After losing her U.S. Senate race, Kelly Tshibaka quickly started working to undo Alaska’s voter-approved election system, according to a complaint filed today with the Alaska Public Offices Commission.
In doing so, the complaint alleges Tshibaka and her group, Preserve Democracy, violated 11 campaign finance laws and Alaskans for Honest Elections, a group that is funding the effort to repeal ranked choice voting, violated five. Tshibaka herself is accused of failing to register as a lobbyist.
The complaint was filed by Alaskans for Better Elections, a group that supported Alaska’s 2020 election reform.
“Alaskans are entitled to know who is influencing our elections,” said Bruce Botelho, former Alaska Attorney General and board member of Alaskans for Better Elections in a press release “Alaskans for Better Elections has registered with APOC and complied with all disclosure requirements. Voters deserve the same from everyone, no matter what side of the issue they’re on.”
Election Losers Attack RCV
After the November 2022 election, two losing candidates — former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and Tshibaka — began working to overturn Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, which voters passed in 2020.
Palin publicly aligned with Alaskans for Honest Elections (AHE), which is gathering signatures to place a repeal of ranked choice voting on the 2024 ballot. The group is also the subject of an APOC complaint filed July 5.
Around the same time Alaskans for Honest Elections started, Tshibaka founded Preserve Democracy, which she stated is working “synergistically” alongside the other group to stop ranked-choice voting. According to Tshibaka, AHE is funding Alaska’s ballot initiative and Preserve Democracy is providing information and setting a narrative, as well as lobbying to stop ranked-choice voting nationwide.
Monday’s APOC complaint against Preserve Democracy overlaps with the complaint filed previously against AHE, which alleged that the latter group’s founders are laundering money and funneling funds from a religious organization founded by one of its directors to a business owned by another director.
The complaint against Preserve Democracy alleges that the group appears to be acting as an unregistered ballot group, and appears to be supporting AHE with “in kind” or nonmonetary donations, which neither group is reporting, while also lobbying for a legislative repeal of ranked-choice voting.
During a presentation in February, Tshibaka said that Preserve Democracy is coordinating with AHE. The complaint also states that Preserve Democracy gathered petition signatures at their events.
According to Alaska State Law, groups engaging in political activity directly supporting ballot measures or candidates must register with APOC and report expenditures and donors as well as use “paid for by” disclaimers, which Preserve Democracy has not done. Tshibaka is listed as the group’s CEO, founder, president, treasurer, and registered agent, but hasn’t reported what she is paid, what the group’s expenditures are, or who its donors are.
Others involved in Preserve Democracy include Tshibaka’s campaign aide, Heather Gottshall, who is listed as director, secretary and vice-president. Simcha Weed of Brownsville, Tex., and Stuart Gates of Lakewood Ranch, Flo., are listed as directors. Gates contributed to Tshibaka’s failed campaign.
Tshibaka Lobbied in Juneau and D.C.
The complaint also alleges that Tshibaka has been lobbying on behalf of Preserve Democracy without registering with the state of Alaska as a lobbyist.
State law requires that lobbyists register with the state and report their income and lobbying expenses. Tshibaka did not report her income or expenses while lobbying for Preserve Democracy. Additionally, Preserve Democracy did not report what it paid for Tshibaka’s lobbying activities.
Tshibaka traveled to Juneau in March to lobby state legislators to repeal ranked-choice voting. She asked people attending at least one of her Preserve Democracy presentations to support the group’s efforts by sending form letters she prepared to lawmakers. She stated that these letters would help Rep. George Rauscher (R-Sutton) gain more legislative support to overturn voter-approved ranked-choice voting. She went on to tell the group that she was also paying for a poll “against ranked choice.”
Tshibaka traveled nationwide to lobby members of Congress, stating during the February presentation that her team had spoken with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and would soon talk to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
“We have to tell that story and then get that into the hands of all these legislators … into the hands of the people who are mobilizing to fight rank-choice voting, to get them the resources that they need. We will produce it and we’ll give it to them for free,” Tshibaka told the group about Preserve Democracy’s activities and asked them to send testimonies for the group to use, along with their donations.
Conducting these and other political activities in support of AHE and in support of overturning ranked-choice voting through a ballot initiative or legislative repeal without proper registration or reporting is the basis for numerous alleged violations, including:
- Failure to register as a ballot group prior to undertaking campaign activity
- Failure to report in-kind contributions to AHE and to candidates
- Failure to disclose donors and file reports required for Independent Expenditure Group
- Failure to file any 10-day independent expenditure reports, quarterly reports, or report three largest contributors
- Failure to register as an employer of a lobbyist (Preserve Democracy), or as a lobbyist (Tshibaka) and failure to report expenses related to lobbying
Partisan Activity in Anchorage Election
Another allegation included in the complaint involves the group’s get-out-the-vote (GOTV) activities.
Nonpartisan efforts to inform Alaskans about where and when to vote are not regulated by APOC but efforts to target voters based on partisanship with the goal of benefitting a specific candidate are.
Preserve Democracy’s website touts the group’s GOTV efforts for the 2023 Anchorage Municipal elections and states that they sent over 14,000 mailers, 14,000 text messages and made over 20,000 phone calls.
The complaint writes that Tshibaka made her intentions to target mailers to Republican voters clear during an interview with Must Read Alaska:
“And so we use some of the same methods and techniques that they were using
in Florida. We’ll use one of the top analytics firms, data analytics firms in the country, to target voters,” Tshibaka said during the interview. “And we just put a
ton of money into it.”
The complaint states that “it appears that voters registered as Democrats and Nonpartisans … did not receive PD’s GOTV mailers. This act is evidence of a clear attempt by PD to impact the Municipal election for a partisan purpose and to benefit certain candidates.”
Under Alaska’s campaign disclosure requirements, this type of targeted GOTV campaign requires registering as an Independent Expenditure group and reporting all spending. According to the complaint, Preserve Democracy failed to register properly, failed to file required 10-day reports, and failed to disclose its top three donors on paid communications while attempting to influence the outcome of an election.
“Ms. Tshibaka and Preserve Democracy appear to have intentionally disobeyed the law in order to keep their finances completely opaque to the public, including while attempting to influence the outcome of the most recent Anchorage municipal election,” the complaint concludes. “That cannot be allowed.”
