Showing posts with label elections 2026. Show all posts
Showing posts with label elections 2026. Show all posts

Saturday, August 08, 2026

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:

"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.]

Tuesday, July 21, 2026

Waterbiking

Regulars here know that there will be a bit more than just Waterbiking. 

Our kids gathered on Bainbridge Island last week for a family celebration.  We had a good time in pleasant weather, all the nicer knowing we were missing a week of rain in Anchorage.  The views from my window seat weren't spectacular on the way back yesterday.  As we got to Prince William Sound, we were already told to prep for landing early - trays up, electronics unplugged, etc.  Then the next 20 minutes or so were variations of gray clouds with one brief opening where I could see land below.  That darker stretch is Fire Island, but even parts of it are clouded over.  We did have a smooth landing.  


So I'd been wondering whether I would have decent biking weather to get to my dermatologist appointment today.  The weather app wasn't hopeful last night, but this morning when I opened the shades, there was even sunshine!  My doctor has moved since my last appointment.  He was in the Providence medical high rises.  Now he's in midtown - the modern glassy building on C St. between Northern Lights and Benson.  I noticed the sign in the elevator - Self Cleaning Buttons.  Never noticed a sign like that before.


So here, from Elevator Consultants Solutions:
"Key Highlights
  • In today's world, nanoseptic self-cleaning buttons are changing the game for places lots of people touch.
  • These innovative buttons clean themselves using nanoseptic technology, so there's no need to use regular cleaners on them.
  • The magic behind their cleaning power is a powerful oxidation reaction from mineral crystals that get energy from light you can see.
  • This process breaks down nasty stuff like organic contaminants into harmless things such as CO2, making everything safer and cleaner.
  • Not only do they work well, but these buttons also last a long time. They're a solid choice for keeping germs at bay.
  • With nanoseptic button covers, upgrading those high-touch spots becomes easy and does wonders for public health."
The office takes up the whole 8th floor.  My exam room was on the northeast corner.  I've reserved the room for all future visits.  



And then I was done, with the sun still shining.  So I headed off along C Street to Dowling to pick up the Campbell Creek south trail. 


The water was muddy and  high as it passed under C Street.  I was concerned about what the Arctic underpass would look like. With good reason. A biker and his dog came the other way.  Okay, let's do it.  






I came out the other side with wet feet - I'm guessing it was six or seven inches deep at the deepest point.   So, how is the Minnesota underpass going to be?  


Not as bad as Arctic, but it does go on a bit further on the other side.  

So where the trail ends I decided to go back on Dimond and get back to the trail at C Street. Dimond's
not the nicest biking environment, so I went exploring on Vernye Place, which quickly becomes Della and that connects with Runamuck Place.  

It's only a short block long and Wakefield is a dead end, between Dimond and Campbell Creek.

So back up to Dimond.  The sidewalk deadended near the Minnesota overpass, but a path went down to the bike trail on the other side of the bridge (so I didn't have to go through the puddles again.)  


At Arctic, to avoid the deep water, I went back up to Dimond where I saw this assortment of political signs:



This is why a lot of folks were upset when Matt Shultz pulled out of the US House race.  Here's Independent Bill Hill's sign up with a Sullivan (the Senator, I assume, not Daniel J.)  The Bronson and Church (for Governor) and McGuire and Rasmussen (for Governor}.  All the others are Republicans.  What is he telling Republicans that he's not telling Democrats?  Or does this mean the Republicans really don't like Rep. Nick Begich?
Because I also see Bill Hill signs next to Mary Peltola signs.  If he pulls it off, there will be some upset voters when he picks a side to caucus with.

At C Street, back down to the bike trail and home.  Well one more detour.  I'm sure the underpass at Old Seward Highway will be flooded, so I get off at the new bridge over Campbell Creek - which is 50th and cross Old Seward and get back on the trail on the other side of the bridge.  Sure enough, it's also got lots of water.  Plus it has lots of bumps.  


This is across the creek from the Arctic Road Runner.  


July has only gotten about three inches of rain so far.  While that's three times the normal rainfall, it's not really a lot of rain over three weeks, though much of it probably came this last week.  And I suspect there was more rain in the mountains where the creek originates.  

