Alaska State Legislature
News from the Office of Representative Terry Martin
716 W 4th Avenue, Suite 650
Anchorage, AK 99801-2133
phone: (907) 258-8169
web site: http://www.akrepublicans.org/pastlegs/martin.htm
Gaming Audit Points to Need for Corrective Legislation
For Immediate Release July 9, 1997 Contact: Rep. Terry Martin (907) 258-8169
ANCHORAGE, AK -- Charitable gaming in Alaska is not effectively regulated by the state, according to a legislative audit released today. And Anchorage Representative Terry Martin says legislation that would correct many of the problems has been introduced and stopped for the past three years.
“The audit does a good job of documenting the need for the changes we have been advocating ever since the gaming program was supposedly reformed in 1993,” Martin said. “But I don’t have a lot of faith that anything will change in favor of the charities, as long as the gambling interests can keep the bills bottled up in committee.”
Martin said the main problem with charitable gaming is that loopholes in the law have allowed many organizations that have nothing to do with charity to participate.
“Many of the most active pull-tab permit holders are not charities by any stretch of the imagination,” Martin said. “A few examples are the Alaska Build PAC, the Alaska Chiropractors Association, the Anchorage Homebuilders Association, and the Alaska Telephone Association. You even have the Alaska Charitable Gaming Association and the Charitable Gaming Association of Alaska, two organizations specifically set up to defend and promote the interests of gaming operators. That’s charity?
“The real shame is that these organizations and many others are ripping off millions of dollars that should be going into needy charities. My only hope is that the IRS will take a long look at these so-called charities and make them pay taxes on the gaming profits they’ve used to replace their members’ dues.”
The audit, Martin said, also points to a pattern of neglect from state agencies that are supposed to be regulating the industry. “It’s as if nobody seems to care,” he said. “But in my view it all trickles down from the top, including the Legislature. Even though we claimed to have reformed gaming four years ago, and fixed the campaign finance laws last year, big loopholes remain that will allow hundreds of thousands of dollars to flow into the political campaign process.
“We should not continue to be oblivious to it, because it’s an industry, if you want to call it that, that circulates more than $270 million a year. Any other industry that big would be under a constant microscope. But over the last three years, there has been essentially a ‘hands off,’ ‘don’t touch the sacred cow’ attitude, which, not surprisingly, resulted in an awful lot of fat campaign accounts, and even fatter district and statewide political party coffers.”
Last December, a specialist on Alaska gaming produced a 24-page report detailing the flow of gaming-related dollars into political campaigns over the last four years. Two pages of the 285-page appendix to the report are attached. Copies of the report may be obtained through the Legislative Information Office in Anchorage.
###
Years |
1993 - 1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
Total |
Total Net Gaming Income |
$1,565,662.00 |
$1,411,968.00 |
$457,446.00 |
$3,435,076.00 |
Contributions Received from other Gaming Organizations |
$254,729.00 |
$163,528.00 |
$326,488.00 |
$744,745.00 |
Total Gaming Income |
$1,820,391.00 |
$1,577,491.00 |
$783,934.00 |
$4,179,821.00 |
Organization |
Contributions to Candidates |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Alaska Bingo Supply |
$2,500.00 |
$1,000.00 |
$2,000.00 |
$5,500.00 |
Alaska Build PAC |
$44,233.00 |
$21,940.00 |
$14,500.00 |
