Sen. Scott Kawasaki and Senate candidate Savannah Fletcher continue to break the law as well as the clear rules of the Alaska Legislature when it comes to ethics.
Not only are they holding a campaign event in a publicly funded building this week in Fairbanks, they have used an image from inside the Alaska Capitol as campaign material.
The invitation for the event to be held on the University of Alaska campus on Oct 9 is of Kawasaki and Sen. Loki Tobin standing in front of the door to the Education Committee Chair’s office. Tobin is education chair. The two are posing with a sign that says, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”
This posed picture uses state property for campaigning.
Savannah Fletcher, running as an undercover Democrat with an “undeclared” label on the ballot, is one of the candidates who will be featured at the Democrat campaign event to be held at the University of Alaska Museum of the North, a public university setting. Tobin will be one of the featured attendees.
Both Kawasaki and Tobin are now afoul of legislative ethics rules and may be sanctioned. Except the won’t be, because Tobin is on the Legislative Ethics Committee.
The state of Alaska, however, could prohibit these candidates from using state facilities to build support for their elections. It’s clear that less than a month from the general election, these are not nonpartisan town halls.
Using a University of Alaska facility, whether rented or not, is no different than using a Legislative Information Office for a campaign event. They are both owned and operated by the public through state government and partisan political events are not permitted.
In Alaska, school districts are prohibited from using public resources, including school facilities, for political events or activities that promote a particular candidate, party, or ballot measure. State law restricts the use of public resources for political purposes.
School districts may host nonpartisan events, but this is a meet-and-greet that is sponsored by specific active candidates for office and who are in the act of campaigning.
Fletcher and Rep. Mary Peltola are also violating the law by using a public school in Fort Yukon for a campaign event.
Peltola earlier this year abused the law by using a school in North Pole for a campaign stop. The State of Alaska has done nothing to stop these Democrats from breaking the law, however, and so the pattern continues.