Anchorage Assembly member used campaign cash for a Florida flight and kept his seat
In June 2026 the Alaska Public Offices Commission ordered East Anchorage Assembly member George Martinez to pay the maximum fines, just over $5,300, after finding he spent $1,255 in campaign funds on a round-trip flight to Fort Lauderdale during his April campaign and gave $1,000 to a carbon-offset seller that earned him 1,500 status points on his personal airline account. APOC called the violations particularly egregious and his testimony formulaic and evasive. Martinez disagreed but paid. On July 21 the Assembly censured him 8-3, a largely symbolic step. On Aug. 4 it voted 6-5 to drop a proposed municipal attorney investigation of his taxpayer-funded trips to New York and Puerto Rico for a possible breach of public trust, ending a path toward removal. He remains in office; his term runs to 2029. A broader review of members' travel is underway.
His return flight was scheduled to depart about an hour after his arrival in Fort Lauderdale.
This is someone using campaign finance for personal benefit
It's hard to make a decision when it's this messy.
When the final vote came, the resolution fell two votes short of passage.
Said he respectfully disagreed with APOC's findings but would comply; called it a solo strategic planning retreat.
No outcome recorded yet.