The Alaska Public Offices Commission has closed its investigation of Anchorage marijuana activist Charlo Greene.
In a letter addressed to Charlene Egbe, Greene's legal name, the state agency charged with overseeing Alaska's campaign disclosure laws concluded Monday that Greene does not appear to have broken any of those laws leading up to last year's vote to legalize marijuana.
Greene spent months going back and forth with the agency over whether it had the standing to investigate whether she violated campaign disclosure laws in her work advocating for legal marijuana. Greene contended that a fundraising campaign -- launched after she abruptly quit her job as a television reporter with an on-air expletive in September -- was on behalf of her business, the Alaska Cannabis Club, and not advocating for Ballot Measure 2.
After Green declined to provide documents related to an IndieGogo campaign that netted her $8,400, the state eventually went to court and an administrative subpoena was issued against her in April.
It appears Greene complied. According to the letter signed by APOC executive director Paul Dauphinais, Greene provided an email list of contributors as well as a "highly redacted and almost totally illegible" photograph of what APOC assumed was a bank statement. The letter states that Greene later provided a legible bank statement with all the transactions redacted except for the IndieGogo deposit.
The letter notes that the Superior Court order allowed Greene to produce a copy of the bank statements "with all information redacted, except those entries that reflect campaign expenditures."
Based on the readable material, APOC concluded there were no apparent campaign violations and as a result closed its investigation.
Greene said in an emailed statement that she was relieved the agency had dropped its investigation, though she lamented the time and state money that went into what she called a "witch hunt" against her.
"I hope the result of this frivolous investigation will undo the damage APOC has inflicted on my character and the Alaska Cannabis Club organization as I prepare to launch my national marijuana advocacy speaking tour this fall," she wrote.