Begich Signs Pledge for Full Disclosure of Campaign Dollars

Calls on Sullivan to disclose secret money with Counter PAC pledge

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 10/10/2023
CONTACT: Max Croes — 907-570-2065

ANCHORAGE- Senator Mark Begich is joining Alaskans to call on all groups spending in Alaska’s U.S. Senate race to disclose the sources of their funding and end the secret attack ads flooding Alaska’s TVs. Doing so will end much of the negative campaigning and allow Alaskans to focus on the candidates and issues in the final weeks of the U.S. Senate race, not the flood of attack ads.

The Alaska Public Interest Research Group called on candidates to sign a pledge from Counter PAC to bring accountability to Alaska’s Senate race and end the practice of “dark money” in Alaska’s most expensive campaign.

Begich has signed the pledge requiring the sources of Outside money in Alaska’s Senate election to be disclosed. Failure by Outside groups to disclose the sources of their funding will require either campaign to contribute a pre-determined amount of money to a charity.

Begich has long been an advocate of increased transparency in elections and just recently announced his plan to permanently reform campaign finance by calling for a reversal of Citizens United, passage of the DISCLOSE Act and the adoption of Alaska law requiring groups to state their top three donors in ads. Mark Begich will continue to work to permanently end the existence of secret money in our elections. Begich has supported these efforts since the Supreme Court’s ruling and called on Dan Sullivan to support them as well.

“Mark Begich agrees with Alaskans that all voters deserve to know where campaign dollars and attack ads are coming from. Alaska requires contributions to be public and for any group to disclose their top three donors in their commercials, that’s Alaska common sense and it should be adopted nationally. The recent attempt by Dan Sullivan’s parents to conceal $300,000 made clear Sullivan doesn’t want to be honest about the millions he’s getting from Outside forces like the Koch brothers and Alaskans deserve to know where this money is coming from,” said Max Croes, Alaskans for Begich Communications Director.

Begich has also signed the We The People Alaska pledge, proposed by Alaskans and stating that corporations are not people.

The pledge would require the following organizations to disclose their donors:

Americans for Prosperity

Freedom Partners

Crossroads GPS

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

**Read Mark Begich’s pledge below**

The Candidates reject outside “expenditures,” as defined below, unless the funding source of the expenditure is clearly disclosed and can be traced back entirely to one or more of the following “transparent sources”:

An individual or source that is permitted to make direct contributions to candidates and party committees under the Federal Election Campaign Act, of 1971, as amended (the “Act”);
a well known corporation with revenue from trade or commerce of at least $50 million for each of the past five years;
a nonprofit that has more than one million members, has been in existence for more than 10 years, has members in all 50 states and raises 15 percent or less of its funds from corporations; or
An entity registered and filing reports as a “political committee” with the Federal Election Commission that has not accepted more than $10,000 from a corporation or nonprofit failing to meet the criteria described above.

Rejected Expenditures. The Candidates reject the following types of expenditures that fail to meet the criteria described above (the “expenditures”):

· “independent expenditures,” as defined under the Act via television, radio, cable, satellite, or paid online advertising by a third party expressly advocating for or against a named, referenced (including by title), or otherwise identified Candidate; and
· “electioneering communications, “ as defined under the Act, via any television, radio, cable, or satellite advertising by a third party that refers to an identified Candidate.

Proof of Qualification. Any entity making rejected “expenditures” concerning the Candidates must provide proof through press release or other public statement, wherever it does not already exist in the public domain, that it is a transparent source itself (as defined above), or that it is using transparent sources to fund its “expenditures,” through a specific segregated bank account, or otherwise.

Countering Rejected Expenditures. If any rejected expenditure is made between October 14th and November 4th, 2014, the campaign committee of the Candidate that is advantaged by the rejected expenditure must, within three days of the expenditure, donate 50% of the cost of the rejected expenditure to a non-political, non-partisan, public charity of the opposing Candidate’s choice.

Resolution of Disputes. If any dispute arises with regard to whether a rejected expenditure has been made, which Candidate has been advantaged by a rejected expenditure, the amount of a rejected expenditure, whether the rejected expenditure has been countered as described in this Agreement, or any other question about the terms of this Agreement, either Candidate may seek a determination from CounterPAC, an independent, nonpartisan political organization dedicated to challenging and offsetting the effects of outside organizations on congressional campaigns. CounterPAC’s determination will be binding on the Candidates’ campaigns.

Further Cooperation of the Candidates. The Candidates will work together to limit the influence of third-party rejected expenditures in the campaign and to close any loopholes that may be discovered in this agreement during the course of the campaign.

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