Assembly races: Who gave to whom?

Oct. 2, 2005

MAT-SU - Candidates for two seats on the Mat-Su Assembly have been busily gathering and spending campaign money, according to reports filed with the Alaska Public Offices Commission in the waning days of the 2005 municipal election campaign.

Gregory Koskela and Mary Kvalheim are vying for the District 4 seat Kvalheim now occupies. Cindy Bettine, Henry Corbin and Jay Nolfi are competing for the District 5 seat Jody Simpson is vacating due to term limits.

Who is giving to these candidates, and where are candidates choosing to spend their campaign contributions?

€ Income:

Greg Koskela, a candidate for Mat-Su Assembly District 4, reported raising $4,605 in monetary contributions between Feb. 2-Sept. 2, with an additional $1,825 contributed in the most recent reporting period, according to his seven-day APOC report, for a total of $6,430.

His biggest contributors so far, according to his APOC reports, have been Ronald Arvin of NPI, $1,000; state Sen. Lyda Green, R-Mat-Su, who chipped in $500, and Berkley Tilton, officer of Cross Creek Inc., First Mortgage Inc. and Westwood Water Co., who also gave $500.

Contributions Koskela listed in his previous APOC report included money from developer Pete Zamarillo, $200; former Matanuska Electric Association board member Aaron Downing, $100; Gorilla Fireworks owner Rob Hall, $200; Michael Palmquist, $250; MEA clerk Jean Jeanette, $100; Colleen Sullivan-Leonard, staffer of Gov. Frank Murkowski's Mat-Su office, $100; MEA spokesman and former Republican Party of Alaska chair Tuckerman Babcock, $150; Dorwin Smith, $250; NRA Alaska field representative Eddie Grasser, $200; state Sen. Charlie Huggins, $100; state Rep. Bill Stoltze, $50; realtor Kibe Lucas, $100; realtor J. Martin Van Diest, $100; Dan Kennedy, CPA, $100, and Fristine Norton, co-owner of Steve Norton Enterprise, $100.

Koskela's seven-day report included contributions from Pio Cottini, of Cottini Land Survey, $100; Pia Cottini, $50; Bonny Cottini, also of Cottini Land Survey, $100; Barbara Miller, a past MEA board president, $100; assembly member Talis Colberg, $50; Rep. Vic Kohring, $50; Pete Probasco, $50; Dave Psenak, $100, and Mary Psenak, $100.

District 4 incumbent Mary Kvalheim reported $9,537.95 in monetary contributions and $533.84 in nonmonetary contributions, for $10,071.79 in total income, in her Feb. 2-Sept. 2 APOC report. Her seven-day APOC report listed income of $5,720, making a total of $16,249.79 raised so far.

The largest of the contributions listed in her Feb. 2-Sept. 2 APOC report were a $2,000 contribution from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Political Action Committee; $1,000 from the Local 302 I.U. Operating Engineers PAC; $1,000 from the Alaska Laborers Local 341 PAC; and $700 from Local 367 Plumbers & Steamfitters PAC. The largest contributors listed in her seven-day report were PAC Public Employees union, $1,000; Joan Hope of MTA, $1,000; Gerald Rexrode, $855; Scott Sterling, Democratic party leader, $500;

Other contributors included Kathy Wells, executive director of Friends of Mat-Su, $100; Gayle Janecek, bookkeeper of ABC Travel Time Inc. and wife of former MEA board member Michael Janecek, who gave $100; former Democratic House candidate Carolyn Covington, $300; Faye Palin, $100, Craig Stewart, $250; Denise Lazarus, $400; Marie-Louise Colver, wife of Mat-Su Borough Assembly member Jim Colver, $200; former school board member Helene Antel, $250; Gini King-Taylor, $329.27 in nonmonetary contributions; Rose Anne Goodman, $200, and Mary Anderson, a school board candidate who is married to Mat-Su Borough Mayor Tim Anderson, $450; Ray Grey, Alive director, Teamsters Local 959, $250; Kvalheim contributed $275 of her own money to the campaign.

Corbin and Nolfi, in the District 5 race, notified APOC that they would not be raising enough in their campaigns to require reports.

Bettine, however, in her Feb. 2-Sept. 2 APOC filing, reported $12,420.62 of monetary, nonmonetary and candidate contributions. Her seven-day APOC report listed an additional $6,959.21 in contributions, making a total for her campaign of $19,379.83.

Bettine gave $3,000 of her own money to the campaign and made an additional $60.34 in contributions as well.

People who contributed the largest amounts to Bettine's campaign were Bonnie Bettine, $1,000; Greg Strong, $909.36; Robert Ackles, a Settlers Bay developer, $500; Lisa Ameen, a cartographer for the city of Anchorage, $500; realtor Kristan Cole, $500; Colleen Hamblen, administrator at Wasilla Lake Christian School, $500; Lindsey McGhan, a general contractor in Big Lake, $500, and Stephen Mahay, owner/operator of Mahay's Riverboat Service, $500. The Mat-Su Education Association was listed as a $500 contributor on Bettine's 24-hour report.

