A complaint has been filed against a group behind a host of negative and misleading political ads on the Kenai Peninsula.
Alaska Yes is a 501(c)4 non-profit organization. For the past several weeks, it has been placing ads on social and broadcast media, attacking some candidates while supporting others. One of its favored candidates, John Quick, assembly candidate from Nikiski, was one of the group’s founders. He was told by the Alaska Public Offices Commission to quit working with the group after it was found his now-former campaign manager had been in contact with Alaska Yes regarding those ads.
APOC staff continued its look into Alaska Yes after the Quick case. They found the group had failed to register as such until almost a week after it started placing ads, in violation of state election law. It has also failed to file campaign disclosure reports on time.
Alaska Yes calls its spending on the ads independent expenditures. But because of the involvement of Quick’s campaign manager, those expenditures are instead classified as non-monetary campaign contributions. In total, no fewer than five violations are identified in the complaint. No date has been set for a hearing
