House District 36 incumbent Dan Ortiz called for Republican candidate Bob Sivertsen on Monday to denounce so-called “dark money” in this year’s campaign.
He was referring to the independent expenditure group known as Southeast Voters for Bob Sivertsen, which has spent about $4,000 opposing Ortiz, some of which funded various ads.
The Accountability Project, an Anchorage-based group with ties to Southeast Voters for Bob Sivertsen, has one TV ad on its Facebook page attacking Ortiz for voting with Democrats.
Ortiz said he sees nothing positive coming out of these ads.
“It’s not the way we’ve done things in the past. I’m concerned that groups like that might have more influence as to what happens in elections throughout the district in the future,” Ortiz said. “I think this is not just this year’s issue, it’s an issue of the future as to what our elections will look like as move forward.”
Ortiz said the Accountability Project is a vessel for corporate-backed Washington DC money.
State records show that a little under half the Accountability Project’s $130,000 in contributions came from Alaska-based groups and that $80,000 came from DC-based groups – and it contributed $5,000 to the Southeast Voters for Bob Sivertsen group.
By state law these groups can’t have ties with or fund candidates.
Sivertsen said due to their nature, he won’t denounce the money spent.
“I think that the bottom line is that they are asking you to not support Dan Ortiz. You can consider that negative in the sense that they’re not asking you to support him,” Sivertsen said. “I don’t think they’re publishing stuff that I would consider non-factual.”
Former District 36 Rep. Peggy Wilson chairs the Southeast Voters for Bob Sivertsen group.
Wilson could not be reached in time for this story.
Two groups, The Alaska Center and Working Families of Alaska, have spent about $4,500 supporting Ortiz.
The Southeast Voters for Bob Sivertsen and Accountability Project groups spent about $2,400 dollars in support of Sivertsen.
