Phillip Izon admits he made mistakes, a lot of them when he tried to follow the laws governing disclosure of campaign funds in Alaska.
“I immediately intervened to correct the errors,” he testified to the Alaska Public Offices Commission. “And I also made other errors when trying to correct the mistakes.”
The commission called an hearing on Thursday to look into the allegations which claim that Izon as well as Anchorage Minister Art Mathias violated multiple campaign financial laws while launching an effort to eliminate Alaska’s ranked choice vote method. One of the main claims was that Mathias established an affiliate of a church and made use of it as a pass-through to conceal a $90,000 campaign contribution.
Mathias claimed he was not trying to hide the contribution.
“No I’ve been speaking out concerning it.” Mathias said. “Never attempt to cover it in any manner or shape or.”
The two Mathias along with Izon both serve as directors for Alaskans for Honest Elections, the political group trying to put a repeal proposal that will be on the ballot next year.
The church’s affiliate is called Ranked Choice Education Association. Mathias is the president, and is in charge of the checkbook. Izon along with Mathias’s wife serve as directors.
Mathias claimed that the church group was not formed to advocate for the end of voting by ranked choice in Alaska. (That could make the group APOC-regulated and would limit the donors’ ability to get taxes deductions.) The goal for RCEA “is to help educate Americans,” Mathias said. “And this is the main goal. It was also about educating Americans.”
His testimony during the hearing was masked by Izon who had much to say, a lot of it centered around his own failings regarding APOC compliance.
One example is that Izon submitted an APOC form, 15-5, purportedly to disclose that the church-based group had donated $90,000 in support of the political group. However, in the document, Izon listed Art Mathias as the “true source” of that donation.
Izon said to commissioners that the commissioners he was filling in the blanks on an application form.
“I did not know that there was an alternative to getting past it without writing it down. I didn’t know,” He declared.
“And Based on what you’ve learned, right today, is this true?” asked Kevin Clarkson an attorney for the anti-ranked choice side of voting.
“No I don’t think so. It’s not correct,” Izon said, even before Clarkson was able to finish asking. “I made a mistake. And I’m responsible for it.”
Clarkson also questioned Izon about a different allegation in the matter – the donation of $2,395 cash from the auxiliary of the church to the political organization. Izon claimed he was unaware about a law on campaign finance that caps cash donations at $100.
He had no sinister intent, Izon said, “just incompetence.”
Clarkson is an ex- Alaska attorney general claimed that the claim is exaggerated. Mathias’s contribution of $90,000 to the church organization was put into an account in a bank with others’ contributions, and Clarkson said it’s not possible to prove the claim that Mathias was the one who contributed the $90,000 that the RCEA donated to the group that was politically involved.
Scott Kendall, the father of Alaska’s ranked choice vote system, isn’t as generous. He filed complaint against Mathias, Izon and the groups they manage. He claimed that Mathias and his associates broke in addition to that, the ban on political donations in someone else’s name.
“There’s evidently a plan in this,” Kendall said. “They established this group. They were able to push the money through. They pushed the money through. Mathias — his own account is that he was the one who signed the checks totaling 90,000 dollars by RCEA.”
Kendall requested commissioners to consider the strangeness of the cash contribution of $2,395. Kendall told them that no cash withdrawal is recorded in the church’s bank statements.
“We even sitting here are unsure of where the money originated,” Kendall said. “A real stack of cash, or bizarre money, given to a political campaignI’m not sure I’ve ever seen this before.”
Kendall stated that the ranked-choice opponents haven’t yet explained why they came up with the Ranked Choice Education Association as an affiliate of the church.
Although tax issues are not within the remit of this commission Kendall suggests that the motive might have been so that the donor could receive an income tax deduction.
Each of Mathias and RCEA ought to be penalized $270,000, Kendall argued.
The APOC staff, who advises the commission supported a large portion of Kendall’s complaints but recommended much less fines.
The commissioners have said that they will give their written decision within 10 working days.