But I hope these flood zones are on the Municipalities fix list.  

It's dark and cloudy again as I finish this post at 3pm.  



Tuesday, July 07, 2026

Silence [UPDATE: Ballots Printed And Overseas Ballots Sent]

[See update below]


The Division of Elections said it had a June 28 deadline to print primary ballots. 

But then they took Daniel J. Sullivan off the ballot in the US Senate race and were challenged in court and required to put him back on by the Superior and then Alaska Supreme Court. 

Then a sample ballot appeared on their website which left off Daniel J.'s political party and added "Incumbent" to Senator Dan S Sullivan's name on the ballot.  (Honorifics are not allowed and someone checked the last four elections and reported that no one had 'incumbent' by their name.)

Since then there's been almost complete silence.  

  • Were the ballots printed?  If so, what do they look like?
  • Did Daniel J. file any sort of legal complaint?  
  • What do the judges think about all this?  They said they'd trust the professionalism of the Division of Elections, but that was clearly a mistake.  
The only word has been from NBC saying the US Department of Justice and the Alaska Attorney General's office are investigating a conspiracy around putting Daniel J. on the ballot. Because he was trying to confuse the public.  I can think of others they should investigate first on that charge.   

Do you think the Republicans are worried about losing the Senate?

It's July 7 already and no word.  Yes, the July 4 holiday took up some time.  In fact the Division of Elections office in Anchorage was closed Friday AND Monday.  




[UPDATE:  July 7, 2026:  I stopped by the Anchorage Division of Elections again today to drop off a voter registration form. (I'm a voter registrar.)  The door was locked.  Entry required me to call them.



When the door finally opened, I handed off the registration form and I had two questions. 

  1. Were the primary ballots printed?  The woman answered, "Yes and they were sent to overseas voters last week."  
  2. My follow up question was: what did the Senate ballot say? "The sample ballot is on our website."  Below is a copy of the sample ballot for District 1. (They show the ballots for each district to show that the order of the names is rotated for each district as required by law.)



As you can see, Daniel J. Sullivan has Jr. after his name and his party was left off.  Dan S. Sullivan got to have both Republican AND "Incumbent" listed.  


" (4) The director may not include on the ballot, as a part of a candidate's name, any honorary or assumed title or prefix but may include in the candidate's name any nickname or familiar form of a proper name of the candidate.
(5) The names of the candidates shall be placed in separate sections on the state general election ballot under the office designation to which they were nominated. If a candidate is registered as affiliated with a political party or political group, the party affiliation, if any, may be designated after the name of the candidate, upon request of the candidate. If a candidate has requested designation as nonpartisan or undeclared, that designation shall be placed after the name of the candidate. If a candidate is not registered as affiliated with a political party or political group and has not requested to be designated as nonpartisan or undeclared, the candidate shall be designated as undeclared."
Therefore, as I read this, placing "Incumbent" after the current Senator's name would seem to fall into the category of 'honorary or assumed title'.  I believe it was the Chief Justice who raised this in the Supreme Court hearing.  Sen. Dan's attorney brushed it off.

And Daniel J.'s political party - Republican- should have been printed under his name.  No matter how much the GOP argue that he only recently registered as a Republican, there is nothing that addresses when one registered, except it has to be done before you turn in the forms for candidacy.  

Is Daniel J.'s attorney working on this?  I don't know.  This is where we are today, as far as I can tell.  

[UPDATE:  I did email Daniel J.'s attorney and he responded that he can't comment at this time.]

Related Posts:


Tuesday, June 30, 2026

Division of Election's Sample Ballot Leaves Off Daniel J's Party Affiliation

The Division of Elections has a Sample Ballot posted on its website.  I believe it went up last night after the Supreme Court hearing.  

(There is another list of Senate candidates which has a red "Denied" next to Daniel J. Sullivan's name.)

The listing is for Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.   There is no party listing.  He is the only candidate with no party listing even if it is just "(Undisclosed)."  I listened to the Court arguments yesterday and to part of the hearing again today.  It was my impression that the Court expected a party designation of Republican next to Daniel J.'s name. Though they never explicitly said so.  

