State Representative Louise Stutes cheated when it came to election financing. This isn’t my opinion; she recently admitted as much in a consent decree with the Alaska Public Offices Commission. They caught her committing numerous violations of state campaign finance regulations. The violations Stutes committed are so serious that they should disqualify her from ever holding public office again, and as a result, she should drop out of the District C race for State Senator.
In the July 28th consent decree, Stutes admitted to filing incorrect campaign finance disclosure documents for the last three times she ran for office, in 2020, 2022, and 2024. Stutes admitted failing to disclose contributors accurately in 2022, failing to describe expenditures in 2022 and 2024, improperly reimbursing herself for campaign and non-campaign related expenditures in 2024, improperly using campaign funds, and failing to disclose and accurately report contributions and expenditures in 2024.
This long series of violations was serious enough that, according to an article in the Anchorage Daily News, Stutes faced a civil penalty of $264,000. However, in exchange for her agreement to the consent decree, APOC curiously reduced the fine by 99%, to only $2,643.50. In addition, APOC required Stutes to repay $13,869 in funds she used improperly.
Large concessions on civil fines such as these are often made when politicians recognize an error and self-report it to ensure corrections are made. However, that is not what happened in this case. A third-party whistleblower reported Stutes to APOC, and when the APOC investigated the allegations, they found them to be accurate. APOC determined that Stutes had, in fact, made numerous violations spanning three legislative cycles, 2020, 2022, and 2024. The commission noted that “…the penalty must also reflect the serious lapses of accountability created by several of (Stutes’) errors…”
Stutes’s lack of financial intelligence and her willingness to squander our money to fund her policies should disqualify her from running for the Senate.
For some reason, Stutes was shown great leniency by APOC, a leniency that most people would not receive, and which the third-party whistleblower disagreed with. He commented that “Stutes committed flagrant abuse, failure to disclose, depriving Alaska citizens of their right to accurate information, in one case for four years.” In response, Stutes said the errors were due to insufficient awareness of various laws governing campaign finance disclosure and were not intentional in nature.
Think about her statement for a moment. Stutes is a very experienced legislator, but said she didn’t understand the laws governing her job.
Based on her extended time in public office, that is frankly very difficult to believe. Stutes has been involved in politics since she was first elected to the Kodiak Island Borough assembly in 2006. She has been a member of the Alaska Legislature for 12 years. She was the House Majority Whip 2021-2022, and the Speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives from 2021 to 2023.
Stutes isn’t some dewy-eyed schoolgirl who unknowingly made a simple mistake, self-reported, and deserves leniency. Stutes is an influential and experienced legislator who demonstrated a casual disregard for the rules that every other legislator must follow. When these violations were made, either Stutes was too arrogant to adhere to the same requirements as every other member of the state legislature, or she had a callous contempt for the rules, believing they didn’t apply to her, and now she wants to say, Opps, my bad and move on.
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
Stutes’ financial impropriety is important because her role in the majority Democrat led governing caucus in the State House has given her an outsized influence on the state budget. She has helped write every state budget for the past 10 years, which has used part of the citizens’ Permanent Fund Dividend to pay for state government spending. The same woman who can’t keep track of her own finances is completely comfortable dipping into the finances of every Alaskan when she needs a few extra bucks to run the government.
Now this same woman is going to escape the full penalty she deserves for her misbehavior, and also wants us to give her a promotion by electing her as the next Senator for District C.
Stutes’s lack of financial intelligence and her willingness to squander our money to fund her policies should disqualify her from running for the Senate. If Stutes wanted to do the right thing, she would withdraw from the Senate race. Barring that, I hope voters in District C will recognize she is unsuitable for the job and choose someone else to be our next state senator.
The views expressed here are those of Greg Sarber. Read more Sarber posts at his Seward’s Folly substack.
6 Comments
Good for you Sarber. Refreshing to see a Republican seek justice for a fellow Republican rather than silence or weasel words.
Why hasn’t the Legislative Ethics Committee picked up on this and done their job?
She is not stupid. Nor does she possess any charisma or leadership. She is cunning and deceitful. She knows where power flows from and has skill in placing herself in that loop and wetting her beak. This article is a rare public manifestation of her corruption.
She has been instrumental in stealing Alaskans PFD dividend. For some families that is many thousands of dollars that they could use to directly help their families, as many get crushed by double dip Alaskan inflation. She has done this to increase her power and that of her political friends. And she has been successful at this. Her corruption spreads. She must be defeated.
She has been instrumental in stealing Alaskans PFD dividend. For some families that is many thousands of dollars that they could use to directly help their families, as many get crushed by double dip Alaskan inflation. She has done this to increase her power and that of her political friends. And she has been successful at this. Her corruption spreads. She must be defeated.
What is dalhstrom doing? Responding to Zach fields because he slapped the division of elections with hard truths! Nancy Dahlstrom is making sure the highest of standards are met so that the people don’t loose their trust in government!!! It’s not working Nancy!!!!
Treg Taylor is the latest to break the law! He gave 60 times the legal limit to his campaign! He’s the lawman of the state! More evidence that Dunleavy and his cronies are the worst among us! Absolutely disgusting!