The Alaska Public Offices Commission on Wednesday approved a settlement with state Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Haines, for violations of election laws relating to “thank you” advertisements published in the Chilkat Valley News during his re-election campaign in 2010.
Under a consent agreement signed by Thomas and two campaign treasurers – Joyce Thomas and Jim Studley – Thomas will pay $4,060 in fines and attend mandatory campaign training.
Thomas also forfeited to the state $10,291 in campaign contributions that he illegally transferred to his 2010 campaign from his 2008 campaign.
Thomas faced a total maximum potential penalty of $37,990. He said this week he was looking to put the matter behind him.
“It puts it to rest. I’m tired of it being around. I accept all the errors made all the way around. In the end, I’m the one who runs the campaign,” Thomas said.
Thomas said the $10,291 carryover was an “unintended oversight” that could have been used for travel or office expenses but was mistakenly left in an account by a campaign volunteer dealing with a family illness. The carryover money was not used during the campaign.
In addition to forfeiting the $10,291, Thomas was fined $1,000 for the carryover.
About $2,500 of the total amount fined is for 14 “thank-you” ads arranged by campaign deputy treasurer Studley and purchased by Haines businesses. Studley told APOC he believed the ads were permissible under “Citizens United,” a recent U.S. Supreme Court case that allows corporations or businesses to make independent expenditures in support of a candidate’s campaign.
“We are amateurs in running campaigns,” Thomas said this week. “We don’t hire campaign directors. We will make mistakes and I will accept responsibility for anything we did wrong.”
Thomas was not fined for four “thank-you” ads, including two organized by Studley before he was a campaign treasurer and two placed independently by residents Seth Waldo and Lucy Harrell.
Studley’s status as a campaign treasurer when the 14 ads were developed put him in violation of the law, according to APOC. “Staff finds that the ‘thank-you’ advertisements… were coordinated with the campaign. These … contributions should have been reported and returned,” the settlement said.
Thomas also was fined $500 for failure to report contributions on required forms.
Thomas and wife Joyce agreed to attend APOC candidate training within 12 months and Studley agreed to attend the training prior to participating in another campaign.
The initial complaint against Thomas also named deputy campaign treasurers Doug Olerud and Gregg Richmond. APOC dropped them from the complaint on the grounds that they were not involved in coordinating “thank-you” ads.
The complaint was brought to APOC by Linda Kellen Biegel, an Anchorage-based political activist. She could not be reached for comment at press time Wednesday.