My comment at the end of yesterday's post was that I had less confidence that the Division would do the right thing than the Court seemed to have.  The Republican Party, from the national level (the  National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC)  made the first complaint about Daniel J.  Sullivan being on the ballot) to the many states that sent in amicus briefs supporting the Division's decision to delete Daniel J. from the ballot, to the Alaska Republican Party which filed two more complaints, and whose members include Lt. Governor Dahlstrom (who oversees elections) and the Division head Beecher.  

And here we are.  Today's the day the ballots are scheduled to be printed.  The Division's attorney, Chris Murray, did say that if Sullivan doesn't like how his name appears on the ballot he can appeal it.  But, as Chief Justice Carney replied, the time is short.  


Here's the ballot that's up on the site now:  

Thank you to Matthew Beck who posted this last night on Bluesky

Below is my transcript of part of Monday's court hearing.  As I listened to it, I noticed several things.  
1.  Mr. Murray is good at saying he agrees with what a Justice just said, but then he twists it in his own favor.  
2.  The Justices - particularly Chief Justice Carney - appeared to believe that Daniel J. Sullivan had registered as a Republican before filing and that he should have that designation by his name.  Though Mr. Murray casts doubt on Daniel J's Republican credentials:"if or to the extent that he ever registered with the Republican Party  he did when he filed his declaration of candidacy"
3.  Mr. Murray points out he can be listed as a Republican or nothing at all.  He keeps that option open, though what I heard from the justices was that he was a Republican and should be listed that way.  
4.  Murray points out that if Sullivan doesn't like his designation, he can appeal it, but Chief Justice Carney immediately points out the time crunch.  


"Chief Justice Carney:  49:09  The Division’s proposal  not to list him as a Republican after certifying his declaration of candidacy as a Republican would appear to be a little outside its discretion, wouldn’t it?  Don’t they have to list him as Republican?
Chris Murray: I would respectfully disagree there and I would point you Madame Chief Justice to Alaska Statute 151530 Subsection  5.  If you look there, this talks about how the ballot is prepared.  What’s got to go on there, basically the Division must do and what the Division can do. And I would point you to the second sentence of that subsection. which says, if a candidate is registered as affiliated with a party or group it doesn’t - it doesn’t sound as if there is any debate here, Mr. Sullivan, if or to the extent that he ever registered with the Republican Party  he did when he filed his declaration of candidacy
Justice Henderson:  He registered
Murray:  Justice Henderson, I wanted to get to the next piece.
Justice Henderson:   I don’t see anything in this subsection that allows the Division to force someone to have a descriptor in terms of affiliation, political affiliation,  that is contrary to what they requested.
Murray:  So, there Your Honor, I agree with you.  And in our briefing we suggested that he be listed as non-partisan.  I will say that’s a product of speed, it’s simply not correct.  I think he could be listed as Republican or nothing at all.  That’s what could be done.  So, I think you make a very fair point there.  But I will say that when it comes to the partisan affiliation, the statute says it may be designated after the name of the candidate. 
Chief Justice Carney:  Well, if you journey back to felons in Outside prisons part of that appeal was that if the Democrats didn’t really want to associate with a felon in an Outside prison, right?  He got to appear on the ballot as a Democrat did he not?
Murray:  In that case again, there was never a challenge from, the Division never made any findings on that.  The context of the Beecher case was, can you elevate more than one from fifth place for the top fou, I know this court is very familiar with it.  You decided it.
Chief Justice Carney:  Absolutely.  But the Division’s briefing at the Superior Court there has multiple references to, for example on page 17 of his opposition to his motion below, “Mr. Hafner is qualified.  He correctly completed his declaration of candidacy.  That was as a Democrat. That was what he was listed ultimately, as a Democrat on the ballot.
Murray:  I also don’t believe there was any question    as a Democrat out of state.  Here again I would say that if the determination regarding how Mr Sullivan goes on the ballot that he doesn’t like,  he does have a right to challenge it.  I’d hate to do it, but he does have a right to challenge it.  We don’t deny that.    
Chief Justice Carney:  You may have noticed that the time is running short?
Murray:  There’s no question about that, Madame Chief Justice and I would also  like to echo what Mr. Robinson said that we appreciate both Judge Matthews below and this court’s expeditious hearing here.  We would ask the court, if it decides Mr. Sullivan has to go on the ballot, that it remand and let the division make the determination about how he goes on the ballot. If the court is unwilling to do that, we ask that the court direct us to do that, but we don’t think that’s this courts place"

I tried to call the number listed for Mr. Sullivan on the other sample ballot, but, understandably, it's blocking callers.  Will he take advantage of the appeal that Mr. Murray mentioned?  We'll see.  

