Alaska state campaign funding limits are sought
From Sunshine Review
July 31, 2009 A new bill in the Alaskan legislature would ban taxpayer-funded lobbying as it limits campaign funding.[1]
[edit] Anti-Corruption Act
A Fairbanks group, Clean Team Alaska, is supporting a ballot initiative bill that would outlaw campaign donations from unions and other taxpayer-funded lobbying groups to take affect in 2010 in Alaska. The Anti-Corruption Act is an attempt to minimize conflicts of interest involved in spending public funds. The website promoting the bill says it would "clean up the backroom deals in government contracting and get the government out of the business of lobbying and funding of partisan activity."
Dick Randolph chairs Clean Team Alaska and Mike Prax is working on supporting the bill.
"We have got a challenge, I think," Prax said. "We seem to have corruption cases all the time. It just keeps coming back, coming back."
With regards to connecting union campaign donations and corruption, Prax said, "It’s a matter of opinion. Is that business as usual, or is it a system that’s broken?"[1]
[edit] Function
The bill would separate groups that receive state contracts and campaign contributions, disallowing the public money to go into lobbying. It would stop that receive state contracts from lobbying lawmakers or contributing to political campaigns.
The bill would also call for a public database of government contracts. Lawmakers and their staff could not take jobs with state contractors for two years after leaving their governmental position. This bill would also ban taxpayer-funded lobbying in the state.
The bill could not make it onto the 2008 ballot, but supporters hope the early start will land it on the 2010 ballot.
Prax analyzed finance reports filed with the Alaska Public Office Commission and found that organized labor groups fund about 42 percent of an average Democratic campaign for the state House of Representatives, but he had not completed analyzing other numbers when the News Miner reported on this. Prax says he is not trying to single out unions, but that unions are easy to identify in campaign funding analysis.
In general, Republicans collect contributions from individuals that may be connected to big business, but they are harder to quantify.
"Those who are in the middle of it lose focus on the real purpose of having government," he said. "They start to see their self-interest as the public’s best interest."
Sen. Joe Thomas, a Fairbanks Democrat, said he doesn’t think there is "undue influence" driven by campaign donations from unions.
"All the other people who do business in the state of Alaska and have influence as well would not be limited," he said. "It seems like an awful narrow look at things."
Prax said people involved in government seem to oppose the act, while those outside official channels seem to support it.[1]
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