'Help us elect' Fairbanks conservatives, say backers of group who can't vote here

Correction: Mike Baker gave $30,000 to his group, not the $60,000 I reported here on Sunday. The group says it filed a revised document with the APOC Monday to show that a donor listed as an Oregon resident is actually an Alaska resident. With that change, 51,66 percent of its money is from within Alaska. It’s not clear when the balance shifted from being funded mainly with the Outside money from Baker.

I have more details in this follow-up post.

Revised post

Mike Baker, who lives in Highland, Illinois, is among those injecting himself into the Fairbanks municipal elections to try to help right-wing candidates.

Anchorage residents Diane Bachman, owner of Alaska Energy Services, and Jim Winegarner, who was was just given a job by Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson, are doing the same.

They are the top three contributors to Building Alaska, a right-wing organization that just sent out a Fairbanks mailer asking recipients to “help us elect a conservative” assembly in Fairbanks.

The group was active in the Anchorage municipal elections this year, backing Dave Bronson, where it probably spent most of its money.

Baker, the Ilinois resident, is CEO and president of Sleep Centers of Alaska. He’s given at least $30,000 to Building Alaska, the bulk of its bankroll.

Bachman gave $9,000 through Alaska Energy Services, while Winegarner gave $5,100.

Baker is not only the biggest donor to Building Alaska, he is also president of the nonprofit, which he created in January.

The mailing address for Building Alaska is the Anchorage home of Anatoly Zyatitsky, who gave $10 to the group, which was enough to make him chairman, director, secretary and treasurer of Building Alaska.

It appears that Baker may have wanted to keep from disclosing that a majority of the money to Building Alaska came from Outside.

The new election disclosure law approved last year requires that groups that get a majority of their money from Outside have to add a disclosure line saying, “A majority of contributions to (Outside entity’s name) came from outside the state of Alaska.”

This is an improvement in the disclosure rule, one that Outside groups don’t like. But Baker’s group did not comply.

Baker’s group filed a request with the Alaska Public Offices Commission suggesting that the new rule should not apply because Baker only created the group in January and the law refers to a 12-month lookback.

The APOC staff said it disagrees and that if a majority of the money comes from Outside, the new disclaimer is required. That is the reasonable interpretation of the rule.

The APOC confirmed the opinion in a meeting June.

Baker’s group would interpret the law in a way that anyone could evade disclosure simply by forming a new group at the start of each year, so that no group would ever last more than 12 moths.

The disclosure about the source of the money is missing from the flier sent to some Fairbanks voters.

The ad should say that backers of the group saying “help us elect a conservative” assembly can’t vote in Fairbanks and most of the money is from Illinois.

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