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BUYING VOTES - NEW STATE REPORTS SHOW 2 REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES GAVE OVER $70K OF OWN MONEY TO LEGISLATIVE CAMPAIGNS

Newest Campaign Reports Show Mayo, Moffatt Personally Gave More Than $70,000 of Own Money to Legislative Races
Each Has Curious Residency Claims

Anchorage - Campaign reports filed with the State this week show how much a $24,000/year legislative seat is worth to at least two high-rolling Republican candidates. Senate candidate Earl Mayo has given $71,000 to his own campaign.  Perennial House candidate Tom Moffatt put $75,000 of his money into his campaign.

"When politicians try to buy votes, itıs usually because they canıt earn them with good ideas," said Alaska Democratic Party Chair Jake Metcalfe.

State law required candidates to file their donation reports this past Monday. Those reports show that Mayo spent $71,000 of his own money on his campaign, and that 70% of the $110,000 he raised in campaign donations came from his own personal wealth.

Moffatt's numbers were similarly staggering.  Heıs donated $75,000 to a campaign thatıs raised $113,000 in total contributions.  Website links to those reports are provided below.

Both candidates have already run into trouble over their questionable residency claims.  "When you shop for a place to run, you have to spend a lot of money because no one in the district knows you," said Metcalfe.

Earl Mayo ­ "Living" At the How How Chinese Restaurant

Mayo is running against neighborhood and community council activist Bill Wielechowski for Muldoon and Mountain View Senate Seat J.  To qualify to run, Mayo claims he lives in the district in a Chinese restaurant he owns, the How How on Muldoon Road.  But thatıs not where his house is located, where his Mercedes Benz is registered, or he and his wife conceded they live in a legal "warranty deed" they signed in 2005 before a notary public.  The house they own is located 4 miles away, In Senate District K represented by Senator Bettye Davis.

Tom Moffatt ­ 6th race, 4th Neighborhood

Two years ago Tom Moffatt lost to Democratic Rep. Max Gruenberg for the Mountain View/Russian Jack House seat.  Now heıs moved to the Sand lake/Kindaid District to Run against 16-year area resident Bob Buch. Moffattıs previously ran for the legislature for districts in Fairview and Eagle River before he ran for the Mountain View seat in 2004.  Heıs now run 6 times.  The filing deadline in this race required that he live in the district before June 1, 2005.  He closed on a house in this district on July
19, 2005.

Please contact Jake Metcalfe at 529-1441 for documents on these issues, or if you have any questions.