WASILLA - An Alaska Public Offices Commission complaint about an
advertisement urging people to "vote no" in Tuesday's Steve Menard
recall election has been rejected.
Wasilla resident Stephen Stoll filed the complaint Tuesday
alleging a "Vote No on Recall Feb. 7" sticker on the front page of
the Sunday, Feb. 5 edition of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman should
have contained a "paid for by ..." disclaimer.
Menard lost the recall election with 216 people voting to recall
the two-time Wasilla councilman and 92 voting to retain him.
Another 94 mail-in, early and absentee ballots will be counted on
Friday.
Stoll filed the APOC complaint against Menard and the
Frontiersman, but said Wednesday he was notified the complaint was
dropped because he didn't target the right people as allegedly
violating APOC rules.
John Klapperich of Klapperich and Associates said he brought the
contested ad to the newspaper on behalf of Peter Burchell, who paid
for the advertisement and is out of the country. Burchell also paid
for a flier that was inserted in Sunday's edition, along with radio
and mail ads, he said.
Klapperich said he also contacted APOC on behalf of Burchell and
was informed that because the "sticky" ad was smaller than 3 inches
by 5 inches in size, it didn't need that disclaimer. Klapperich
also provided email correspondence with APOC attorney Vullnet
Greva.
"For clarification ... and I understand a report is needed to be
filed in time and they are being prepared, I also understand per
your instructions that printed material less than 3x5 in size,
unless it is an actual ad in the content of the newspaper, does not
need to have (a) ‘paid for' disclaimer," Klapperich writes.
"Yes, many items that are less than 3x5 in size do not require a
‘paid for by,'" Greva responds. "This does not include ads on the
Internet or social networking websites."
Greva also includes an online link for more information on APOC
regulations.
That information apparently wasn't correct as it applies to the
Feb. 5 ad, said Martha Tansik, an attorney at APOC. That the
printed material in this case was then attached to a newspaper is
what makes the difference.
"All media ads need to have ‘paid-for bys' on them," she said.
"We're rejecting this because it's not the Frontiersman's
problem."
If a new complaint is filed targeting Burchell who paid for the
ad, he could face a fine of $50, Tansik said.
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Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.