APOC Watch: Donor Disclosure in Limbo and a Sudden Silence from the Republican Governors Association

When Alaskans passed Ballot Measure 2 in 2020, they ushered in more than ranked choice voting. They approved new regulations around disclosing the source of political money. Now, any contribution in excess of $2,000 to an Independent Expenditure group working to the benefit of candidates requires “true source” donor disclosure within 24 hours. Ballot groups are exempt from the requirement.

However, that new requirement is not resulting in the timely disclosure of donors to the public. Over the past week, several Independent Expenditure groups (see below) reported making or receiving large donations. On their reports, they all provided an explanation to the effect of following Alaska Public Offices Commission guidance by submitting a spreadsheet with donor names. However, those spreadsheets are not on the APOC website.

So, how does the public get this information? Do you have to request it? Will APOC publish it at some point, and will that point be before Election Day?

• Building Alaska filed a 10 Day Report that disclosed a $50,000 digital ad campaign against 15 progressive candidates for the Alaska Legislature. The funding came entirely from the Republican State Leadership Committee, a Washington D.C-based Political Action Committee. The Republican State Leadership Committee filed a Statement of Contributions Report Form 15-5 with APOC, which stated “Per APOC Staff’s guidance, the full list of true sources will be concurrently emailed to APOC Staff.”

• The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee filed a Statement of Contributions Report in which it disclosed $116,354 contribution to American Leadership Committee-Alaska without public disclosure of its donors. Its filing said “True sources transmitted via spreadsheet. Contact APOC staff for information.”
• The PAC for America’s Future filed a Statement of Contributions Report disclosing contributions to multiple Independent Expenditures, with the following statement: “True Sources Transmitted via Spreadsheet. Contact APOC Staff for Details.”

1. Americans for Prosperity Action – Alaska filed a 24-hour Campaign Disclosure Form, reporting $198,000 in income from Americans for Prosperity Action. Like others, the statement said per APOC guidance, it submitted a spreadsheet of donors. Unlike the other donations, the Alaska branch of the Virginia-based Americans for Prosperity (run by Bernadette Wilson and working to elect Nick Begich III), slipped in an argument about how it should not have to disclose donors. “However, none of these donors contributed for the purposes set forth in AS 15.13.400(4)(A), and thus none should be considered reportable contributions under AS 15.13.040(r).

Another interesting discovery is that in its latest report filed Tuesday night, Super PAC A Stronger Alaska reported no further spending after an APOC complaint was filed against it. In its quest to reelect Gov. Mike Dunleavy, A Stronger Alaska is funded and run by the Republican Governors Association (RGA).

In October, the Alaska Public Interest Research Group and the 907 Initiative filed a campaign finance complaint against the RGA, alleging the PAC was a shell entity meant to disguise RGA’s direct spending to influence the gubernatorial election.

APOC declined to dissolve PAC and instead is continuing to investigate. However, in its Oct. 26 order, it suggested that any further spending should be done under the RGA’s own name, not the PAC, and failure to do so would be at its “own peril.”

The warning appears to have worked, for now at least. With less than a week to go, the PAC is sitting on $2.4 of the original $3 million. Since we are now in the 24-hour reporting period, we will be able to watch if either entity is spending in near real time.