ANCHORAGE: Yesterday, the non-partisan Division of Legal and Research Services of the Alaska State Legislature said that Dan Sullivan and Lindsey Holmes’ tennis court earmark is illegal. Holmes and Sullivan inserted the $7 million earmark into the state capital budget in the closing days of the 2013 legislative session, even though the tennis courts were not part of the Municipality of Anchorage’s capital budget request.

The tennis court earmark has come under withering criticism from the Chamber of Commerce, business owners, and even residents of the neighborhood in which it would be located, all of whom criticized the secretive manner in which Sullivan and Holmes attempted to earmark the funding.

“As Gov. Parnell takes Alaska into multi-billion dollar deficits, Dan Sullivan and Lindsey Holmes are trying to earmark money for a tennis court in their backyard,” said Mike Wenstrup, Chair of the Alaska Democratic Party.

Each year, the Municipality of Anchorage submits a list of capital funding requests to the Alaska legislature. In 2013, that list included “Project 80’s” renovations of Dempsey Anderson Ice Arena and the Loussac Library, but did not include funding for new tennis courts. The Municipality also submits documents through the state legislature’s capital funding requests system, and the original ice arena request did not include tennis courts. Yet in the final days of the 2013 session, a new budget request appeared in the state system and included funding for tennis courts. During the same time period, Rep. Lindsey Holmes met with Finance Chairman Bill Stoltze to lobby for tennis court funding. Mayor Dan Sullivan advocated for the project even though his own colleagues on the Municipal Assembly never approved it as part of the Muni’s capital budget request list.

After this earmark became public, Anchorage businesses and organizations cried foul. The Alaska Club said that the tennis courts would hurt business. The Anchorage Chamber of Commerce decried the secretive nature of the earmark. Local residents criticize Sullivan and Holmes for failing to consult with them about construction of the tennis courts. The Anchorage Assembly is divided on how to use the earmark, with some members advocating to use it on a project other than the tennis courts being promoted by Holmes and Sullivan. With the determination that use of the earmarks on tennis courts is illegal, it is uncertain if the Municipality will be able to use the funding.

Had Sullivan and Holmes not inserted this earmark, the state legislature could have allocated the funding to complete most repairs of Loussac Library, which was on the Muni’s formal list of capital budget requests. Last night, the Anchorage Assembly voted to accept $4.4 million for the tennis courts despite the apparent illegality of the tennis earmark.