Pocket Change: $27,000 Penalty Marked Down to $200
"Smart" campaign donors will probably start budgeting for late fees instead of filing their disclosures on time.
The Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) handed down a mighty penalty reduction to a donor who helped fund one of the most deceptive independent expenditure groups in Anchorage's recent history. Colby Kelly dumped $3,000 into the coffers of "Friends of the Good Guys" on March 10, 2026. The disclosure report was due the very next day, on March 11, 2026, but Kelly failed to file the paperwork until 27 days later, on April 7, 2026.
State law dictates a maximum penalty of $1,000 accrues each day a report is late. Kelly faced a maximum civil penalty of $27,000 for his lateness, but rather incredibly, the Commission decided to let him off the hook by reducing that fine to just $200 - a crazy 99.26% reduction!
APOC justified this bargain-basement discount by claiming Kelly was an inexperienced filer, but who had a good filing history. They also stated that the maximum penalty was significantly greater and disproportionate to the degree of harm to the public from not having the information.
We should talk for a moment about that "public harm" so we can better understand what "Friends of the Good Guys" attempted to pull over the eyes of South Anchorage voters.
They intentionally sought to manipulate the electorate by distributing two contradictory mailers to different sets of voters. One flyer painted Anchorage Assembly member Zac Johnson as a radical rubber stamp for far-left political theater and urged people to vote for the allegedly "fiscally conservative" Bruce Vergason. They simultaneously sent out a second piece of mail claiming Johnson was secretly pushing a right-wing MAGA agenda. That second flyer sought to siphon progressive votes over to terrible candidate Janelle Sharp by parroting talking points about funding public schools and building affordable housing.
But wait, the shadiness keeps on coming! Christopher Constant, who was chair of the Anchorage Assembly at the time, filed a complaint against the group. In it, Constant alleges that "Friends of the Good Guys" made major expenditures and failed to report them on time.
To make matters worse, Constant's complaint notes a potential red flag: Bronson ally Cheryl Frasca was serving on the "Friends of the Good Guys" independent expenditure group while simultaneously working on terrible candidate Janelle Sharp’s campaign. That looks a whoooooolllle lot like illegal coordination says Constant.
Anyway, if these are the "Good Guys," Anchorage definitely does not need enemies. I'll do a follow-up piece when APOC gets around to making a determination on Constant's complaint. If the complaint has teeth, APOC will probably assess a penalty so devastatingly small that the "Good Guys" could pay it with loose change.