Is this worth all the time we've spent on it?  The Republicans seem to think so.  Sen. Sullivan is listed as one of the more vulnerable Republican US Senators.  Having Republcan next to his name probably would get Daniel J. more votes.  If Sen. Sullivan is not reelected and a few other incumbent Republican senators lose, the US Senate would become majority Democratic and that would greatly change the direction of the country.  So it is a big deal.  

Related Posts:


Monday, June 29, 2026

Alaska Division Of Elections v Daniel J. Sullivan At Supreme Court

AK Div of Elections v. Daniel J. Sullivan live at www.ktoo.org/gavel

Depending on whether I'm looking at the clock on my laptop, phone, or watch, it is now 10:07, 10:15, or 10:10 and I have the screen up but nothing has happened yet.  Oh, yes - now it says delayed start.  

[Screenshot from KTOO Gavel Alaska]  
 

Not sure what that means.  I was told the courtroom wouldn't be open today and I assumed it meant everyone was zooming in.  That was the case of the Superior Court hearing Thursday - none of the participants were there live, including the judge, but the courtroom was open and there were about a dozen people in the gallery.  

10:22 - Delay notice gone, Gavel banging.

Oh dear.  My notes are pretty sketchy.  I'm not sure I should leave them up.  The video is supposed to be up for anyone to listen to.  Let me try to get the gist up and then I'll decide whether my notes should go up as well.  

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, and the justices are asking where it says that's a reason for taking him off the ballot.  

Aren't the voters smart enough?

Murray is standing hard that Sullivan was on the ballot only to confuse the voters and the Court keeps questioning him about that.  

[Left to right starting with top row:
Susan M. Carney, Chief Justice, Justice Jennifer Henderson;  Second row: Justice Jude Pate, Justice Aimee A. Oravec;  Attorney for Div of Elections: Chris Murray;
Third row:  Attorney for Daniel J. Sullivan] [Screenshot from KTOO Gavel Alaska]

[It was impossible for me to read their names correctly from the screen.  They were just too small, though clearer than the screenshot above.]


The justices seemed to come down pretty hard on that point.  

They also  questioned Jeffrey Robinson closely when it was his turn.  

My sense is that the decision to bump Daniel J. Sullivan from the ballot will not prevail.  That leaves questions about how his name will appear and how much the court will direct how his name will appear or whether they will leave it up to the Division of Elections.  

Some of the questions about the name:

  1. Will it be Dan Sullivan, Daniel J. Sullivan?  Dan J. Sullivan?  His attorney seemed to want it to be as close to Sen. Sullivan's name as possible, while still be distinguishable.  
  2. Will he be designated as a Republican?  It seems that he did officially change his party to Republican and so the Division would have to use that, but I'm not certain.
  3. Will the Supreme Court tell the Division how to write his name and party, or leave that up to the discretion of the Division of Elections?  This wasn't clear.  Both attorneys said they trusted the Division to be professional.  Justice Matthews of the Superior Court instructed them.  I'm not sure that the Supreme Court will do the same.  Though there is very little time between now and when they start printing ballots tomorrow.  If the Division butchers his name and party designation, there will be no time to appeal.  
They promised to get the order out very quickly, but the opinion explaining their decision would come later.  

The recording of the session is up on KTOO Gavel Alaska and I've embedded it below so you can check my understanding of what's left with what they said.  I'll try to do the same.  

You should be able to click on the play button and listen yourself and I'll not post my sketchy notes of they arguments.



Chief Justice Carney at the end:  An extraordinary schedule.  We greatly appreciate your depth of arguments.  We will do our best to get at least an order out, will take longer to get opinion out.  Apologize for my computer,  Recessed.  

11:20 am


Related Posts