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Nov. 3, 2022

Unleashed: The campaigns the candidates can't control

Nick Begich has lagged behind Mary Peltola and Sarah Palin in fundraising for the U.S House race, but he’s still raised $840,000 from other people, plus a bit more from political action committees. And it’s fortified by the $650,000 he’s loaned the campaign.


In all, his campaign has spent more than $1 million.


But Begich has another force pulling for him.


As the candidates go all out in these final days before the election, let’s remember that there’s a raft of less obvious campaigns at work. I’m talking about the independent expenditure groups that candidates don’t control. They are pouring buckets of money on the scene to promote their favored Alaska candidate. What a system!


In Begich’s case, Americans for Prosperity Action has paid for its own pro-Begich ads, mailers, flyers and door-to-door operations. It’s a separate campaign to win the seat for Begich, and it’s roughly equal in spending to the candidate’s own efforts.


AFP Action’s work to elect Begich is one of the larger independent expenditure campaigns in the race, and it’s got me thinking about how weird these campaigns are, or could be.

One of a zillion mailers Americans for Prosperity Action has sent to Alaska homes.

IE groups are prohibited from coordinating with the candidate’s campaign. Some day I’ll write a screenplay about a hapless IE group that tries to help a candidate but goes about it all wrong, with tasteless billboards and relentless 2 a.m. robocalls. 


An IE could, say, come up with a catchy theme that forever brands a candidate in a way she doesn’t want. The independent expenditure that bought 20,000 lightsabers to promote Kelly Tshibaka comes to mind.


In my screenplay, an earnest, rule-abiding candidate tries to call it off, but is reduced to sending very public but ineffective messages – Morse code blinking during a debate? Skywriting? – to avoid allegations of illegal coordination. 


In real life, there’s little enforcement, and campaigns vary in how closely they adhere to the no-coordination rule.


The big deal about independent expenditure groups is they can raise money in unlimited amounts from rich people and companies. Koch Industries Inc. has given more than $12 million to AFP Action just this year. Various bankers, petroleum magnates and industrialists have also given by the million. 


Meanwhile, the Begich campaign has to abide by federal campaign contribution limits of $2,900 per election from each contributor and $5,000 from a PAC. 


Begich isn’t the only beneficiary of IE spending. Groups came out of the ether to promote Mary Peltola after she won the special election. At least one is running ads that support Peltola, a Democrat, and Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, at the same time. Murkowski has endorsed Peltola, so the senator likely doesn’t mind. Imagine if she did. Morse code blinking is not a pretty sight.


One independent group, called Vote Alaska Before Party, says it's spent $1.86 million to help Peltola – and, opening a new avenue, attacking Begich. It’s run by Anchorage political consultant Jim Lottsfeldt. Funders include Sealaska Corp., Chugach Alaska Corp. and House Majority PAC, a national heavyweight in independent expenditures for Democrats. 


Vote Alaska Before Party may be the largest IE group in Alaska’s U.S. House race, but it’s hard to say for sure. (Figures in this newsletter are drawn from the Federal Election Commission, which processes campaign finance reports eventually, and from pawing through the raw reports themselves. I may have missed something.) 


Peltola’s own campaign, though, has raised more than $6 million, and it’s still pouring in. She has enough cash to saturate the media with any image she wants to project. If an IE group were to, say, distribute knockoff Wookiee figurines with her face on them, she could counter by flooding the zone with darling salmon toys or whatever. 


If Hollywood ever buys my screenplay, look for the toy wars scene. It’ll be a corker.


This is the last Alaska At-Large before Tuesday’s election. That night, tune in to KSKA 91.1 FM from 9 to 11 p.m. for live reporting and analysis. More details here. Also keep an eye on our website, alaskapublic.org, for results coverage.


If you like this newsletter, please forward it to a friend. They can subscribe here.


Please let me know if you have suggestions for post-election topics I should cover.

- Liz Ruskin

lruskin@alaskapublic.org

Follow me on twitter: @lruskin

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