Unalaska, AK – The state Division of Elections has questioned four employers in Unalaska following a complaint alleging that they were trying to influence their employees to vote for Carl Moses.

Division director Whitney Brewster faxed a letter to representatives of Alyeska Seafoods, Offshore Systems Inc., UniSea Inc. and Westward Seafoods last night. One of the letters viewed by KIAL states that the division "received a report that management staff of your plant have been providing sample ballots to plant employees, on-site at the plant, and instructing the employees to write-in the name of a particular candidate and vote for that candidate at the upcoming general election."

Brewster said the candidate in question was Carl Moses, who's running for his state House seat in the District 37 general election as a write-in candidate after losing the Democratic primary to Bryce Edgmon in a coin toss. The name of the person who filed the complaint hasn't been made public.

The letter doesn't mention any activity that is in violation of election law, although advocacy on behalf of a candidate in the workplace does run afoul of campaign laws if the campaigning employee is being paid at the time. Representatives of the Alaska Public Offices Commission said the commission wasn't investigating the complaint, which hadn't been addressed to APOC.

Brewster said this morning that although she's looking into the complaint, she hasn't yet found any evidence of illegal activity.

"I've spoken to three of the four and I feel confident that what they are currently practicing in their locations is in accordance with law," Brewster said.

Representatives of Alyeska, UniSea and OSI contacted today denied any wrongdoing. Sinclair Wilt, the general manager of Alyeska's Unalaska plant, said that he did allow the Moses campaign to put up posters at the plant, but that nothing more occurred. UniSea operations manager Rocky Caldero said that his plant had made pro-Moses flyers available at the request of Moses's re-election committee, but that he would've done that for any candidate who had asked. Tiny Schasteen, the vice president of Dutch Harbor operations for OSI, said that his company hadn't allowed any campaign advertising on its property. He said the complaint against OSI was malicious, and "just like calling in a fake fire alarm." Westward representatives didn't return calls for comment today.

Frank Kelty, chairman of Carl Moses's re-election campaign in Unalaska, said that he had provided some of the businesses named in the complaint with pro-Moses signs, but that he hadn't done anything illegal, either.

Alyeska, UniSea and Westward are the three largest seafood processing plants in Unalaska and Dutch Harbor. The involvement of plant personnel in community politics is a controversial subject in the community, because the processors employ so many people and account for many votes. State voter registration rolls indicated that more than 13 percent of voters currently registered in Unalaska live at addresses belonging to UniSea, the largest processor in Dutch Harbor. UniSea employees cast nearly a quarter of the votes in last month's Unalaska City Council election, in which two company employees, including Caldero, were seeking office.