'Bird's
Eye View'
Front Page Photo by Carl Thompson
Alaska: Alaska high court closes soft money
spigot - The Alaska Supreme Court Friday upheld a state requirement
that political parties disclose the sources of so-called soft
money contributions.
Enacted by the Alaska Public
Offices Commission after the 2002 gubernatorial race, the regulation
was intended to prevent political parties from collecting unlimited
amounts of money from undisclosed sources as long as it was not
used to campaign directly for or against a particular candidate.
Soft money can be used in numerous
ways to evade hard money restrictions, the court said, adding
campaign finance disclosure is intended to inform the electorate,
deter actual corruption and avoid the appearance of corruption,
and aid in the detection of violations of contribution and expenditure
limits. The court also cited the similar federal requirement
mandating the disclosure of soft money contributors.
Soft money - money not directly
given to a candidate or political committee inside a regime limiting
specific and total contributions - has been used in the past
to pay for issue ads that indirectly attack candidates and allows
parties a source of funds besides hard money that would otherwise
have to be spent for non-political purposes.
Friday - November 26, 2004
 Ketchikan: Woodard
Named KGH Employee of the Month - Ray Woodard, Network Support
Specialist at Ketchikan General Hospital (KGH), has been named
Employee of the Month by a committee of his peers.
Woodard has been an employee
of KGH for over nine years and has been a key player in the computerization
of the hospital's workflow. He offers desktop, network and wireless
expertise; he equips new employees with computers, troubleshoots
problems, and upgrades systems according to the organization's
plan. When new technologies are launched he is integral in providing
the computer equipment necessary for the processes to take place.
He is one of a small team of employees who share the responsibility
of being on call 24 hours per day to deal with urgent computer
issues. - More...
Friday - November 26, 2005
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