Dan Sullivan will get a pass for casting deciding vote on Todd Blanche
But some failed to even mention the name of Alaska’s junior senator, who is running for reelection and is more important in this debate than Murkowski because Sullivan will cast the deciding vote to make Blanche the attorney general.
I say this because of Sullivan’s own standard in awarding “deciding vote” honors. In 2014, when Sullivan ran against Sen. Mark Begich, he repeatedly claimed that Begich was the “deciding vote” on Obamacare, one of the 60 senators in that position.
Alaska news organizations need to start doing a better job covering Sen. Dan Sullivan, regardless of whether he continues to avoid every reporter who might ask a hard question.
The best coverage of Sullivan in Alaska is by columnist Rich Moniak in the Juneau Independent.
Alaska reporters should cover Sullivan even if he refuses to say a word or if his employees spit out worthless fluff like this, as conveyed by Alaska’s News Source: “In keeping with the Senator’s requests of all cabinet-official nominees, Todd Blanche visited Alaska earlier this year to understand the state and its challenges,” Sullivan spokesperson Devyn Shea said in a statement. “The Senator had a productive visit with Mr. Blanche, supports his nomination, and looks forward to continuing their work on key issues pertaining to Alaska.”
Yes Blanche visited Alaska, but Sullivan has nothing to say about the slush fund, tax immunity for Trump, the Epstein files or any of the key issues pertaining to the nation.
He gets away with this because he can. One advantage of having Petersburg Dan Sullivan in the race is that at least he took note of Murkowski’s account of Blanche’s shortcomings, “And as usual, Silent Dan is silent. As a senator, I would work for the people of Alaska, not the president.”
The incumbent Sullivan is working for Trump, as his voting record shows. He is trying to win reelection without mentioning any of Trump’s cascading catastrophes, while always touting the untold billions of dollars for Alaska that he says he has place in the federal budget, rarely mentioning Murkowski’s pivotal role.
It’s up to Alaska news organizations to locate Sullivan as one of the Republican centerpieces in the closely divided Senate, a guy who will do whatever Trump desires and is often a deciding vote.
The Murkowski drama ended with her announcement that she would oppose Blanche. She gave very good reasons for doing so—the $1.776 billion slush fund, the unprecedented decision to give Trump immunity from IRS audits, the failure to tell the truth about the Epstein files and more.
“The country needs an attorney general who will check the worst impulses of this administration,” Murkowski said early Friday. She said she is not confident that Blanche can deliver.
But opposition by Murkowski and Susan Collins of Maine will not be enough to block Blanche’s confirmation. Sullivan and the rest of the Republicans will see to that.
Sullivan supports elevating an attorney who will not check the worst impulses of Trump but allow them to blossom.
“If Todd Blanche is confirmed as Attorney General, there will be no ethical lines between the White House and the Attorney General. There are no lines now,” says former Trump attorney Ty Cobb. “Todd Blanche is unfit to be Attorney General of the United States.”
Trump attacked Murkowski after her statement as “not good,” but Sullivan has never defended Murkowski in the past over such insults and he won’t start now.
Sullivan plays the part of a political tough guy—he has a new ad about how he shot a bear—but he is incapable of standing up to Trump on anything.
His supporters say he has to hide because he doesn’t want to anger Trump, but that reveals as much about his character as Trump’s.
Alaska news organizations have failed to even try to hold Sullivan accountable on these specifics. Or to mention that his support for Blanche is taken for granted by everyone in Washington, D.C. because he has supported every Trump nominee. There has been no reporting about Trump’s power over Sullivan.
In this instance, as in every other controversy under Trump, the Washington coverage is all about what Murkowski does or doesn’t do. Sullivan sneaks by without having to explain his support for the slush fund, the Trump tax immunity from IRS audits and hiding the truth about Epstein.
In a similar fashion, Rep. Nick Begich the Third also escapes attention by Alaska news organizations. I know that news operations in Alaska do not have the staff to cover everything as well as they might have in the past. But they can cover the most important stories well if they choose to do so. This is one of those on which they need to focus.
Fake Alaska news
One of the recent fraudulent news sites, which features a preponderance of propaganda about Dan Sullivan, is the so-called “Alaska Navigator,” which is the work of a dark money group that supports Republicans, One Nation. There are at least six such fake news sites in states where there are close U.S. Senate races.
Your contributions help support independent analysis and political commentary by Alaska reporter and author Dermot Cole. Thank you for reading and for your support. Either click here to use PayPal or send checks to: Dermot Cole, Box 10673, Fairbanks, AK 99710-0673.