Judge rules Dahlstrom couldn't override APOC on Tagle, a move she also made for Taylor

An Anchorage judge ruled Thursday that Republican Jose Tagle Jr. is disqualified in the House District 22 race, and that Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom violated state law when she certified his nomination after state regulators found he had not substantially complied with the financial disclosure law by the deadline.

Superior Court Judge Josie Garton held that the Alaska Public Offices Commission's finding against Tagle was a final decision that took effect immediately, and that the lieutenant governor had no discretion to disregard it. Her duties flowing from such a decision are "purely ministerial," Garton wrote.

Dahlstrom made the same reversal for Treg Taylor, the Republican candidate for governor.

The commission found in late August that Taylor's disclosure also fell short, on a 4-1 vote. Dahlstrom first refused to certify him, then reversed herself Sept. 4, certifying both Taylor and Tagle on the same day and for the same reason. A preliminary Department of Law review, she said, found "numerous potential discrepancies" between candidates' statements and public records. "I will not withhold certification from two candidates on recommendations that, in light of this additional information, I cannot apply with confidence across the field of candidates," she said, Alaska News reported Sept. 5.

Garton's ruling does not address Taylor, and it decides only the case in front of her. A superior court ruling binds the parties to that case but is not binding precedent for other courts, and it can be appealed. In Tagle's case, the state stopped defending Dahlstrom's stated reason. At oral argument Oct. 9, its lawyers dropped the argument that possible problems in other candidates' filings justified setting the commission's finding aside, according to the ruling. They argued instead that the commission's decision was not final, was not yet in effect on Sept. 4, and that procedural problems in the commission's proceedings justified Dahlstrom's caution.

Garton rejected that. She ruled the commission's Aug. 28 order took effect immediately, disqualifying Tagle that day. A recommendation against certifying a nomination would be "meaningless," she wrote, unless it took effect immediately. In a footnote, she wrote that by certifying Tagle "based on evolving speculation about what appellate arguments the candidate could make," Dahlstrom exceeded her authority.

The ruling also spells out what a candidate must do. A candidate who wants to challenge a commission finding "must act promptly" to appeal, including by seeking a stay, Garton wrote. Once the commission has given notice and an opportunity to be heard and issued a final decision, "the risk of an erroneous decision shifts to the candidate."

Tagle's name stays on the Nov. 3 ballot, and the court ordered no reprint. Because he is disqualified, Garton wrote, his name "will therefore have no impact on the outcome of the election," and his election "may not be certified if he does win a majority of votes in the general election." The ballot lists Tagle, Democrat Ted J. Eischeid and a write-in line. State law moves up the fifth-place primary finisher when a nominee is disqualified at least 64 days before the election, but there was no other candidate to take Tagle's place, Garton noted.

Tagle's June 1 disclosure listed no income sources, business interests, loans or debts, according to the ruling. He amended it twice in August, after the July 1 grace-period deadline, the first time blaming "a glitch." The commission rejected that, citing his experience as a filer, the notice he got of the problems during the grace period and staff's failure to find error logs to back his claim. It voted 5-0 to recommend against certifying him.

"These are precisely the circumstances under which the Legislature intended a candidate for public office to forfeit his nomination," Garton wrote.

Jenny-Marie Stryker and the Alaska Democratic Party brought the case, and went back to court after Dahlstrom's reversal, Alaska News reported Sept. 10.

The Division of Elections must notify Tagle by certified mail that he is disqualified. Because neither commission order told him it was final, he will have 30 days from that notice to appeal. If either decision is later reversed, the court wrote, keeping his name on the ballot would avoid the need for a new election.