A group of Alaskans is circulating petitions this summer to restore state campaign finance limits.
Citizens Against Money in Politics says its ballot initiative will give citizens the same power as large corporations and unions.
Alaska had set up campaign finance limits in the past, but three years ago the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals struck them down as unconstitutional.
Jus Tavcar, a volunteer coordinator with CAMP, said most Alaskans want some form of limits.
“We’ve capped the contributions twice. And most recently it was in 2006, when we also had a volunteer-driven ballot initiative, which passed overwhelmingly with 73%,” Tavcar said.
Proponents of large contributions say paying for advertising is protected under the First Amendment. But critics claim that candidates who receive the money are beholden to their donors, not the people they represent.
The 9th Circuit’s decision in Thompson v. Hebdon struck down a $500-per-year contribution limit on Alaska legislative races, saying it restricted free speech. The court provided a road map to reconfigure campaign limits so they are adjusted for inflation, but the state Legislature didn’t do that. So, candidates today can now receive unlimited direct donations from anyone, even outside of Alaska. That happened in the 2022 governor’s race, when some wealthy donors gave more than $100,000 apiece to candidates.
“At Citizens Against Money in Politics, we believe that equating money to speech is a dangerous precedent because it leaves everyday citizens who are not wealthy, who are just regular folks, without a fair opportunity to participate in a democratic process,” Tavcar said.
Tavcar said the initiative would limit contributions to $2,000 per election cycle for an individual candidate’s campaign, or $5,000 a year to a political party.
“The initiative updates the prior limits to be in line with inflation, and then the caps will be automatically adjusted every 10 years so they remain constitutional and they will move from per campaign limits instead of per year limit,” he said.
The initiative will not affect contributions by super PACs and independent expenditure groups. Each of those are defined separately under the law and are protected by the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which enabled corporations and other outside groups to spend unlimited funds on elections.
Backers of the Alaska initiative say it will promote better government and accountability to Alaskan voters. They are trying to collect 27,000 signatures across the state.
The three sponsors of the initiative are state Rep. Calvin Schrage, I-Anchorage; former Alaska attorney general and Juneau mayor Bruce Botelho; and Fairbanks business owner and Iditarod racer David Monson.
The changes in the CAMP initiative won’t have any effect on elections this year. If passed, it would go into effect in 2025.
