Are Richard Grayson and Carol Hafner on the ballot to confuse the voters and so should be removed?

When Dan J. Sullivan appealed the decision to remove his name from the US Senate ballot,

"Basically, Chris Murray, attorney for the Division of Elections, began arguing that Sullivan is on the ballot to confuse the voters and so should be removed," (from this blog)

The first complaint the Division of Elections received was from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC).  Then there were two more from the Alaska Republican Party.  

They were outraged.  They fussed about how this was deceptive and intended to take votes away from "the real Dan Sullivan."  Then the head of the Division of Elections, also a Republican decided he wasn't eligible to be on the battle because of his bad intentions.  She removed him from the ballot until the Superior and Supreme Courts told her to put him back on.  And then she left off his party (the only candidate left partyless) and she added "Incumbent" to the other Dan Sullivan, even though honorifics are not allowed next to candidates' names.

This story made it to national news.  Here's from CBS News:

"In a letter to the candidate on Monday, Elections Director Carol Beecher concluded that Sullivan's entry into the race was not done to 'declare an actual good-faith candidacy for the office of United States Senator, but was instead filed with a purpose to confuse or mislead and to thereby compromise the ballot's fairness or neutrality.'

The sitting senator brought the situation to reporters' attention at the Capitol earlier this month, accusing Democrats of being "complicit in trying to trick Alaskans" to 'rig an election in their favor.'"  

In hindsight, I'm thinking that CBS is the network bought by Larry Ellison, like a toy, for his son, David.  And that that made one more major media outlet owned by a Trump ally and then they made Bari Weiss head of news and she got rid of long time 60 Minutes staff.  So it's no surprise that they wrote their report quoting all the Republicans.  

I'd add that there are also candidates on the ballot to be Alaska's US Senator who live outside of Alaska.

• Grayson, Richard (Registered Green) (Certified) 1093 W. 14th Ave.  Apache Junction, AZ 85120    Website: http://www.richardgrayson.com
• Hafner, Carol “Kitty”   (Registered Democrat) (Certified) 514 Americas Way #2296  Box Elder, SD Website: http://www.carolhafner.com
• Mayers, Richard B.   (Registered Republican) (Certified)   6159 W. 64th Place, Unit 6  Chicago, IL 60638

These would seem a lot more deceptive than a man who actually lives in Alaska.  And BINGO.

This week I began getting flyers in the mail promoting Richard Grayson on one side and trashing former US Representative,  Mary Peltola,  Senator Dan Sullivan's main Democratic opponent,  on the back side.  

[When I took the photos of the postcards I put the two addressed sides in the same picture.  So the bottom flyers go with the ones in the top photo - Mary on one side, Richard on the other]

It would appear that Grayson is a candidate so he can smear Mary Peltola.  I can't help but wonder if the Republicans were so sure that Dan J Sullivan was a 'fake' candidate put up by the Democrats (they never presented any evidence of this), because they were planning to use Grayson to smear Peltola.  

And a friend got a similar sort of mailer but on behalf of Carol Hafner, the US Senate candidate who lives in South Dakota, and whose son is running for the US House seat in Alaska, although he's in prison for another 20 years in New York.  

Why would I be so suspicious?  Well, the GOP know that their leader is not popular and that there is a good chance that the House and even the Senate could become majority Democratic.  And this would make it much harder for Trump to get away with all the unconstitutional things he's doing.  So they've tried a whole lot of stunts to tilt the election to help elect Republicans:

• Trump is doing everything he can to get the SAVE Act passed, which would effectively disenfranchise millions of voters particularly women because anyone whose current id is different from their birth certificates (like women who took their husband's names) will face big obstacles.  
• The Republicans began mid-decade redistricting in a number of states to gerrymander away Democratic seats.  (Yes, Dems did some of that too, but only in response to the Republican moves.)  
• Trump has told states to turn over their voter registration lists.  Some GOP controlled states like Alaska did, but 19 or 20 states refused and the courts have backed them.  Exactly what Trump would do is not altogether clear, but there are fears he would purge voters from the lists.
• GOP have gotten states to purge voter lists.  3000 were dropped from the Alaska rolls even though hundreds are actually eligible US citizens..  

KPVI reports:

"And now, two weeks before the primary election determines which four candidates advance to  the general, Grayson, who’s running under the Green Party label, is getting an unexpected boost: A new super PAC has spent more than $100,000 on his behalf.

Fair Deal Alaska registered with federal campaign finance regulators a few days ago and lists as an address a suite in a Wasilla office building that offers “virtual office and mail services.”

In multiple filings with the Federal Election Commission, it has since reported spending some $180,000 on mailers, phone calls and other media supporting Grayson — as well as roughly the same amount on behalf of another Democrat in the race, Carol Hafner, who lists a South Dakota campaign address and uses a New York City phone number.

Neither Grayson nor Hafner responded to requests for comment Saturday. (Grayson did write a letter to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in June saying that the temperature in August in his Arizona town rises to 114 F, and that “just as our town is filled with seasonal residents from Alaska and other northern climes, I now have a good excuse to visit my snowbird neighbors and mooch off them for a while.”)

The apparent purpose of the spending on the two fringe candidates is boosting Hafner or Grayson onto the general election ballot, where either of them could pull a small number of votes from Peltola and potentially tip the race toward Sullivan. Fair Deal Alaska is also spending more than $65,000 on mailers opposing Peltola, according tto its disclosures."

So please excuse me if I suspect that all of this outrage from the Republicans over Daniel J. Sullivan reflected their plans to try to sabotage Mary Peltola with their own fake candidates who don't even live in Alaska.  

I once was on a softball team.  One of our players regularly protested dramatically when he was called out running the bases.  His voice, his arms, his legs all proclaimed he was safe and how could you ever call him out!!??!!  When he got to the bench he would laugh and tell us he was out by a mile.  I get similar vibes from the Republicans here, except our ball player was just having fun, and the GOP are deadly serious about winning, no matter what.  

I can only hope that Alaskans are savvy enough to see these flyers for what they are.  And since they are aimed at Democrats, I'm more confident they will be more discerning than their MAGA counterparts who have believed pretty much anything Trump tells them.  

[For those wondering about an out-of-state candidate running this was discussed at length in the court cases.  Eric Hafner, Carol's son, the one in prison, was ruled eligible in 2024 by the Alaska Supreme Court because he met the Constitutional qualifications - one of which is "is an inhabitant of the state when the elections are held."  They accepted the Republicans' argument that he could be pardoned or given parole.]