It didn’t take long for the Alaska Public Offices Commission to reject Assembly member Debbie White’s complaint against mayoral candidate Karen Crane. A day after White wrote APOC alleging that Crane had violated State Election Campaigns statutes, the commission decided that the complaint didn’t hold water.
“Your complaint did not provide a clear and concise description of facts that, if true, would violate a provision of AS 15.13,” APOC Executive Director Paul Dauphinais wrote in response to White.
White — along with fellow Assembly member Jerry Nankervis, Mayor Mary Becker and former Mayor Merrill Sanford — took issue with a mail-out flier distributed by the Crane campaign that featured a picture of the full Assembly.
“We’ve all had a lot of people calling us who are very upset, wondering why we’re having a special election if the entire assembly is backing Karen Crane,” White told the Empire on Monday before she filed her complaint with APOC. “For me it’s not just about the ethical question; it’s about the clearing the air.”
Crane told the Empire on Monday that she didn’t think that there was a problem with using the photo, which she noted is “in the public sphere.” She also said that there was nothing in her brochure that said her then-peers on the Assembly endorsed her.
“I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with having used it, and I would be surprised if there was a difference of opinion from APOC,” she said the day before White filed her complaint.
