‘Conservative Patriots’ to dissolve group, citing financial, regulatory burden

WASILLA — After a colorful five-year lifespan, the Conservative Patriots Group quietly suspended activities this month.

Group president Steve St. Clair cited regulations — along with financial burdens associated with filing quarter reports with the Federal Election Commission and the Alaska Public Offices Commission — among the reasons for the group’s demise.

The organization took an active role in local politics, and spearheaded the removal of Wasilla City Council member Steve Menard over behavior in a Sitka hotel in 2011. The group also claims a 70 percent success rate in electing candidates it endorsed for office, according to St. Clair.

“The board of directors, there were only three of us,” he said. “Financially, it was becoming burdensome. The regulation was too burdensome for the board of directors.”

In addition, the group also lost a dedicated member when director and vice-president Marvin Baker was killed in a tractor rollover near Sutton in early October, St. Clair said.

“This was Marvin’s passion,” he said. “He was kind of the glue that held it all together. With his passing, it’s burdensome on the remaining board members, and it’s hard to find a replacement for him.”

In addition, the rise of single-issue and single-candidate voters — like Second-Amendment voters who vote only on gun rights issues — had sapped volunteers from among the group’s ranks, St. Clair said.

“What I’ve seen a lot of with single-candidate volunteers, is that everything is about their candidate. If their candidate loses, they become very vitriolic and very mean, and very ugly about it,” St. Clair said.

In particular, low Conservative Patriots Group turnout and the group itself was blamed for a primary candidate’s loss.

This contrasts with the group’s message, which was more about a collection of issues and values than about a single issue or candidate, St. Clair said.

While it might seem incongruous for a self-proclaimed, for-profit, elections-driven group to close on the heels of the most expensive mid-term election in history — almost $3.7 billion, according to the Center for Responsive Politics — the closure is due in part to changes in donations this year, many of which went directly to candidates, or moved through traditional party apparatus, instead of through groups like the Conservative Patriots.

Current members of the group will be allowed to join the Alaska Republican Assembly, which shares a set of common values with the Conservative Patriots. A single distinguishing characteristic separates the Conservative Patriots from the Assembly: participants must be registered Republicans, according to St. Clair.

“If you look at it, predominantly, we do support Republicans, but we do look at other types of candidates,” he said.

The group had supported two non-Republican members in the past, but both candidates lost, St. Clair said.

In addition, the end the group was driven in part by the rise of the independent voters and candidates, St. Clair said. Republicans recently lost the governor’s mansion to a combine ticket with an independent candidate and a Democrat, which was driven in part by a movement away from conservative principles, St. Clair said.

“I think the rise of independents is because the Republicans are putting forward candidates who appear to be in lockstep with the party,” he said. “They’re not as desirable or as conservative as they could be.”

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com.