RGA-funded PAC spends $1.5 million backing three Republicans and opposing Kreiss-Tomkins

A political group funded by the Republican Governors Association spent $1.5 million on mail and digital ads in Alaska's governor's race between Oct. 6 and Oct. 14, according to a report Kodiak PAC filed Friday with the Alaska Public Offices Commission. It split the money into four equal parts.

The group spent $376,733.25 supporting each of the three Republican tickets: Dave Bronson and Josh Church, Treg Taylor and Candice English, and Bernadette Wilson and Michael Shower. It spent the same amount opposing Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and running mate Zac Johnson.

The Nov. 3 general election ballot has one Democratic ticket and three Republican ones, as Alaska News reported, and voters rank their choices. When Kodiak PAC registered in September, the form asked it to name any candidate who would get more than a third of its spending. It entered "N/A," Alaska News reported Sept. 24. The new filing doesn't explain the even split.

The report lists one contribution, $1.6 million from the Republican Governors Association on Sept. 30, and 16 payments. Each ticket's share went to the same four buys: three rounds of direct mail from Arena Mail & Digital of Salt Lake City and $75,000 in digital ads from Red Eagle Media of Alexandria, Virginia. Commission records don't show what the mailers and ads say.

Under state law, independent expenditures are made without consulting or cooperating with the candidates they support. The report doesn't list the people behind the association's money, citing a system limitation, and points instead to an Oct. 1 report whose files list more than 100,000 entries.

Casey Phillips chairs Kodiak PAC, and Paul Kilgore is its treasurer.

Money is moving on the other side, too. Forward Frontier for JKT, backing Kreiss-Tomkins, reported $1,283,753.08 in TV and digital buys from Sept. 29 through Oct. 6, all opposing the Bronson, Taylor and Wilson tickets. When Forward Frontier registered in September, it listed the same Washington phone number and bank as the Democratic Governors Association, Alaska News reported. The Putting Alaskans First Committee reported $174,000 supporting Kreiss-Tomkins, and Planned Parenthood Votes Alaska PAC reported a $25,302.71 voter guide that includes $5,399.42 supporting him and lines opposing the Bronson and Taylor tickets.