State regulators fine Palmer library nonprofit for campaign finance violations

What you need to know: 

• The Friends of the Palmer Public Library violated Alaska campaign finance laws during the 2023 Palmer city election by failing to fully register before spending on campaign materials, missing reporting deadlines, and not including proper disclaimers on materials. The organization spent $560 on signs and materials in support of Proposition 1, a ballot measure to fund the construction of a new library building.
• The Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) ruled that the group must pay $44.38, a 99% reduction from the fine calculated under state law. The fine was reduced due to the group’s inexperience in campaign activities and the unique circumstances prompting their involvement, according to the APOC's final order.
• The APOC investigation was launched in response to a complaint filed in May by Jackie Goforth, a Palmer resident who regularly testifies at public meetings against the activities of Friends groups in the area.

PALMER – A nonprofit that raises money for the Palmer Public Library violated Alaska campaign finance law during the 2023 election through a series of registration, reporting and signage missteps and must pay a small fine, state regulators ruled this month.

The Friends of the Palmer Public Library Inc. spent $560 in 2023 to buy signs and flyers in support of a Palmer city ballot proposition to fund the construction of a new library building. Palmer's previous library building was destroyed when its roof collapsed under a heavy snow load earlier that year, caused in part by a major windstorm. The proposition passed 367-94.

The Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) ruled Sept. 9 that the Friends violated campaign finance law when they failed to fully register before spending money on campaign materials, missed a deadline to report expenditures and did not include clear "paid-for" disclosures on printed campaign materials.

State law requires anyone who plans to spend money on campaign activities to register with APOC before making any expenditures, print disclaimers on signage that clearly identify the group and individuals who funded the material and file a spending report with APOC within 10 days of any campaign-related purchase.

APOC ordered the Friends to pay a fine of $44.38 for the violations, a 99% reduction from the $4,437.50 calculated under state law, according to the order. State law allows regulators to reduce or waive fines under certain circumstances. The Friends' fine was reduced because the group was inexperienced in campaign spending, its political involvement was likely a one-time event triggered by extreme weather and the original fine was "out of proportion with the harm suffered by the public," according to the final order.

The APOC investigation was launched in response to a complaint filed in May by Jackie Goforth, a Palmer resident who regularly testifies at public meetings against the activities of multiple Friends groups in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.

Goforth requested the investigation after attempting to form and register her own Friends of the Palmer Library nonprofit with the state, independent of the Friends of the Palmer Public Library. She planned to use her group to conduct her own campaign activities, according to details included in APOC's final order.

Goforth discovered during her registration that the original Friends group had started but never completed an APOC campaign finance report under the incorrect name "Friends of the Palmer Library," a mistake that blocked her from registering, she said in her complaint. The group also appeared to have never filed a final report as required by law, she said.

On July 10, Goforth filed an addendum to the complaint, stating that her registration of "Friends of the Palmer Library" was canceled by the state because Palmer had not given her permission to use the library's name. APOC officials declined to take action on whether the Friends violated rules by registering under the wrong name because nothing in the law "strictly requires incorporated groups to use only their incorporated name on APOC materials," the order states, but moved forward with the rest of the investigation.

Friends officials told APOC that a "lack of political sophistication and experience" caused the mistakes and that "the organization has never been involved in other political activities and has no intention of doing so again," the final order states.

Friends officials said they acknowledge their mistakes.

"Yes, we did fail to meet our obligations, we own that," Prudence McKinney, president of Friends of the Palmer Public Library, said in an interview. "APOC recognized that the purpose of the Friends is to support the library, all the money that we raise goes to the library, and that taking the money as a fine would take money directly from the community."

Goforth said that APOC failed to investigate where the Friends send the money they raise.

"The findings are clear. Rules were violated and a fine assessed for failure to disclose," she said in an email. "Nothing in the APOC findings dealt with the fiduciary questions. The explanation offered appears to be confusion, happenstance, and/or innocent naivete. Perhaps the IRS will investigate more thoroughly."

-- Amy Bushatz can be contacted at abushatz@matsusentinel.com.