — declined to determine before the November 2022 election whether the groups had violated Alaska law, but launched an investigation that carried on after the election. The groups denied violating Alaska’s campaign finance laws and repeatedly declined to respond to subpoenas issued by APOC.

The public offices commission has already found once before that the RGA violated Alaska law in its support of Dunleavy in 2018. The commission fined the RGA and Families for Alaska’s Future, a group supporting Dunleavy, $4,450 each after former Gov. Bill Walker, who lost to Dunleavy that year, alleged that the RGA had set up a separate group to shield its donors from public disclosure.

Anchorage Superior Court Judge Una Gandbhir last month ordered the RGA and A Stronger Alaska to respond to the subpoenas issued by the commission within 15 days.

Last week, the Republican Governors Association and A Stronger Alaska filed a notice of appeal to the state Supreme Court, indicating they planned to continue fighting the subpoenas rather than complying with the Superior Court order, a move that could extend the legal battle for months.

In a written statement, Anchorage attorney Zoe Eisberg, who is representing the public offices commission, said that commission staff plan to “commence with enforcement of the subpoenas after the Alaska Supreme Court has had an opportunity to review the trial court’s thorough and well-reasoned order.”