ANCHORAGE: The Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) has fined Dan Sullivan for using the Mayor’s office to send out a press release on his Lieutenant Governor campaign.  In issuing the fine, APOC rejected Sullivan’s request that he be treated as if the law didn’t apply to him.

“Contrary to what Dan Sullivan may think, he is not above the law,” said Mike Wenstrup, Chair of the Alaska Democratic Party.

Sullivan issued a campaign press release through his mayoral spokesperson, using public tax dollars to promote his political campaign.  The president of the AFL-CIO filed a complaint against Sullivan, and APOC found that Sullivan had in fact violated state campaign prohibitions on use of official resources for political campaigns.

After Sullivan was found guilty, he asked APOC not to fine him because he thought the issue was “minor” and because he was “embarrassed” by getting caught. 

Sullivan is spending a significant amount of public money running online ads promoting himself as mayor.  APOC has not yet addressed whether those ads, which are an unusual use of public resources, also are illegal.

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