Other contributors included: Ted Beilman, $200; Gerald Rexrode, $440; Janice Strong, $152 paid for invitations for a fund-raiser; former Wasilla mayor John Stein, $100; Jerry Moses, $100; Cecilia Hidalgo, $100; David Musselwhite of Seattle, $100; Susan Larson, $250; Kay Slack, $100; Jerolyn Wroble of Salt Lake City, $100; Robin Smith, an Anchorage "activist", $300; Musk Ox Farm board member Brit Lively, $200; Faye Palin, $100; former assembly member Sara Jansen, $150; Susan Ellis, Palmer, $250; Ray Grey, Alive director, Teamsters Local 959, $250; Ryan Strong, $100; Vincent Coan, $250; Jerry Fletcher, $200; Ann Liburd, $150; Johanna Munson, $250; Kim Robinson, $100; Joanne Smith, $200; Jim Ressler, $100; Owen Strong, $100; Pat Check, $250; Troy Davis, $100; Wayne Whaley, $100; Yvonne Summer, $100; Richard Besse, $100; John Strasenburgh, $100; realtor Jo Sonerholm, $100; Charles Spinelli, $100, and Julian Mead, $100. Bettine's husband, Mike Butcher, gave $49.20 in nonmonetary contributions and was listed with a $302.24 paid expense for sign materials.

€ Expenses:

In the District 4 race, Koskela spent $3,209.69 from Feb. 2-Sept. 2, according to his APOC report. He reported a surplus of $1,395.31.

His two largest expenditures were $1,680 for campaign signs, which he bought Aug. 4 from Custom Design Displays in Anchorage, and $913.70 for campaign mailers he purchased from PIP Printing in Anchorage on Aug. 23. He spent $81.45 online for campaign buttons.

Koskela paid $25 to the Mat-Su Borough for a filing fee; $86.65 to Spenard Builders Supply for campaign sign lumber; $25.50 to the Palmer Chamber of Commerce for a political parade float fee; $46.56 to Alaska Food Warehouse for candy for a parade float and $62.34 to Fred Meyer in Palmer for sign materials.

In his seven-day report, Koskela listed $1,405.51 in expenditures: $212.42 to the U.S. Postmaster; $458.09 to Pip Printing in Anchorage for a campaign mailer and $735 for a campaign ad in the Anchorage Daily News.

Kvalheim spent $1,487.50 at Custom Design Displays in Anchorage for sign printing and $214.20 at Motznik Information Services in Anchorage for a list of district voters.

Another $4,393.26 of her monetary and nonmonetary expenditures were listed in her Feb. 2-Sept. 2 report as being made to businesses and individuals with Valley addresses. Kvalheim listed $2,334.04 worth of expenditures in her seven-day report, which included $730.80 to Audio Services Corp. of Wasilla, for a super voter phone poll; $282.42 to Pip Printing in Anchorage for a postcard printing; $148 to the U.S. Postmaster for postage; $229.82 as reimbursement to herself for a mailout printing; and another $443 reimbursement to herself for postage for a mailout.

She listed an accrued expense to the Anchorage Daily News, with a balance of $1,306. Dewey Taylor contributed $450 worth of sign stand materials. Gini King-Taylor received a total of $2,627.27 for reimbursement for sign printing, party food for fund-raising and reimbursement for T-shirt printing.

Kvalheim reimbursed herself $176.56 for fund-raising and postage stamps; Michelle Church received $16.34 in postage for a mailout; Matanuska Valley Federal Credit Union received $10.50 for check printing; the Wasilla Chamber of Commerce received $50 for a parade entry fee; Mari Jo Parks received $38.23 for Wasilla parade entry decorations; The UPS Store in Palmer received $574.36 for printing; the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman received $750 for 10 newspaper ads ($60 for each, leaving a $150 credit balance); Denise Lazarus received $150 for three sign stands and Barbara Rodes got $458 for candy bars with election-message wrappers.

District 5 candidate Bettine spent $520 at Great Originals in Anchorage, for brochures, and $15 for a mailing list from the Alaska Division of Elections. She spent a total of $2,424.49 between Feb. 2-Sept. 2 at the following businesses: L & B Printing in Wasilla, Sign Works in Big Lake, and Thom Conway in Willow.Bettine paid $500 to her business, ABC Travel Time, for space rental.

Expenditures listed on her seven-day report totaled $5,313.55 and included $2,044.21 to Great Originals in Anchorage, for printing and postage; $846 to the Anchorage Daily News, for advertising; $1,094 to the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, for advertising; $100 to ABC Travel Time, for supplies; $154.50 to REM Data Services, for accounting; $487.83 to Susan Price, for beverages; $38.79 to Alaska Premium Food Source for supplies and $111.16 to Teresa Blume, for supplies and printing.