With no Dunleavy objections, campaign contribution limits are toast
Nothing stops Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s attorneys general from filing losing lawsuits that waste lots of state money.
Kevin Clarkson, Ed Sniffen and now Tregarrick Taylor, the current politician serving as Dunleavy’s AG, have repeatedly filed, failed, appealed and wasted.
So when Taylor wrings his hands and moans that he can’t possibly appeal a major case because there is “no certainty of success” and the case may drag on for months or years and waste money, rest assured he is lying.
Taylor put his name on a court filing Friday that would embarrass a conscientious lawyer in his position. Tregarrick said the state will roll over on a court decision striking down the Alaska law on campaign contribution limits because there is no certainty of success.
There is never a certainty of success, but he should have revealed the real reason the state is dropping the case—Dunleavy sees this as a chance to tap into more money for his reelection campaign, perhaps allowing his rich brother Francis to write a giant check or allowing him to spend the secret stash of anti-recall millions raised by his support group.
Most of the people, if not all who have served as attorney general, are political animals to a greater or lesser degree.
Taylor is to a greater degree, acting like a treasurer of the Dunleavy reelection campaign. This is not the first time he has engaged in political deception during his short tenure as AG.
Taylor did not tell the truth about the ethics waiver for former Dunleavy Chief of Staff Ben Stevens during his confirmation hearings. And he lied about the no-bid Dunleavy contract with Clark Penney, the grandson of Dunleavy donor Bob Penney.
Taylor’s decision to drop the contribution limit case was decided by campaign politics.
Les Gara, a former state representative running for governor, is exactly right when he says that this court move by Dunleavy is “the last needed step to bring big money by wealthy donors back into politics.”
“Governor Dunleavy did everything he could to get rid of our voter-passed campaign donation limits. This last step – refusing a court invitation to file an appeal to defend Alaska law - shows he’s on the side of wealthy donors, not Alaskans who voted to limit their influence,” Gara said in a press release.
The Alaska Public Offices Commission “will now have to decide whether Alaska allows for unlimited campaign donations, or, hopefully, that at least our law reverts to the pre-2006 $1,000 limit,” Gara said.
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