'Senator Sullivan' back on the ballot, awaits Supreme Court ruling Tuesday
The state should stop wasting money on right-wing Colorado attorney Chris Murray to try to keep Petersburg Dan ‘Senator’ Sullivan off the U.S. Senate election ballot, but doing so would be a confession that the Dunleavy administration is not acting in good faith.
The Supreme Court says it will decide an appeal of the case by Tuesday with oral arguments Monday at 10 a.m.
The Division of Elections, acting as an agent of the Republican Party and Sen. Dan Sullivan, invented a new “good faith” rule in the Sullivan case to try to keep him off the ballot because of his name.
Matthews said that is not allowed by the Alaska Constitution, state law and state regulations.
“This exclusion is contrary to the Alaska Supreme Court’s well-established presumption in favor of candidate eligibility,” Matthews wrote.
I would be shocked if the Supreme Court does not agree.
One big problem with the state’s case is Eric Hafner, the New York prisoner who has never been to Alaska and won’t get out of jail, but no one from the Dunleavy administration has suggested he was not a “good faith” candidate.
The Republican Party, acting in bad faith, supported Hafner’s right to be on an Alaska ballot.
Lawyer Stacey Stone claimed for the Republicans that Petersburg Dan is actually Petersburg Daniel, whereas Sen. Sullivan “is known throughout Alaska by the name ‘Dan Sullivan.”
He is also known throughout Alaska as Ohio Dan, another difference between the two men, but his lawyer did not inform the judge of that nickname.
Petersburg Dan, who says he has long been known to his friends as “Senator Sullivan” and has talked about running for senate, doesn’t have the right to call himself Dan, Stone claimed. His real name is Daniel, the Republicans say.
The real name of the incumbent is also Daniel, which can be found on many official documents.
Sen. Dan Sullivan could have made this into a positive for his campaign by saying he’s not the only Dan Sullivan in Alaska, joke that he can’t control the other Dans, say the more the merrier and remind people to remember his middle initial and how it’s easier to spell than Murkowski etc.
Instead he puts a humor deficiency on full display, while whining about Chuck Schumer, inventing a massive conspiracy and claiming corruption.
I don’t think there is any real political strategy here. I think this was a stunt by a guy whose friends call him senator.
The incumbent mishandled this matter by pulling the levers of power and getting the Dunleavy administration to heed his illegal call. He has given “Senator Sullivan” of Petersburg free worldwide publicity and the foundation for a political campaign.
“Senator Sullivan” can run on everything the other Sen. Sullivan is afraid to talk about—the $1.776 billion slush fund, the free jet, the Iran war, the reflecting pool, the endless Trump corruption and much more.