Members of the Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) have released an advisory opinion, proposing new limits on contributions to political campaigns.

Under the new restrictions, an individual would be limited to $1,500 in donations per candidate or group per year and groups would be limited to $3,000 in donations per candidate or group per year.

After Thompson v. Hebdon found Alaska’s limitations on contributions made by individuals and groups unconstitutional, the APOC adjusted the limits set in 2003 for inflation.

These new limits follow the Supreme Court’s guidance for contribution limits and fall in line with the limits that have been upheld in other states.

The new limits are subject to approval of the five-member commission, scheduled to meet in January.

In a historic ruling, the nonprofit group Equal Citizens obtained a judicial ruling that, for the first time since Citizens United, could restore limits on donations to independent groups and Super PACs.

Anchorage Superior Court Judge William F. Morse ordered the state to impose limits on donations to political groups in Alaska.

Morse said that the Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC), which handles election enforcement, should reinstate enforcement of the annual per person $500 contribution limit to independent expenditure groups.

In Alaska, independent expenditure groups function like Super PACs. Groups can advocate and raise money for a candidate while remaining unaffiliated with the candidate.

Attorneys for the Alaska Department of Law, appearing on behalf of APOC, appealed the case to the Alaska Supreme Court.

The hope for Equal Citizens is the case makes its way to the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify aspects of Citizens United and how limits are enforced on contributions made to political groups.

On October 9, the Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) ruled that two independent expenditure groups violated state campaign finance laws.

The groups, Republican Governors Association and Families for Alaska’s Future – Dunleavy, reserved ad time to influence the gubernatorial election without registering as independent expenditure groups.

APOC determined the reservation of ad time is a promise or agreement to transfer value between parties.  Therefore, the reservation qualifies as an expenditure under state law.

On October 4, 2018, the Anchorage Superior Court heard witnesses in the formal appeal of an Alaska Public Office Commission (APOC) decision allowing unlimited contributions to independent expenditure groups.

Several citizens, represented by the nonprofit group Equal Citizens, claim the contributions are pursuant to a 2006 Alaska State law.

APOC relied on the application of Citizens United when it rejected the original claim.

The Alaska Public Offices Commission proposes to adopt regulation changes concerning mitigation criteria and penalty assessment for violations of state lobbying and campaign finance laws. Substantive changes include expanding the definition of inexperienced filer to take into account technical issues, defining self-reporting, and limiting penalties to be considered out of proportion to the alleged violation.

Written comments must be submitted to the Commission by January 29, 2016. Oral comments may be submitted at a hearing on February 11, 2016 in Anchorage. The Commission will aggregate its response to substantially similar questions and make the questions and responses available on its website.

Lobbying

“Top Spenders on Capitol Hill Pay Billions, Receive Trillions” by Bill Allison and Sarah Harkins for Sunlight Foundation

“Gift Ban Legislation to Get Second Chance as Wolf Pushes Own Ethics Reform” by Andrew Staub for Pennsylvania Independent

Campaign Finance

“Pay-to-Play Restrictions on Government Contracting Under Assault” by Craig Holman for Huffington Post

“FINRA Proposes Pay-to-Play Rules” in ThinkAdvisor

“APOC, Marijuana Activist Charlo Greene Clash over Campaign Disclosure Questions” by Suzanna Caldwell for Anchorage Daily News

“Vincent Gray Rejects Plea Offer; Federal Prosecutors Moving Closer to Indictment” by Mike DeBonis for Washington Post

“Colleagues Defend Councilwoman Debi Rose against ‘Witch Hunt’” by Anna Sanders for Staten Island Advocate

Ethics

“Ethics Changes, Court Rules among First Bills Arkansas Lawmakers File for 2015 Session” by Andrew DeMillo (Associated Press) for The Daily Journal

“Florida Attorney General to Head Group That Financed Her Campaign” by Bill Cotterell for Reuters

“SC House Panel OKs ‘Sunshine’ Proposals” by Jamie Self for The State

Legislative Issues

“Senate Officials Ponder Definition of Journalist for Pressroom Access” by Tim Lockette for Anniston Star

Lobbying

“Lobbyists prepare for government shutdown” by Byron Tau in Politico.

“Lobbyists swoop in to defend investor visas” by Kevin Bogardus in The Hill.

Hamilton, Ontario: “Lobbyist registry delayed again” by Matthew Van Dongen in The Spec.

