Unalaska, AK – Copies of more than a hundred e-mails sent by Unalaska Mayor Shirley Marquardt in the lead-up to last month's election are being handed over to the state Public Offices Commission.

Unalaska resident Jeff Hancock said that at least a handful of the e-mails, which he requested and received from the city administration, support the complaint he submitted to APOC last week. Hancock has alleged that the mayor improperly used her city e-mail account to influence the October 2 election in which she narrowly retained the city government's top job.

"Web servers [and] laptop computers are all taxpayer-funded property of the city of Unalaska," Hancock said. "And I believe the mayor used her official city e-mail address to send out a campaign-related e-mail that was designed to put her political opponents at a disadvantage and influence the outcome of the election in her favor."

The initial complaint was based on an e-mail from Marquardt to two seafood industry association executives, in which the mayor discussed her concerns over the aims of the Unalaska Union Coalition, which was fielding several candidates in the mayoral and City Council elections. That e-mail was not among those the city handed over to Hancock last week. Marquardt said that's because before Hancock requested the e-mails, she had deleted that particular message, along with some others, in the course of cleaning out the sent file in her e-mail account.

Marquardt wouldn't record an interview for this story, saying that she hadn't seen the list of e-mails the city had released to Hancock. But she said she's not concerned about their content, and doesn't believe anything she sent would run afoul of state laws.

APOC investigator Jeff Berliner said he'll look at the e-mails, which his office hasn't received yet. APOC got the complaint late last week and today was a holiday for government employees, so the investigation hasn't really begun in earnest yet. But Berliner said his office is taking it seriously.

"A violation's a violation, so if somebody files a formal complaint, it's incumbent upon us to look into it," he said.

APOC investigations typically last about a month and end with investigators making a recommendation to the five-member commission, which votes on whether to take action based on those findings. APOC can impose fines and, in severe cases, recommend that officials be removed or not seated in offices to which they've been elected. The commission does not have the authority to void an election that has already taken place.