Unalaska, AK – The Alaska Public Offices Commission will meet in Anchorage tomorrow to decide whether Unalaska Mayor Shirley Marquardt broke the law when she sent two controversial e-mails during her reelection campaign last fall.

An initial report issued by APOC investigator Jeff Berliner in January charged Marquardt with violating half a dozen state public office statutes during the campaign. Following a series of counter-arguments from Marquardt and her attorney, however, Berliner is now recommending the commission penalize her for just two alleged violations:

- using public property to influence an election, and

- accepting a corporate contribution to her campaign.

The charges stem from an e-mail that Marquardt sent from her official city e-mail address on August 29 to At-Sea Processors Association President Stephanie Madsen and Pacific Seafood Processors Association President Glenn Reed, which later was widely distributed within the community and was posted on KIAL's website. In it, Marquardt said she was concerned about organizing efforts by the Unalaska Union Coalition, which was supporting Shannon Morrison's rival mayoral campaign.

"They are going all the way with organizing in Unalaska and this election is the start," Marquardt wrote in the e-mail. "It is going to be so important to get the vote out... ."

That e-mail prompted Unalaska resident Jeff Hancock to file a complaint with APOC, which tasked Berliner with investigating the matter. In his memorandum to the commission in January, Berliner argued that because Marquardt sent the e-mail from a city computer, it amounted to an illegal use of city resources to support a candidate.

During the investigation, Marquardt told Berliner that she had used the computer and printer at her office at Samson Tug & Barge Co. to produce campaign materials, although she had bought her own office supplies for the work. Berliner argued in the report that this constituted an illegal corporate contribution from Samson to her campaign.

At tomorrow's hearing, APOC will also address a second complaint against Marquardt the commission received in March from former City Council member Joanna Aldridge. Aldridge alleged that Marquardt crossed the line of propriety again in another August e-mail that Hancock had obtained from the city while researching his complaint, this one to city consultant Michael Hubbard and City Manager Chris Hladick. At the time, Aldridge--who had resigned from the council for family reasons in February--was considering running again for her old seat. "[Aldridge] has been living in Seattle for the last 6 months, sure wish she would stay there," Marquardt wrote in the e-mail.

Aldridge said in her complaint that she believed the e-mail "to be a misuse of a publicly funded infrastructure to get a campaign message out disparaging a candidate."

"This e-mail further is deprecatory of myself... and could have undue influence in future elections and appointments to public office in which I may choose to participate... ," she wrote.

Reached on Tuesday, Marquardt said she didn't want to comment at length on the APOC proceedings before the commission had weighed in on the matter at the Thursday hearing. But she did say that the comments in the e-mail--which was part of a mostly humorous exchange with Hubbard--were taken out of context, and that she hadn't meant any harm by them. Berliner, however, is recommending the commission find her in violation of using public resources for campaign purposes in that case as well as for the August 29 e-mail.

Marquardt's lawyer, Tom Amodio of the Anchorage-based Reeves Amodio firm, has sought dismissal of both Aldridge's and Hancock's complaints. But a letter he sent to APOC last week about Aldridge's complaint was particularly strongly worded, describing Berliner's recommendation to the commission in the case to be "truly astonishing."

"Frankly, I am dismayed that my client has to spend her time and effort (not to mention money) defending against these baseless claims," Amodio wrote, questioning how an e-mail that only reached two people, didn't mention voting and concerned a candidate who ultimately didn't run could be construed as illegally influencing an election. "[The complaint is] little more than harassment, the griping of persons who have lost (or whose candidate lost) in an open and fair election."

Amodio, who was preparing for the hearing today, declined to comment further on the case until the commission makes its ruling. Aldridge was out of town today and couldn't be reached for comment.

The investigations into Hancock's and Aldridge's complaints have expanded to include a third controversy involving Marquardt, this one dating back to October 2006, shortly after then-Rep. Carl Moses had lost the Democratic primary for House District 37 in a coin toss to Bryce Edgmon. On October 5, the City of Unalaska hosted a reception, emceed by Marquardt, for the attendees of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting at the Grand Aleutian Hotel. With Marquardt's permission, Moses used the event as a platform to announce his write-in campaign for the state House, and Moses and supporter Clem Tillion also solicited donations for the campaign.

"This is going to be a very expensive race, and you need to support Carl with your wallets," Tillion told the audience at the reception.

At the time, Hancock complained informally to APOC that by allowing Moses to campaign at the reception, Marquardt had knowingly used public resources to raise funds for a partisan campaign. No investigation materialized at the time, but the event has resurfaced as an example of what Berliner referred to in his report to the commission as Marquardt's "prior history with APOC" supporting his recommended penalties in Hancock's complaint.

Marquardt has vigorously opposed Berliner's characterization of the 2006 event. In an affidavit submitted to APOC last week, she said that she had confirmed the legality of Moses's announcement beforehand, and was not aware that he would be raising money at it. She said she quickly ordered Moses and Tillion to move the fundraising operation out of the room the city had rented, and that a subsequent phone conversation with APOC Acting Director Christina Ellingson left her with the impression that she had done everything properly.

"[Ellingson ended] our conversation by saying 'relax and have a great election,'" Marquardt said in the affidavit.

In her own affidavit, Ellingson did not recount the specific conversation and was somewhat ambiguous about Marquardt's actions, stating that she "concluded that [Marquardt] had a clear understanding of the law and that, whatever happened prior to the November 2006 election would not be repeated."

Moses couldn't be reached for comment today, but Tillion, reached by phone, confirmed that he had not informed Marquardt ahead of time that he would be fundraising at the reception. He said he couldn't recall whether it was Marquardt or someone else who told him to take the operation elsewhere.

"I don't remember who told us, but I remember being told, 'You have to go somewhere else,'" he said.

APOC is addressing Hancock's and Aldridge's complaints as part of its regular three-day meeting in Anchorage this week. The two complaints will be heard back-to-back starting at 10:30 a.m. Thursday.