Alaska Governor and Justice Department Open Probes of Second-Sullivan Scheme

Alaska’s governor and the U.S. Justice Department have each opened inquiries into allegations that Democratic operatives helped recruit a second candidate named Dan Sullivan to run against Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, a Senate race now in its final week. The campaign of Democratic challenger Mary Peltola says it had nothing to do with it.

The allegations surfaced Wednesday in a New York Times report, which ABC News and NBC News summarized as relying on 12 sources and text messages. It described efforts by aides to Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to recruit Daniel J. Sullivan, a retired teacher, as a candidate who might draw votes from the incumbent through the shared name. NBC reported that a former Peltola campaign manager quoted in the Times story later retracted her statements.

On Thursday, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, directed the state Department of Public Safety to determine whether criminal charges or civil action are warranted. “The evidence will determine what happens next,” he said, according to ABC and NBC, and NBC reported he called it “disturbing new evidence.” A department deputy commissioner said the Alaska Bureau of Investigation had begun looking into the conduct, NBC reported.

The federal inquiry is moving separately. Attorney General Todd Blanche, speaking on Fox News on Wednesday, called the alleged scheme “cheating” and “fraud” and said, “I expect you’re going to hear more from the Department of Justice this week,” ABC reported. ABC described a new wave of subpoenas aimed at Democratic officials, and NBC, citing a U.S. official, reported at least three dozen new subpoenas and document-preservation requests sent to the offices of Peltola’s campaign and of Daniel J. Sullivan’s campaign. NBC added that a grand jury issued subpoenas in August to witnesses linked to the second Sullivan’s campaign; it did not say whether the latest requests came from that grand jury.

Peltola’s campaign, Alaskans for Mary, said it “has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign,” and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said it was “not involved with Dan J. Sullivan,” according to ABC and NBC. Peltola said in a speech in Juneau on Thursday, “I knew nothing about any other candidates on the ballot except for me and the incumbent,” NBC and Fox News reported. In a Fox News interview, Sen. Sullivan called it “a secret project” and “the biggest scandal in Alaskan electoral history by far,” and said, “Peltola is still lying about it.”

The strongest case for the investigators is simple: Dunleavy said deliberately tricking voters into casting ballots for someone else “strikes at the integrity of our elections,” and Blanche downplayed the Justice Department’s practice of avoiding overt investigative steps in the 60 days before an election, ABC reported. The strongest case for skeptics is just as plain: the underlying report rests on anonymous sources and text messages, one named source has retracted, no charges have been filed, and the Alaska Supreme Court previously ruled that Daniel J. Sullivan’s candidacy was legal, ABC reported.

The probes come as the Justice Department is already involved in Alaska’s election. Last week the Trump administration filed a civil suit seeking to block the state from certifying results if Sen. Sullivan narrowly loses, ABC reported, a move the paper covered. A federal judge is expected to rule in the coming days.