The campaign finance regulator is recommending $85,000 in fines against opponents of Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system

Alaska’s campaign finance office is recommending an $85,000 fine be imposed on the groups and individuals behind a ballot initiative aimed at overturning Alaska’s open primary and ranked-choice voting system for failing to comply with the state’s reporting requirements.

The initiative, known as Ballot Measure 2, aims to return Alaska’s electoral system to partisan primaries and single-vote general elections. The Alaska Public Offices Commission found in January that the initiative’s backers had repeatedly violated state law by routing their money through a Washington-based church and falsely reporting their income and expenses to the state.

The commission, whose members are appointed by the governor, fined supporters more than $94,000 in January, including a $46,000 fine for Art Mathias, an Anchorage insurance broker and Christian minister who sponsored the initiative had donated $90,000 to a tax-exempt church he founded in Washington state.

According to a commission staff report released Tuesday, Mathias and the church he founded called the Ranked Choice Education Association, as well as two groups that advocated for the initiative before it was placed on the ballot, Alaskans for Honest Elections and Alaskans for Honest Die Government has failed to pay the full amount of fines imposed on it and to comply with campaign reporting requirements set by the Commission in January.

The initiative’s supporters challenged some of the fines in Anchorage Superior Court earlier this year. A judge largely confirmed the fines. The initiative’s supporters then appealed the decision to the Alaska Supreme Court, where the case is ongoing and is not expected to be resolved before the election.

“Because respondents have either failed to comply with the Commission’s orders or have only partially complied with them, they remain liable for penalties calculated and assessed after the expiration of the 30-day period imposed by the Commission,” Michael Sargent, a Commission official, wrote. in an article report published on Tuesday.

These fines amount to a $44,300 fine for Alaskans for honest voting; a $17,800 fine for Alaskans for honest government; a $21,200 fine for the Ranked Choice Education Association; and a $1,700 fine for Mathias.

Mathias did not respond to a request for comment. Phillip Izon, who led the effort to get the measure on the ballot, declined an interview. Kevin Clarkson, a former Alaska attorney general who represents Mathias and the initiative groups, said he had not yet read the report when reached by phone Wednesday morning and could not comment until he had read it. Subsequent calls were not returned.

The final amount of the fines will be determined by the Commission. The commissioners’ next scheduled meeting is scheduled to take place after the election on Jan. 16.

Alaskans for Honest Elections, the main group pushing to place the issue of eliminating ranked-choice voting and open primaries on the November ballot, reported in July that it had no money left in its account, although the commission noted that the report was probably incorrect.

Scott Kendall, an Anchorage attorney and proponent of Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, filed the original complaint that led to the fines in January, in addition to a complaint in July that led to the staff’s most recent recommendations.

After ballot initiative supporters were fined in January, Izon said the groups that had previously supported the initiative would be disbanded and replaced by new fundraising organizations not affiliated with him. The commission ordered at the time that the groups led by Izon remain in office until the fines were paid, but it remained unclear whether and how the fines would be paid, as at least one of the groups was apparently insolvent.

Alaskans for Honest Elections, the main group pushing to place the issue of eliminating ranked-choice voting and open primaries on the November ballot, reported in July that it had no money left in its account, although the commission noted that the report was probably incorrect.

“Nobody has seen this before, but there are legal principles that allow enforcement actions to pierce the veil and pursue the principles,” Kendall said. “The nature of the enforcement action will really depend on the Attorney General’s Office and APOC. In the end, there will be a company that owes tens of thousands of dollars and claims to have no money, but there will also be individuals who founded the company and are responsible for its actions.”

Although Mathias and Izon were instrumental in getting the initiative on the ballot, neither was actively involved in promoting it. Kendall said it was unlikely that the Yes on 2 group, which has raised money to support the repeal effort since Ballot Measure 2 was certified, would be financially liable for the fines imposed on the initiative’s original backers. The Yes on 2 group reported raising just over $127,000, a small fraction of the nearly $14 million raised by the No on 2 group.

This group was funded in large part by national organizations that support Alaska’s election system and work to implement it in other states.

“There is a group of individuals and organizations that believe in the idea we have developed here. They invest in it,” Kendall said. “I will not shy away from accepting this help.”

The Alaska Public Offices Commission also held a special meeting Thursday to discuss a complaint filed by the 907 Initiative, a left-leaning organization, against Families of the Last Frontier, an independent expenditure group that supports Republican legislative candidates.

The 907 Initiative claimed that the group violated state law by failing to identify the “true source” of its posts. The group reported receiving $150,000 last month from GOPAC Inc., a Virginia-based company that spends money on races across the country to promote Republican candidates. The 907 Initiative claims that state law requires Families of the Last Frontier to disclose the people who donated money to GOPAC Inc.

The commission is scheduled to meet next week, before Election Day, to hold an expedited hearing on the complaint against Families of the Last Frontier.