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HOT BUTTON ISSUE
"An Informed
Voter Is The Best Defense Against Bad Government"
TO KILL OR NOT TO KILL
APOC
(The Alaska Public
Offices Commission),
THAT IS THE QUESTION?
A Brief
History of the Alaska Public Offices Commission
The Alaska
Public Offices Commission started as the Alaska Election Campaign
Commission in 1974. The impetus for
campaign disclosure resulting from the Watergate scandal, and a
successful citizen initiative effort convinced the state legislature to pass
AS 15.13.,
Alaska Campaign Disclosure Law.
That same
year, another initiative effort succeeded in placing
AS 39.50., Alaska's
Public Official Financial Disclosure Law, on the ballot.
The measure was approved by over
60% of the voters and became law
in January 1975. In 1999, the title of AS 39.50 was changed from
Conflict of Interest to Public Official Financial Disclosure.
In 1976, the legislature
revised state lobbying reporting by passing AS 24.45., Alaska's
Lobbying Law. Responsibility for its
enforcement was assigned to the AECC, which was renamed the APOC
to reflect its expanded mission.
In 1990, the legislature
responded to an increased demand for ethics regulation and disclosure
by expanding its previous reporting requirements under the Conflict
of Interest Law in the form of a new act, AS 24.60. (Legislative
Financial Disclosure) Alaska's Legislative Ethics
Disclosure Law. As before, legislators report financial disclosure
to APOC, ethics violations, however, are adjudicated before the
Select Committee on Legislative Ethics.
In 1996, the
legislature responded to a new citizen
initiative effort and revised Alaska's 20 year-old campaign disclosure
law to include stricter limitation and disclosure measures, including
the prohibition of corporate and out-of-state group contributions
to state and local candidates. The
law (1997 Alaska Campaign
Disclosure Law) took effect on January 1, 1997,
and will be administered by the Commission.
In 2003 Governor Murkowski,
who like Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal operatives, chose
to put party politics ahead of good honest public policy. When Murkowski introduced
HB 157 and SB 119 he clearly goes against the will of Alaskan voters who
spoke out against dirty politics, and for ethics and accountability
in government, not once but at least THREE times!!!
The public
has a right to know the truth about all the funds paid to influence
our state and municipal officials. Governor
Murkowski's HB 157 and SB 119 promotes bad public policy that will
further erode the public’s trust in OUR government.
Link to APOC
Home Page
BILLS NOW IN THE LEGISLATURE
TO KILL OR DISMEMBER APOC
SB 89 & HB 106 Greatly Reduce Registration
Requirements For Lobbyist!!!
and
SB 119 & HB 157 Eliminate Alaska Public
Offices Commission (APOC)!!!
Formal Resolution
in SUPPORT of
APOC
Click Here
Instead of making it
easier for lobbyist to get their way, current laws should be expanded
to include everyone that goes to Juneau asking for public money
or special favors. Every boondoggle that gets funded through the
efforts of lobbyist, municipal representatives, or special interest
groups will take precious and limited resources away from essential
government services. After years of legislative mismanagement of
public funds the focus needs to shift toward public NEEDS,
and not on the wants of special interests.
Because the legislature intentionally limited public
debate to a minimum number of committee hearings, few outside of
the government lobbyist circle will be able to testify. While this
may be a clever maneuver on the part of legislators and lobbyists
pushing this bill, it has not gone unnoticed by the public. The
outcome of the proceedings will be noted and remembered by voters
statewide.
This is clearly BAD
legislation favoring a few, at the expense of everyone else.
The public must take a position on this issue, and demand the
legislature vote NO on HB 106! Recommend: OPPOSE
Formal Resolution
Opposing HB 106
Click Here
Send a Message
to
the State House
Click Here
HB 157 & SB 119 Summary
HB 157 and
SB 119 were introduced respectively
by the House
Rules Committee: (ROKEBERG, Chenault, Coghill, Kott, Morgan,
Berkowitz, and Kerttula), and Senate Rules Committee: (COWDERY,
Stevens, Therriault, Ellis, and Guess), by request of Governor
Murkowski.
This legislation will
completely eliminate the Alaska Public Office's Commission. Under
the current statutes APOC is a board made up of five commissioners,
two from the R's, two from the D's, and one from the public. Under
the Governor's plan all financial disclosure record-keeping duties
will go to the Director of the Division of Elections, which is supervised
by the Lt. Governor.
Any enforcement issues will be under the Department of Law, which
is supervised by the Attorney General. A private citizen will no
longer be able to bring action by filing a complaint with APOC.
Under the proposed changes, citizens will have to file a civil
action in state court. The attorney general would have to do the
same for any complaints filed by the state.
In summary, the proposed changes will place the entire election
financial disclosure and lobbyist monitoring process under the
Governor's control, and subject to partisan politics and special
interest influence. This is BAD public policy that will put
Alaska's campaign reform laws back to pre-Watergate scandal days.
Recommend: OPPOSE
Click
here for
House State
Affairs Committee voting record on HB 157
Click
here for Senate State
Affairs Committee voting record on SB 119
Send a Message
to
the Legislature
Click Here
"Push
to redefine 'LOBBYIST' by State Chamber has hidden agenda"
by Steve Cleary, Executive Director, AkPIRG. March 24, 2003
"DIVISIVE:
House panel split over who should register", by Sean
Cockerham, Anchorage Daily News. March 18, 2003
"Former
Candidate for Governor Speaks in Favor of the APOC", by John Glotfelty. March 10, 2003
"Murkowski Want's to Eliminate Election Watchdog", Anchorage Daily News Opinion. March 10,
2003
"Murkowski
Didn’t Follow Rules he Proposes for APOC", by Steve Cleary, Executive Director, AkPIRG,
March 7, 2003
"A
Letter in Opposition to HB 106", by Joann Odd. March
5, 2003
"HB 106 & SB 89 Good for Lobbyist, Bad for Alaska", by James Price. March 5, 2003
"Letter
to State House AGAINST HB 106", by Maurice Byers.
March 5, 2003
"Written Testimony AGAINST HB 106",
by Laurie Churchill. March 4, 2003
"Letter to the Editor", by Don Roberts
Jr. March 2, 2003
"2
Members of AK Voters Organization AGAINST HB 106",
by Bill & Samon Arnold. March 2, 2003
"Anchorage Daily News" article by Reporter Sean Cockerham, March 2,
2003.
"House
Judicial Committee Testimony" Presented by Steve
Cleary, Executive Director, AkPIRG, February 28, 2003.
"Anchorage Daily News"
article by
AP Writer
Mike Chambers,
February 28, 2003.
"Public
Opinion Letter" by Dee Hubbard, February 28,
2003.
Send Your Message
to the Media
Click Here
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