Alaska campaign finance reporting rules need an overhaul, regardless of what happens with Dunleavy support group

The Alaska Public Offices Commission hearing Friday on the Dunleavy support group made it clear that the Alaska reporting rules about creating independent political groups and revealing their Alaska finances must be tightened to fight the card tricks played by the Republican Governors Association in Washington, D.C.

The five-member commission said it planned to release a written decision Monday in the complaint brought by the Alaska Public Interest Research Group and the 907 Initiative.

I’m not sure that the commission—which doesn’t have the resources it needs because the agency is understaffed and underfunded by the state—has the ability to unravel the sleight-of-hand in this case.

At its simplest, the Republican Governors Association in Washington set up a bank account in early 2021 under the name, “Republican Governors Association, A Stronger Alaska.”

It filed documents with the APOC that said “A Stronger Alaska” was a “group” and that the RGA had “contributed” $3 million to the group.

The “group” doesn’t exist, except in the form filed with the APOC saying it exists. The “group” does not have its own bank account, phone number, office, website, email address, business license, or identification number with the IRS.

The Dunleavy support group is entirely a creature of the RGA, but the governors group didn't use its real name for reasons that remain unexplained.

The RGA never “contributed” money because it retains control of the bank account and “A Stronger Alaska” is part of the RGA, according to documents filed with the IRS.

The decision for the APOC is whether an entity like the RGA can set up a bank account for itself under a slightly different name and make the bogus claim in Alaska that it has created a “group” that is separate from the RGA.

Because the documents filed in this case reveal that “A Stronger Alaska” is an empty front, this should be an easy thing for the APOC to decide. But that requires the ability to ignore most of what the Dunleavy support group lawyers said during their day-long effort to distract and confuse the commission.