A candidate for president of the United States, Al Gross is an orthopaedic surgeon. Independent Alaskan homeowner with a California rental property and a stake in a Juneau office building. Nick Begich, a Republican and one of his main opponents, has a stake in a software firm he established that now employs more than a hundred people and has locations in three countries, as well as six figures worth of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and litecoin.
Democrat candidate Chris Constant is in the midst of his loan repayment process. Financial reports recently submitted by the 48 candidates vying for Alaska’s lone House seat show massive wealth differences. A look into the candidates’ assets and economic interests can be gleaned from the disclosures, which were mandated by federal law last month. They also show how having a lot of money might help a candidate for Congress.
More than half the money he’s raised so far, $650,000, has come from loans to his own campaign from Begich, who has reported assets of at least $10.8 million and as much as $46 million. Meanwhile, Gross invested $730,000 of his own money into an ultimately fruitless attempt at a U.S. campaign for the United States Senate in 2020, which helped pave the way for his impromptu run this year.
He disclosed a net worth between $8.7 and $23 million, some of which are held jointly with his wife. Sarah Palin, a former Republican governor running for president, had her campaign produce a copy of a report it claimed to have filed with the U.S. I contacted the House clerk, but she said that the file hadn’t been uploaded to her system yet.
Palin has acknowledged having assets valued between $950,000 and $2.4 million, with between $500,000 and $1 million stored in a savings account at Wells Fargo. Meanwhile, the amounts that Begich and Gross have reported spending on their campaigns are equivalent to about ten years of salary for the typical Alaskan family.
Constant has disclosed assets of less than $100,000, and he has spent a total of $400 on his own campaign. According to Michael Beckel, research director for Issue One in Washington, D.C., a nonpartisan advocacy group that tries to reduce the influence of money in politics, wealthy politicians enjoy additional benefit beyond the capacity to spend freely on their campaigns.
According to Beckel, this is because they have more access to wealthy friends, family, and professional contacts who are willing to make substantial contributions to their campaign. “If you aren’t rubbing shoulders with big contributors, it is really hard to penetrate into those circles,” Beckel added. For those with less financial resources, the odds of winning an election are stacked against them.
Modest income as a selling point
More over half of the contenders in the campaign disclosed having more than $1 million in assets. One of them is Jeff Lowenfels, a lawyer specialising in natural resources and a gardening author who claims to own at least $500,000 worth of Apple shares. Also, Alaska Native leader Tara Sweeney has invested at least $500,000 in carbon offsets sales for a new Arctic-focused climate enterprise called Seven Glaciers.
Anchorage entrepreneur Sherry Mettler and independent former Bristol Bay Borough manager Gregg Brelsford both disclosed assets of over $1 million. Those sums surpass the wealth amassed by retiring U.S. Rep. Don Young over his fifty years in Congress. His assets were said to be worth as little as $580,000 in his final filing, which he filed in 2021 before his untimely death in March.
There are 48 candidates in the special primary on June 11, but as of Tuesday, only 12 had their disclosures public by the House clerk’s office. Different campaigns’ interpretations of the laws defining when the reports were due resulted in a range of deadlines, the latest of which being Monday. Many of the candidates fighting for Young’s old seat are running low-key campaigns because they aren’t required to file
the records unless they raise or spend more than $5,000 on their campaigns. The candidates’ residences do not have to be included on the asset list unless they are being rented out in order to comply with the requirements. Stocks, bonds, business interests, and cryptocurrency values are also presented in broad ranges, such as $1,000 to $15,000.
Constant’s report includes just two entries, both relating to his retirement savings, which are estimated to be worth between $15,000 and $50,000. He made about $150,000 in 2021 between his jobs as an Anchorage Assembly member and at the social services group Akeela, as well as the selling of real estate. Constant claims victory in his campaign’s fundraising efforts, which have netted about $100,000 so far,
Yay for ship day! I’m so grateful when the ships come in to help resupply Alaska, and a special shout-out to our hard working union workers for getting these supplies offloaded and on to their final destination. #marypeltola #shipday #unionstrong #portofalaska pic.twitter.com/n3E2zNwMum
— Mary Peltola (@MaryPeltola) August 28, 2022
albeit this amount is significantly lower than the $370,000 that Begich has garnered from others for his own House candidacy. Constant, however, uses the fact that he is not particularly wealthy to his advantage. Advantage: “practically speaking, I understand what it’s like to earn a living,” Constant added, referring to the reality for the majority of Alaskans. I’m a working person,” he continued. No, I didn’t inherit a fortune.
Mary Peltola, another Democratic primary candidate, led a tribe fisheries management group in her native region of Southwest Alaska last year and made $89,000 in salary and bonuses. While considering whether or not to launch her campaign, Peltola said she worried about how she would pay her mortgage, energy bills, and car loan without being paid by her employer during her unpaid absence.
Peltola, echoing Constant, has argued that her personal experiences make her more qualified to craft legislation that will help Alaskans in the workforce. According to Peltola, “our electoral system is actually built up for such positions to be targeted by people who are financially secure and who are most commonly retired.” As with the rest of Alaska, I go three days between paychecks.
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