In Alaska, a state where ranked choice voting has already made the elections vulnerable and which could decide control of the United States Senate in the midterm election, two men named Dan Sullivan are running for Senate as Republicans. And one of them is reportedly accused of illegally coordinating with an outside group to undermine his opponent.
Sen. Dan S. Sullivan (R-Alaska) is the incumbent, while one challenger is Dan J. Sullivan or “Decoy Dan.” Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of watchdog group Americans for Public Trust, told the New York Post that Decoy Dan had veteran Democratic strategist Amber Lee working on his campaign while Lee also served on the board of the 907 Initiative. And hardly coincidentally, that supposed leftist watchdog has spent over $1 million on attack ads against Sen. Sullivan.
Sutherland insists that this is more than shady dealing, but an outright violation of the law. “It is absolutely a violation of federal election law for someone to wear two hats,” she assured the Post. “You can’t both work for the campaign and work for the outside group that’s running millions of dollars in advertisements that’s benefiting the campaign that you’re working for.” Americans for Public Trust (APT) has filed an official FEC complaint alleging illegal coordination involving Decoy Dan’s campaign, Lee, and the 907 Initiative.
APT accuses 907 Initiative of spending $575,000 just in the 90 days leading up to the August primary, after Decoy Dan entered the race. Ultimately, Decoy Dan’s campaign owed Amber Lee Strategies $4,380.41, according to APT.
Even the New York Times previously reported on the connection between Lee and Decoy Dan, but it seems that the connection had more serious ramifications than previously realized.
“Ms. Lee helped Daniel J. Sullivan file to run and ‘helped author some of Dan J. Sullivan’s campaign materials’ at a time when her 907 Initiative was already reserving advertisements attacking his opponent,” APT claimed.
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From the Post:
There’s also a reported federal probe into his campaign to determine whether there was a conspiracy to confuse voters by getting a challenger with the same name as the senator on the ballot to help Democrat Mary Peltola… Despite working with a Democratic strategist, “Decoy Dan” registered as a Republican — and doing so just days before filing his candidacy.
Alaska Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher cited that in her initial decision to kick him off the ballot, after concluding he was running a bad-faith campaign aimed at tricking GOP voters. The courts have since let him back on the ballot, and he advanced to the general election last month.
Even Decoy Dan’s website design looked strikingly similar to Sen. Sullivan’s at the start. Beecher criticized Decoy Dan for using Sen. Sullivan’s middle initial in an email, too. Suspiciously, Decoy Dan said that he voted Democratic for the last three presidential elections and that he previously supported Sen. Sullivan’s Democratic rival. He even attended a “No Kings” protest. All the circumstantial evidence indicates that he is really a Democrat pretending to be a Republican in order to undermine the incumbent ahead of a critical election.
907 Initiative Executive Director Aubrey Wieber fully acknowledged that Lee is on the board but claimed this was perfectly all right since Lee is technically not a paid employee. But this confirmed the connection APT had already alleged. The point is that Lee has an important position with 907 Initiative while working for the campaign of the candidate whose rival it targeted.
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