DOJ amends lawsuit over Sullivan candidacies

The Department of Justice on Thursday escalated its lawsuit targeting potential certification of the result of Alaska’s Senate election, which it argues could be tainted by the candidacy of a man with the same name as incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan.

The DOJ filed an amended version of its original complaint to add a new legal claim and to add details from Wednesday’s New York Times article detailing alleged efforts by the people in the campaign of Democratic nominee Mary Peltola to recruit a retired schoolteacher named Dan J. Sullivan into the race.

The amended complaint in Anchorage federal court suggests that Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee misled Judge Sharon Gleason by saying in recent court filings they lacked knowledge about why the retiree Sullivan entered the race earlier this year.

The amended suit also notes that Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, late Wednesday ordered the state Department of Public Safety to investigate whether the alleged recruitment of the retired teacher violated criminal or civil laws. Dunleavy cited the Times’ report as the reason for that probe.

“The New York Times has reported that Alaskans For Mary and the DSCC were well aware of the purposes of Daniel J. Sullivan’s candidacy: they orchestrated his sham campaign for the purpose of misleading Alaskan voters and getting Peltola elected,” the DOJ said in its amended complaint.

The DOJ, in a separate filing Thursday, said that the filing of the amended complaint with the new claim under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution means that motions to dismiss the case by the state, Peltola’s campaign, the DSCC and others are now moot. The DOJ cited precedent in the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for that argument.

Gleason had given the DOJ until 5 p.m. Alaska Time Thursday to respond to the motions to dismiss, which have asked her to toss out the DOJ’s original complaint before Election Day, Nov. 3.

The judge has yet to rule whether the dismissal motions are now moot. If she agrees with the DOJ, the parties could quickly file new motions to dismiss.

Later Thursday, Alaska Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher and other state election boards blasted the DOJ in a motion asking Gleason to expedite consideration of a motion to dismiss the amended complaint.

“Rather than filing a substantive opposition to the Division’s motion to dismiss, the United States has filed an amended complaint adding a second—but equally meritless— count (relying on the same underlying legal theory) and then opposed the Division’s motion on the ground that it has been mooted by the amended complaint,” the motion said.

“In the context of these expedited proceedings, the Court should not tolerate this gamesmanship,” the motion said.

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