Outside money is an outsized factor in the race for Anchorage mayor, and also in opposing the recall of Felix Rivera effort.
The Tides Foundation Advocacy, a George Soros-funded group that has been described as an organization that “washes away the paper trail between its grants and the original donor,” has donated $55,000 to the Alaska Center, which in turn has spent the funds to elect Forrest Dunbar for mayor, and retain Assemblyman Felix Rivera.
Both Dunbar and Rivera are part of the the extreme left-wing of the Anchorage progressive bloc that runs Anchorage government.
According to InfluenceWatch.org, Tides “specializes in directing grants to center-left activist groups, making it one of the largest pass-through funders to left-wing nonprofits.” The Washington Examiner characterizes Tides as a “dark money” organization. Tides supports Black Lives Matter, gun control, and open borders.
If Tides is dark money, then the Alaska Center is its dark money funnel in Alaska.
A review of the Forrest Dunbar financial report at Alaska Public Offices Commission shows that more than 19 percent of his campaign’s funds come from out of state, with 18.5 percent of his donors nowhere near Alaska. He has 431 out-of-state donors, for a total of $60,010 coming from the Lower 48.
“Our campaign has outraised Bronson and every other candidate in the race by tens of thousands of dollars thanks to contributions from more than 1,600 individual donors. We’ve earned exclusive endorsements from the Anchorage Democrats, the Alaska Center, the Alaska AFL-CIO, more than a dozen labor unions, and a broad coalition of progressive groups and community leaders,” Dunbar writes in his most recent plea for donations, not mentioning that the Tides Foundation connection.
To compare, Dave Bronson, who is running for mayor as a conservative, has 45 out-of-state donors out of 1,298 donors, 3.74 percent.
Then there’s the Tides Advocacy-Alaska Center focus on Rivera, who is facing a recall.
“Wondering how the Recall opposition can afford to run non-stop TV and digital ads to keep Rivera on the Assembly? Because the Alaska Center is funding it, and at least 50,000 from the Tides Advocacy organization is funding them from California,” wrote Russell Biggs on Facebook. Biggs, an Anchorage midtown resident, is one of the drivers behind the Recall Rivera effort.
He said he stumbled on the funds transfer between the Tides Advocacy group and the Alaska Center by combing through the financial reports at APOC, where the Alaska Center had misspelled Rivera’s name, which made it nearly impossible to find the contribution from the Tides Advocacy group.
