Sen.-elect Wagoner accused of failing to disclose interests
KENAI - Two Kenai Peninsula voters have filed suit contending Sen.-elect Thomas Wagoner failed to disclose business and financial interests as required by state law when he filed in May to run for the seat from Senate District Q.
If plaintiffs William Grimm and Merrill McGahan of North Kenai prevail in the case filed Monday, the Kenai Peninsula Senate seat election could be overturned and the victory handed to incumbent Republican Sen. Jerry Ward, who lost the election.
Reached in California, Wagoner called the allegations frivolous.
"They're just grasping at straws trying to find anything to get the election overturned," Wagoner said from Desert Hot Springs.
Wagoner ran in the Nov. 5 election as a Republican Moderate, beating Republican Ward by 125 votes, according to the latest count. Wagoner, now registered as a Republican, has joined the Senate's GOP majority.
Grimm and McGahan have asked an Anchorage Superior Court for a temporary restraining order barring the Alaska Division of Elections from certifying the results of the District Q election while an investigation is conducted. The Alaska Public Offices Commission has jurisdiction over any decision regarding the violations themselves.
"When a candidate files for office, they must disclose their conflict of interest," attorney John Rice, who represents the plaintiffs, told the Peninsula Clarion. Rice said a cursory examination of Wagoner's disclosure statements showed a number of business interests he did not disclose.
Wagoner is accused of failing to disclose interests in a partnership called Got Fish; failing to list his businesses Wagoner Rental Properties, Chisik Island Charters and Nuka Island Charters and Cruises; failing to list his partnership in Riverside County, Calif., property; failing to disclose he is president of a California homeowners association; and failing to list his interest in a fishing boat as well as his limited-entry fishing permits.
According to information filed with the suit, Wagoner's business license for Got Fish is active, and he paid sales tax in 2002.
Wagoner said Got Fish was started this year and that "I might not have" disclosed it. He said he stepped down as president of the homeowners association in January. He said Nuka Island Fishing Charters made no money last year so he didn't notify APOC, believing he was not required to. Chisik Island Charters was an old name for Nuka Island Fishing Charters, he said.
He acknowledged he did not disclose the land-ownership partnership, but said he did list ownership of 50 percent of the property.
Ward could not be reached for comment.
Complete disclosure on the day a candidate files to run is the ideal, but not an absolute rule, said Nancy Freeman of APOC, the state's campaign watchdog agency. If a candidate overlooks something or misinterprets the law, APOC sends a letter asking for a correction.
Freeman said Wagoner was asked May 31 to file corrected paperwork. Wagoner complied on June 6 and on June 19 sent notification of rental income he said he forgot.
"There is no evidence at this point that he substantially failed to comply" with campaign disclosure requirements, Freeman said.