A complaint was filed with the Alaska Public Offices Commission by Arthur Hackney on June 15 alleging Alaskans Against the Mining Shutdown, the Council of Alaska Producers, and NANA Regional Corporation conspired to hide $3.5 million in expenditure and over $1.3 million in contributions in opposition to Ballot Measure 4 in 2008.
Hackney, who ran the campaign in favor of Ballot Measure 4 said Alaskans Against the Mining Shutdown concealed over $1.3 million in contributions and over $2.2 million in spending until after the election, Council of Alaska Producers failed to properly report over $6.3 million in contributions to Alaskans Against the Mining Shutdown, Council of Alaska Producers failed to properly report nearly $500,000 in expenditures and NANA Regional Corp failed to properly report over $400,000 in expenditures.
The complaint says, “The Respondents [Alaskans Against the Mining Shutdown, the Council of Alaska Producers and NANA Regional Corp] clearly collaborated in a scheme by which they concealed large sums of contributions and expenditures until after the election had been decided. This scheme was based on the premise of falsely claiming that obligations to pay vast amounts of campaign expenses were not incurred until after the election. This scheme is a clear violation of Alaska’s campaign finance laws and regulations.”
Hackney and other Ballot Measure 4 proponents are currently under an APOC investigation that stemmed from a complaint filed in March by the Pebble Partnership and the Resource Development Council for Alaska. The complaint alleged the Renewable Resources Coalition, Alaskans for Clean Water, Americans for Job Security and Gillam violated campaign finance law in an attempt to conceal about $2 million in contributions from Gillam in support of Ballot Measure 4.
