The Alaska state House’s ethics committee has launched an investigation into whether Homer Republican Rep. Sarah Vance illegally used state resources when she successfully pushed the local newspaper to remove and revise a story.
Vance objected to a Homer News article about a vigil she helped organize after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The article described Kirk’s views as “racist and controversial” and said Kirk promoted conspiracy theories.
Vance accused the paper of “hate-baiting” and raised concerns about the impact of what she called the newspaper’s “partisan spin” on the paper’s financial viability. She listed her objections in a letter on state letterhead that she posted to her official Facebook page.
The newspaper’s owner, Alabama-based Carpenter Media Group, then removed, revised and reposted the story without the reporter’s byline. Carpenter, now the U.S.’s fourth-largest newspaper operator, told the Columbia Journalism Review that the article did not meet its standards.
State law prohibits legislators from using public resources for “nonlegislative” or partisan political purposes.
The House Subcommittee of the Select Committee on Legislative Ethics said it had received “numerous complaints” about Vance’s conduct and that the allegations, if true, would violate state ethics laws. It opened an investigation in November and determined the scope of its review on Jan. 15.
“There is credible information to indicate that further investigation and proceeding is warranted,” reads a portion of a document outlining the investigation obtained by Alaska Public Media.
Two lawmakers serving on the committee — Republican Rep. Kevin McCabe and independent Rep. Alyse Galvin — declined to comment on the investigation.
In an interview, Vance defended the move and said she was asking to have the complaint dismissed.
“I believe that I was acting within my legislative duties,” Vance said.
Vance said she was aware of advisory opinions from the ethics committee covering “many examples of similar instances,” including one that allowed the use of state letterhead for political endorsements.
In a 1984 opinion, the ethics committee said it was not a violation of ethics laws to use official letterhead to endorse a candidate for office. However, lawmakers have significantly tightened state ethics laws since then, including in 1998, when the Legislature explicitly prohibited lawmakers from using state resources for partisan political purposes.
Ethics committee investigations are typically confidential, but Vance waived that protection in the interest of transparency, she said.
“I consider this a form of lawfare, using the ethics committee against me for something that they disagreed with,” she said.
The committee is asking Vance to provide copies of her communications with Carpenter Media, an explanation of the “legislative purpose” of the letter and why it was posted to her official social media account on state letterhead, how the letter was drafted, and what funds were used to draft and distribute it.
Vance’s letter and Carpenter’s response led to an exodus of editorial staff at the company’s three Alaska newspapers, including its top editor in the state, and indirectly to the creation of a new nonprofit online news outlet, the Homer Independent Press.
Vance applauded the new outlet.
“We need local journalism,” Vance said. “People in the community have come together and said, ‘We want a local paper to talk about local issues,’ and I fully support that, because we need that local voice in our small community.”
