Alaska Public Offices Commission to weigh settlement in Ruedrich v. Stutes on Aug. 3

Special meeting set for Monday

The Alaska Public Offices Commission will consider an appeal over the permissible disbursement of leftover campaign funds at a special meeting Monday.

The commission is scheduled to meet at 2 p.m. Monday, Aug. 3. It will also consider a proposed consent agreement in Complaint 25-22-CD, Ruedrich v. Stutes.

The notice of the special meeting was issued Tuesday under the Open Meetings Act. It does not describe the terms of the proposed agreement. It does not name the party appealing the leftover-funds question or state which candidate account is involved.

Commission revisits disposal of leftover campaign funds

The commission took up the same complaint three weeks ago. Its July 9 special meeting was called to review commission staff's rejection of a request to expedite Complaint 25-22-CD. That meeting also took up a separate expedited-consideration request in Complaint 26-07-CD, Alaskans for Better Elections v. Repeal Now, Aurora Action Network.

State statute governs leftover campaign money. Legislators and municipal officials may transfer unspent funds into a public office expense term account under state law. Those funds must be disposed of at the end of the term of office immediately following the campaign for which they were raised.

What counts as a permissible disbursement is the question on Monday's agenda.

Previous campaign-fund enforcement

The commission has acted on campaign-fund spending before, in a matter unrelated to Monday's agenda items. Alaska News previously covered the commission's decision fining Anchorage Assembly member George Martinez $3,050 and ordering him to repay his campaign $2,255.70. The commission found that campaign funds improperly covered a Florida flight and an emissions payment.

The commission will meet remotely by Microsoft Teams. The notice states that members of the public may email [email protected] to request a meeting invitation.