If the strength of campaigns are seen in cash, Anchorage voters have something to mull over: Forrest Dunbar, the Anchorage Assemblyman running for mayor, has raised the most cash of all of the candidates, it appears. But he also has a lot of controversy around him, based on statements he has made and votes he has taken.
Another liberal candidate has made a surprisingly strong showing in fundraising: Bill Falsey.
Falsey was the city manager for the Municipality, but left late last year to run for mayor. In his year-start report, he had raised $106,285.
Name recognition is a problem for Falsey, because he has worked behind the scenes in the Berkowitz Administration and then the Quinn-Davidson Administration; also he was the municipal attorney for a few years. His donor list reveals that he knows a lot of influential people.
Ken Salazar, who was Secretary of the Interior for President Obama, donated $500 to Falsey’s campaign, as did Margaret Stock, who ran for U.S. Senate for Alaska in 2016 as an independent.
Also donating to Falsey are numerous municipal employees, such as Jason Bockenstedt, the mayor’s chief of staff, and his wife, and Erin Baca, the director of the 49th State Angel Fund, which is a project Falsey managed when he was with the Muni. More big-name donors are Scott Goldsmith, Eric Wohlforth, Rep. Liz Snyder, former Sen. Pat Pourchot, and Larry Persily and his long-time comrade, former Rep. Kim Elton. These are all well-known political names in Anchorage.
Although Falsey raised less than half of what Dunbar raised for the year-start reporting cycle, he raised slightly more than center-right Bill Evans, who filed his year-start report with Alaska Public Offices Commission, with $96,380 raised for the race that is well underway.
Evans, too, has recognized donors associated with his campaign, such as former Mayor Dan Sullivan and current Attorney General Treg Taylor. Also, former Attorneys General Michael Geraghty and Craig Richards, along with business leaders Larry Cash, (formerly of the Permanent Fund Board of Trustees,) and Al Fogle, former candidate for State House.
Dave Bronson raised $162,481.80. The unusual thing about his campaign fundraising is that many of the donors appear to be small-business owners in Anchorage. In fact, 95 percent of his donations are coming from inside Anchorage, mostly in small amounts. Former Lt. Gov. Craig Campbell is a supporter.
Mike Robbins filed his report early, with $210,057, and he has a lot of well known names in his camp — former Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell, former Sen. Lesil McGuire, for example. And also, there are a lot of local business owners on the list, and very few government bureaucrats.
None of those candidates had as much at the beginning of the year Forrest Dunbar, the leading Democrat for mayor, who had raised $252,000 in his war chest.
George Martinez, also in the hunt for mayor this cycle, raised a respectable $56,033.
The year-start report totals:
- Dunbar: $253,890 ($203,000 plus cash from prior campaign)
- Robbins: $210,057
- Bronson: $162,418
- Falsey: $106,000
- Evans: $96,380
- Martinez: $56,000
- Jacobs: $37,100
(There are 15 candidates for mayor. Not all of them are raising money.)
