A former Alaska Republican lawmaker says the FBI interviewed him after an operative allegedly posed as a conservative recruiter and tried to persuade him to run for the U.S. Senate. The episode is drawing attention as Congress investigates an alleged effort to put a second candidate named Dan Sullivan on Alaska’s ballot to siphon votes from Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan.
The allegations could carry federal legal consequences. Will Chamberlain, an attorney with the Article III Project, said a coordinated scheme to mislead voters about a candidate’s identity could violate the federal law prohibiting conspiracies against people’s rights, 18 U.S.C. § 241.
The controversy gained fresh attention after former staffers for Democratic Senate nominee Mary Peltola spoke to the New York Times about what they knew of a reported plan to fill Alaska’s four-candidate ballot with another Dan Sullivan. The ballot included Peltola, the incumbent senator, Republican Gerald Heikes and Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher from Petersburg. It has not been established whether the similarly named candidate diverted votes or changed the result.
Chamberlain said prosecutors would need to show that participants conspired to interfere with voters’ constitutional rights for the alleged conduct to amount to a federal felony.
“The basic concept is you’re not allowed to conspire to injure or harm people’s constitutional rights. And one of those rights is to vote for the candidate of your choice,” he said.
Chamberlain alleged that people involved in the scheme arranged for a “Decoy Dan” Sullivan to appear on the ballot to confuse voters who meant to support the incumbent. He pointed to earlier cases involving ballot manipulation, while acknowledging that a case involving the recruitment of a candidate with the same name had not been addressed in precisely the same way before.
“Nothing exactly like this has happened before in the sense of recruiting a same-name candidate to trick people in the ballot box,” he said. He added that misleading or slanted campaign messages are not necessarily illegal.
In his view, encouraging voters to support another Republican, or suggesting the incumbent is not running, would not by itself violate the law if voters still had the opportunity to choose their preferred candidate. The key distinction, he said, would be whether someone deliberately arranged for two candidates with the same name to deceive voters intending to vote for the senator.
Former Alaska state Rep. David Eastman, a Republican who represented the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, said in a phone interview from Wasilla that an operative approached him about running for Senate. Eastman said he later concluded the approach was made under false pretenses. He also said he received several mailers that appeared to present “Decoy Dan” Sullivan as the only or actual Dan Sullivan in the race.
The mailers, which were reviewed by reporters, used a “meet the candidates” format and left out Sen. Sullivan.
Eastman said the operative approached him through a constituent and met with him in Wasilla in April. In a blog post, Eastman identified the person as Jerid Kurtz, who was also named in the New York Times report.
“He pretended to represent conservative donors and was looking for conservative candidates to run for federal office; none of which was true,” Eastman said.
Eastman alleged that Kurtz used a false name and falsely claimed to represent conservative donors. He said, however, that Kurtz did not mention either Dan Sullivan or any plan to confuse voters during their meeting.
Reporters sought comment from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Peltola’s campaign and Wingspan Strategies. Congressional documents identify Kurtz as a co-owner of the firm. Separately, the Wall Street Journal reported that Dan J. Sullivan had disappeared as investigators began visiting homes in his remote community.
Federal investigators are examining whether Democratic political operatives improperly recruited Dan J. Sullivan in an effort to confuse voters who intended to support the incumbent senator.
The issue has also prompted action in Congress. On October 29, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, asked Kurtz to attend an in-person transcribed interview on November 6. The committee is investigating allegations that people associated with Peltola’s campaign sought to recruit candidates with similar names to mislead voters.
“As a Democrat operative who was allegedly tasked with assisting in this effort, you have information that will assist the Committee’s investigation,” Comer wrote. He warned that the committee might consider using compulsory process if Kurtz did not appear voluntarily.
Eastman said Kurtz did not bring up either Sullivan or voter confusion during their April meeting. Still, Eastman said later reporting linking Kurtz to the alleged recruitment effort led him to question the operative’s intentions. He confirmed that the FBI had interviewed him. The bureau was asked for comment.
