Update: Alaska GOP accuses Joe Miller of campaign finance violations

Update | 5:47 p.m. Tuesday

Joe Miller held a press conference at his Midtown headquarters in Anchorage on Monday evening to announce that they’d found irregularities in Murkowski’s federal filings. The Miller campaign said that shortly after he announced his intent to run, Murkowski began paying large sums of money to the Alaska Republican Party, exceeding the amount she and the party are allowed to spend on “coordinated party activities.”

Miller told a small crowd of reporters and supporters his campaign has alerted the FEC to what they’ve characterized as “highly unusual” transfers.

“We have a campaign to run, we’re gonna be focused on that. We obviously want the Murkowski campaign to understand, as well as the Alaska Republican Party, that they’re going to be held to the extent of the law, and we expect them to comply with the law.”

Miller has not filed the complaint formally with the FEC, saying the review time would put a decision after the election.

He also denied any improprieties in his filings, saying that while there might be minor errors in figures reported, the campaign has complied in reporting in-kind contributions.

Miller disagreed with the Alaska Republican Party’s claim that using resources from his “Restoring Liberty” website amounted to a violation of rules over corporate contributions.

Original story | 5:50 p.m. Monday

Joe Miller, with family in front row on stage. (Photo by Liz Ruskin/APRN)
Joe Miller, with family in front row on stage. (Photo by Liz Ruskin/APRN)

The Alaska Republican Party has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller.

The GOP alleges Miller is misusing campaign dollars to inflate his real level of support.

The five-page complaint submitted Monday alleges Miller has made numerous violations of federal campaign finance laws — the majority connected to using his for-profit conservative website “Restoring Liberty” for the promotion of his Senate campaign, without paying for it.

Alaska Republican Party Chairman Tuckerman Babcock said over the phone that Miller failed to payback the web site for services like banner ads, email lists and calls for campaign donation.

“(It) appears to be an illegal campaign contribution to his campaign, and corporations are prohibited under federal law from contributing to campaigns,” Babcock said.

Among the many claims made by the Alaska GOP: Miller’s campaign uses an office in Anchorage, but doesn’t list rent as an expense, thereby failing to disclose what would be considered an in-kind contribution. The detailed document lists ways that Miller has used the social media accounts of and publicity connected to the limited liability corporation behind the website “Restoring Liberty,” which Miller claims reaches tens of thousands of people each day.

Babcock said that he doesn’t consider himself a “stickler” for small mistakes in what are often complicated campaign finance reports, but that Miller, who has run twice before for Senate, is demonstrating a pattern that goes beyond simple error.

“He knows the rules, and there’s just no excuse for this. I think he’s doing it because it is easier than going through the trouble of setting up your own websites and email accounts, I think it’s easier than paying for them. He runs the corporations and he’s making illegal donations through his corporations to his campaign,” Babcock said.

The complaint asks the FEC for an expedited review.

Miller’s campaign spokesperson Randy DeSoto said the complaint is without merit.

“This is a desperate attempt by the Republican party and Lisa Murkowski to distract Alaskan voters from their own apparent money laundering scheme to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars,” DeSoto said, reading from a prepared statement.

“The Murkowski campaign and Alaska Republican Party have tipped their hand to show they know Murkowski is heading to defeat,” he added.

DeSoto said the campaign is holding a press conference at 6 p.m. Monday to address its own campaign finance complaint.

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