Busted? New APOC complaint questions Chris Constant’s post-election spending on tablets, equipment, software

By SUZANNE DOWNING

Aug. 16, 2026 – Former Anchorage Assembly Chairman Chris Constant is facing a new Alaska Public Offices Commission complaint alleging that his 2023 campaign spent thousands of dollars on tablets, electronics, software and other services — after the election was already over.

The central question is simple: If the campaign had ended, what legitimate campaign purpose did the purchases serve?

Constant won reelection to his third consecutive Assembly term on April 4, 2023. He was term-limited from seeking another Assembly term in 2026 and has not filed to run for another office.

Yet after Election Day that year, his campaign continued buying equipment.

According to the complaint filed by Assemblyman Donald Handeland, acting in his own capacity as a citizen, Constant’s campaign made four post-election equipment purchases totaling $2,605.96:

• $627 on April 14 for what appears to have been a ReMarkable digital note-taking tablet
• $899.99 at Best Buy on May 2
• $128.99 at Best Buy on June 5
• $949.98 at Costco on June 5

The campaign provided no meaningful description of most of the items, identifying them only as “Equipment.”

A ReMarkable tablet can be used for handwritten notes and document review. But Constant’s campaign was over by the time it was purchased. The other Best Buy and Costco purchases remain unidentified.

The timing of the June 5 purchases is especially notable, as they were made 62 days after the election and on the campaign’s final day of substantial spending, as the account was distributing its remaining money.

Under Alaska law, campaign contributions may be used only for expenses reasonably related to campaign activity and cannot be converted to the personal benefit of a candidate or another person.

A campaign may retain property that was acquired for use in the campaign. But the complaint argues that provision does not give candidates permission to use leftover campaign cash to stock up on electronics after an election has ended.

Constant could not plausibly have been buying the equipment for his next Assembly campaign. He had reached Anchorage’s three-term limit and was legally ineligible to seek another consecutive term. He also had not filed for another office.

If the equipment was not for a campaign, was it purchased for Constant’s personal use? Was it intended for his Assembly office? If so, his campaign may have effectively operated as a second office account.

Constant had already transferred the maximum $5,000 permitted into his municipal office account in April 2023. That account later reported another $1,493.13 in purchases from Samsung, described only as “Office Equipment” and “Office Equipment Replacement.”

Between the campaign and office accounts, Constant reported $5,339.08 in equipment purchases. The number, timing and vague descriptions of the transactions raise a red flag.

The complaint also questions a $599.88 reimbursement Constant received on April 25, three weeks after Election Day, for an “Adobe Software Subscription.”

The amount appears to equal 12 monthly payments of $49.99, suggesting the campaign bought a yearlong subscription after the election had concluded.

If Constant purchased the subscription more than 72 hours before being reimbursed, the complaint says he was required to disclose the advance and file a Candidate Reimbursement Notification. The complainant found no such notification in APOC’s public records.

If it was purchased within 72 hours of the reimbursement, the question becomes why a completed campaign needed a new annual software subscription.

The complaint raises similar concerns about $1,000 paid to the Alaska Democratic Party for “Additional Data Services” 48 days after the election and another $1,000 paid to Johnston Public Relations for “Design Work” 62 days after the election.

Those do not look like ordinary costs of closing a campaign and Constant and the ADP will need to coordinate their answers on that one. If the work was performed before Election Day, the campaign should have reported the obligations when they were incurred. If it was performed afterward, Constant will have to explain what campaign purpose it served.

The complaint also alleges that Constant’s campaign failed to disclose more than $10,000 in mailer debts on its final Seven Day Report before the election.

Three Color Art mailer bills totaling $10,372.05 were paid March 29, just one day after the Seven Day Report was filed. Producing three separate mailers requires design, approval, printing and postage, making it unlikely that all three obligations arose only after the report’s March 25 cutoff.

A fourth mailer costing $2,984.29 was reported as paid on Election Day, even though Anchorage’s vote-by-mail ballots had already been in voters’ hands for about three weeks.

The complaint further questions a $12,897.53 payment to Ship Creek Group made April 19 for website updates, communications design and digital advertising. Meta records show a Constant campaign advertisement had been running since March 15, but no corresponding debt for that advertising appeared on the Seven Day Report.

The allegations are reminiscent of the recently adjudicated APOC case against Assemblyman George Martinez.

Former Assembly Chairman Chris Constant steps back into City Hall fight over George Martinez travel investigation

APOC found that Martinez illegally spent campaign money on a December 2025 flight to Florida that provided him with a personal benefit. Commissioners described his testimony as evasive and not credible and imposed a penalty of more than $5,000. The Anchorage Assembly later censured Martinez over the violation.

Assemblyman Martinez fined over campaign spending on Florida trip, carbon credits

Constant was chairman of the Assembly during part of the separate controversy involving Martinez’s municipal travel. Records reviewed by Assembly members Donald Handeland and Jared Goecker showed that Constant spent approximately nine seconds reviewing one of Martinez’s travel documents before approving it.

When Constant returned to the Assembly chambers as a member of the public during the recent Martinez debate, he attacked Handeland and Goecker as racist for scrutinizing Martinez’s travel and pushing for an independent investigation.

That investigation was rejected by a 6-5 vote of the Assembly, even though questions remained about Martinez’s taxpayer-funded travel to New York and whether some of it overlapped with private business interests. Constant’s approval of the travel had been offered as part of Martinez’s defense.

Hip-hop Martinez gets scolding by Assembly for flagrant use of campaign funds for personal trip

Now Constant may have to answer similar questions about his own use of political funds.

This is not primarily a case about minor categorization mistakes or paperwork technicalities. Its most serious allegations concern money spent after the campaign had ended on equipment and services that retained value outside the 2023 election.

Constant will have an opportunity to respond, and APOC has not yet ruled on the new allegations. But the transactions themselves are documented in campaign and municipal office-account reports.

The public still needs to know what Constant bought, where the equipment went and how electronics, an annual software subscription, additional voter data and new design work served a campaign that was already over.

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