$80,673.00 |
Alaska CHARR Organizations |
$250.00 |
$5,000.00 |
$0.00 |
$5,250.00 |
Alaska Chiropractic Association |
$33,500.00 |
$6,650.00 |
$4,405.00 |
$44,555.00 |
Alaska Democratic Party |
$118,484.00 |
$0.00 |
$24,382.00 |
$142,866.00 |
Alaska Environmental Lobby |
$3,600.00 |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
$3,600.00 |
AK. Fed. of Republican Women |
$250.00 |
$0.00 |
$28,625.00 |
$28,875.00 |
Alaska Laborer's Union # 341 |
$35,300.00 |
$4,500.00 |
$19,600.00 |
$59,400.00 |
Alaska Laborer's P&E Cmte. |
$18,500.00 |
$1,000.00 |
$7,250.00 |
$26,750.00 |
Alaska Miners' Association |
$1,600.00 |
$0.00 |
$1,700.00 |
$3,300.00 |
Alaska Telephone Association |
$15,500.00 |
$0.00 |
$9,500.00 |
$25,000.00 |
Alaska Women's Political Caucus |
$5,800.00 |
$0.00 |
$6,590.00 |
$12,390.00 |
Alaska Ironworkers |
$16,200.00 |
$1,750.00 |
$6,100.00 |
$24,050.00 |
Alaska State AFL-CIO |
$4,624.00 |
$500.00 |
$650.00 |
$5,774.00 |
Alaskan Independence Party |
$31,300.00 |
$22,200.00 |
$0.00 |
$53,500.00 |
Anchorage Firefighters Union |
$7,700.00 |
$250.00 |
$2,000.00 |
$9,950.00 |
Anch. Republican Women's Club |
$59,600.00 |
$0.00 |
$20,625.00 |
$80,225.00 |
APEA (Local 71/EPIC/PAC) |
$64,400.00 |
$1,000.00 |
$61,850.00 |
$127,250.00 |
ASEA |
$44,800.00 |
$5,000.00 |
$36,750.00 |
$86,550.00 |
Associated General Contractors |
$35,900.00 |
$1,000.00 |
$21,250.00 |
$58,150.00 |
Carpenters CLC Bingo |
$10,490.00 |
$2,000.00 |
$4,000.00 |
$16,490.00 |
District 25 Democrats |
$2,000.00 |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
$2,000.00 |
District 1 Republican Party |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
$2,000.00 |
$2,000.00 |
District 8 Republican Party |
$500.00 |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
$500.00 |
District 13 Republican Party |
$75.00 |
$0.00 |
$21,400.00 |
$21,475.00 |
District 29 Republican Party |
$24,680.00 |
$0.00 |
$500.00 |
$25,180.00 |
Fairbanks Central Labor Council |
$5,500.00 |
$0.00 |
$4,000.00 |
$9,500.00 |
The Governor's Fund |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
$15,000.00 |
$15,000.00 |
Holland America Westours |
$37,446.00 |
$8,500.00 |
$14,500.00 |
$60,446.00 |
Homebuilders Associations |
$11,097.00 |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
$11,097.00 |
House Democratic C.C. |
$74,000.00 |
$0.00 |
$184,500.00 |
$258,500.00 |
IBEW |
$48,250.00 |
$18,750.00 |
$31,200.00 |
$98,200.00 |
Individuals Connected to Gaming |
$14,616.00 |
$1,600.00 |
$5,100.00 |
$21,316.00 |
Interior Democrats |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
$1,413.00 |
$1,413.00 |
Juneau Central Labor Council |
$800.00 |
$0.00 |
$1,500.00 |
$2,300.00 |
Mat Su Democrats |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
$39,500.00 |
$39,500.00 |
NEA Alaska |
$51,350.00 |
$18,200.00 |
$36,850.00 |
$106,400.00 |
Nuvuk Democratic Club |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
Orgs. w/ Gaming Interests |
$18,500.00 |
$500.00 |
$100.00 |
$19,100.00 |
Plumbers & Pipefitters Union |
$5,312.00 |
$0.00 |
$1,000.00 |
$6,312.00 |
Princess Tours |
$50,200.00 |
$250.00 |
$20,500.00 |
$70,950.00 |
Public Safety Employees Assn. |
$26,500.00 |
$1,500.00 |
$2,900.00 |
$30,900.00 |
Republican Party of Alaska |
$224,265.00 |
$223.00 |
$296,851.00 |
$521,339.00 |
Senate Democratic C.C. |
$120,465.00 |
$0.00 |
$193,592.00 |
$314,057.00 |
Teamsters A.L.I.V.E. |
$37,700.00 |
$8,000.00 |
$17,500.00 |
$63,200.00 |
Union Labor PAC |
$2,250.00 |
$1,500.00 |
$0.00 |
$3,750.00 |
United Transportation Union |
$1,850.00 |
$0.00 |
$250.00 |
$2,100.00 |
Valdez Democratic Precinct |
$43,980.00 |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
$43,980.00 |
Total Contributions to Candidates |
$1,355,867.00 |
$132,813.00 |
$1,161,933.00 |
$2,650,613.00 |