Federal & Alaska Delegation
RSSFederal actions affecting Alaska and the state's congressional delegation: Murkowski, Sullivan, Begich, Peltola. Federal agency actions with Alaska impact.
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DOJ rewrites its Alaska Senate suit, and the state asks a judge to toss it by Monday
Editor's note: This story was updated Thursday night with a motion filed by Mary Peltola's campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in response to the Justice Department's amended complaint.
The Justice Department rewrote its lawsuit over Alaska's U.S. Senate race Thursday, adding allegations from a New York Times report, then argued that made three pending motions to dismiss moot. Alaska responded within hours, renewing its bid to end the case and asking U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason to rule by Monday, the day before Election Day.
DOJ filed its 21-page amended complaint at 12:55 pm, two hours before its deadline to answer the state's motion to dismiss. It keeps its claim under the National Voter Registration Act and adds one under the Constitution's Supremacy Clause.
It also draws on the Times' Wednesday account of a "Ballot Composition Project," alleging that Mary Peltola's team "reportedly worked with people trying to recruit another candidate named Dan Sullivan to confuse voters." That candidate is Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired Petersburg teacher. DOJ calls his place on the ballot "the result of a conspiracy" and says the "sole purpose" of his candidacy is to draw votes from Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan.
The complaint also cites the Division of Elections' June finding that his candidacy was meant to confuse voters. State courts reversed that disqualification because the division used a "good faith" test found nowhere in Alaska law, without ruling on his motives.
For its new allegations, DOJ relies largely on the Times. "Although what the New York Times reports is not always true, its reporting here aligns with what the United States has been alleging on information and belief," the complaint says.
The Times said it drew on interviews with 12 people, dozens of text messages and documents. Much came from former Peltola campaign manager Elisa Rios, who was fired in August, had planned a wrongful termination lawsuit against the campaign and asked last week to retract her interviews. The Times said they were consistent with its other reporting.
Rios told the paper Peltola wasn't directly involved but was "definitely aware." In late May, just before Daniel J. Sullivan filed, Jerid Kurtz, a Democratic operative the Times says recruited candidates, spoke by phone with a Peltola aide and said he had just gotten off a plane in Petersburg, according to Rios and another person.
Peltola's campaign has said it "did not recruit any candidates into the race," and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee also denies involvement. Neither answered the Times' detailed questions.
At an event in Juneau, Peltola said she had known only of herself and the incumbent. "I knew nothing about any other candidates on the ballot except for me and the incumbent," she said. Later she added, "That is all I have ever known about. I am not interested in tricking voters."
Daniel J. Sullivan has said he entered the race on his own and told The Associated Press in June he'd had no contact with Peltola's campaign. Neither he nor Kurtz responded to the Times.
The amended complaint also says the campaign and the DSCC "appear to have turned to misleading this Court" in a proposed answer that said they lacked enough information about Daniel J. Sullivan's purpose and so denied the allegation. Gleason has made no such finding.
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About Federal & Alaska Delegation
The federal and Alaska delegation topic takes in Alaska's members of Congress, its two U.S. senators and its member of the U.S. House, along with federal actions that reach the state. It covers the bills they sponsor, the votes they cast and the committees where they work in Washington.
The delegation votes on national questions such as immigration, trade, health programs and federal nominations, and the two senators sometimes split on them. Its members also sponsor bills aimed at Alaska conditions, such as cold weather relief for diesel engines, vehicle access for a village inside a national park, geologic mapping and the effect of imported Russian seafood on Alaska fishermen. Federal agency rules on endangered species, research funding and military installations in Alaska are recurring subjects of their oversight.
The delegation's work connects the state to federal agencies, the military and federal courts, and to state officials who seek federal money and permits. Its own elections are contests for Alaska's seats in the U.S. Senate and House.
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