KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
Voters in the Kodiak Island Borough weren’t the only ones to vote down a measure that would allow officials to use less stringent financial disclosure forms. Propositions were on the ballots in nine Alaska communities, and it failed in five of them.
The movement to exempt officials in municipalities around the state is the result of the Alaska State Legislature passing anti-corruption legislation last year. It requires elected officials, some appointed officials and some hired administrators to fill out a 12-page disclosure that requires the listing of all their financial dealings that total 1,000-dollars or more, as well as those of their spouses and dependent children. It has been called intrusive by some, and is widely considered to be the reason for a dearth of candidates in Kodiak elections.
A community can exempt its elected officials from the more strident reporting requirements by a vote of its residents. If passed, the community can fill out the simpler and less detailed forms with their own clerk’s office.
But, the residents of Kodiak voted the measure down 1,070 to 985 on Tuesday.
Unofficial results show that similar measures also failed in Seward by 46 votes, North Pole by 40, Wrangell by 195, and Haines by 163.
The people of Sitka, Ketchikan and the city of Kenai passed measures exempting their elected officials, however, and in Delta Junction, an exemption measure is ahead by five votes. Residents of the Denali Borough will vote on the issue November 4th.