Campaign Finance

“Lobbying, Campaign Finance, and IRS Reports Keep Moving During Shutdown” by Kent Cooper in Roll Call’s Political MoneyLine Blog.

“House Members Shut Down Gov’t. Money Going Out, But Not Contributions Coming In” by Kent Cooper in Roll Call’s Political MoneyLine Blog.

“The Next Citizens United?” by Richard Hasen in Slate.

“The case for eliminating contribution limits” by Ann W. Herberger in Campaigns & Elections.

“Top U.S. political donors in 2012 among country’s richest men” by Gabriel Debenedetti in Reuters.

Alaska: “APOC: No immediate action on complaint against Stiver” by Sam Friedman in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

Maryland: “Maryland’s new laws at a glance” by John Wagner in The Washington Post.

Ethics

FEC: “Not ‘essential’: Shutdown would hit FEC hard” by Dave Levinthal in The Center for Public Integrity.

Georgia: “Ethics commission to ask for special investigator” by The Associated Press in the Athens Banner-Herald.

Ohio: “Son of indicted donor’s lawyer works for Mandel” by Joe Vardon in The Columbus Dispatch.

Government Tech and Social Media

“Government Social Media Feeds Will Go Dark During a Shutdown” by Joseph Marks in Nextgov.

Elections

Ohio: “Ohio lawmaker’s election reform bills include voter ID requirement, reduced early-voting times” by Jeremy Pelzer in The Plain Dealer.

Pennsylvania: “Challenge to Pennsylvania’s voter ID law not affected by Justice Dept. lawsuit against N.C.’s law” by Jan Murphy in The Patriot-News.

Campaign Finance

“D.C. Council pushes campaign finance to ’13” by Tom Howell, Jr. in The Washington Times.

Rhode Island: “R.I. House Speaker’s November opponent cleared of campaign wrongdoing” by Philip Marcelo in the Providence Journal.

Lobbying

“K Street Files: Progressives Come, Single Out ‘Naughty’ Lawmakers” by Kate Ackley in Roll Call.

“Clock running out for passing big bills” by Kevin Bogardus and Bernie Becker in The Hill.

“APOC complaint accuses Coffey of failing to register as a lobbyist” by Lisa Demer in the Anchorage Daily News.

“Cup of coffee limit perks up again” by Rick Karlin in the Albany Times Union.

The online filing system, Insight, will be offline today, January 26, from 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (EST). Filers who attempt to access the system during this time risk losing data.

A separate notice will be sent by the Alaska Public Offices Commission if the fix takes longer than proposed.

Questions can be addressed to Joan Mize at (907) 465-4865.

National:

Deep Sea Burial Forms First Corporate ‘Super PAC’

Federal:

ACLU Challenge to Small Piece of Campaign Finance Law May Lead to a Slippery Slope

Judge Sends Abramoff Deputy to Halfway House

K Street Suffers from Twitter Jitters

From the States and Municipalities:

Alaska

APOC Busy as Redistricting Raises Legislators’ Questions

California

California’s Center for Governmental Studies to Close

California

San Jose Eases Campaign Limits, Focuses Economic Efforts

Florida

To Interview Mayor, Reporters Must Register as Lobbyists

Kentucky

Judge Bars Group’s Ads Supporting David Williams from Airing

Massachusetts

Lally, DiMasi Conspirator Who Cooperated with Prosecutors, Sentenced to 18 Months

Montana

Group Asks Judge to Toss Campaign Finance Ruling

Pennsylvania

Nutter, Green Unlikely Allies in Same-Sex Ethics Bill

Tennessee

Corporations Signing Up to Donate Under New State Law

Texas

HISD Tightens Ethics Rules

 
State and Federal Communications produces a weekly summary of national news, offering more than 80 articles per week focused on ethics, lobbying, and campaign finance.

News You Can Use is a news service provided at no charge only to clients of our online Executive Source Guides, or ALERTS™ consulting clients.

The Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) has chosen Paul Dauphinais as its new executive director. Mr. Dauphinais has served as the president of Garrett College in Maryland, the director for the University of Alaska in Palmer and the executive director for the Homer Chamber of Commerce. He also has a PhD in History and an MS in Information Systems and is a retired commander of the U.S. Navy.

Mr. Dauphinais starts February 22, replacing Holly Hill who held the position since 2008.

You can read the full press release here.

Map of Alaska by Skew-t on Wikipedia.