A prominent Alaska political consultant is spearheading an independent group to help elect Anchorage mayoral candidate Dan Coffey.
Republican Art Hackney has run campaigns in Alaska for decades. Last fall, he coordinated the "Alaska Energy, America's Values" political action committee, which spent $1 million to support Dan Sullivan's successful bid for U.S. Senate.
But Hackney said his latest independent expenditure group, "Anchorage Likes Coffey," is his first effort with a super PAC in a municipal election, set for April 7. A product of the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision, these groups are relatively new and are legally allowed to raise and spend unlimited sums of money for or against a candidate as long as they don't coordinate with the candidate.
At least one other such group, the Palmer-based Alaska Republican Assembly Federal PAC, is involved in the mayor's race. The Alaska Republican Assembly is backing candidate Amy Demboski.
Hackney said that Coffey, 68, an attorney, lobbyist, consultant and former assemblyman who was raised in Anchorage, has a wide network of longtime friends and acquaintances interested in giving beyond the $500 limit to individual candidates.
"This offers an opportunity to say, 'Here's something you can do to help,'" Hackney said.
Hackney said the group is also aiming to boost Coffey's name recognition among voters. A December poll by political consultant and strategist Jim Lottsfeldt found that Coffey was less well known than Ethan Berkowitz and Andrew Halcro, two other candidates in the race.
"I see Coffey as the kind of guy who labored away behind the scenes," Hackney said. "A lot of people don't know who he is."
Starting today, People Mover buses will begin running more than two dozen ads paid for by the group, featuring a coffee cup and the words "Anchorage Likes Coffey." The ads, which will run for three weeks, cost $12,875, according to a copy of the contract provided by People Mover.
The ad lists the top contributors as retired insurance broker Carl Brady Jr., Hackney and Hackney (Hackney's consulting business) and Henry Penney of the Anchorage real estate firm Penco.
Hackney said the "Anchorage Likes Coffey" group decided to run the bus ads after contacting People Mover and learning that Coffey's campaign had not yet purchased that type of advertising.
He wouldn't say exactly how much the group has raised so far, but said it was safe to say the amount was "substantial."
"How much are we going to raise? I don't know," Hackney said. "I'm going to be aggressive asking people for money."
He said that process involves pulling up Coffey's disclosure forms on the Alaska Public Offices Commission website and calling people who gave the maximum amount.
There's just more than three weeks until the April 7 election.