Republicans were shocked on Sunday when House Democrat candidate Walter Featherly, running as a nonpartisan, announced he had the endorsement of a major pro-business association known as Associated General Contractors. That’s the group that represents commercial contractors in the state and it generally goes either right down the middle or to the pro-business side of the political spectrum. It’s part of a national group that is decidedly more conservative than Featherly.
Featherly is far from the center, which is why his announcement took Republicans by surprise.
But evidently, Featherly was peddling misinformation. No sooner had he posted his pride in receiving the coveted endorsement, than he took that information down. Someone reached him and made a demand that he pull down the claim. There is no such endorsement for Featherly, who was caught peddling misinformation.
This is the same Walter Featherly who was recalled from the Anchorage School Board in 1992, after he and his collaborators on the school board, including his future wife, started holding secret meetings out of the eye of the public. He lost his seat in a landslide that year during the special recall election.
Featherly is running against Republican Rep. Julie Coulombe for House District 11. Coulombe has served just one two-year term for the South Anchorage district and is part of the Republican majority in the House, while Featherly has aligned financially with the Alaska Democratic Party.
The general election is Nov. 5, with early voting starting Oct. 21 and running through Nov. 4.
Featherly is also touting his “lifelong connections with the Native community.” What that really means is how much he charged in high legal fees to various Native corporations over the years when he worked for Holland & Knight. That should be investigated as well.
Parents should not allow their children to view or listen to political campaign ads. Seeing and hearing these ads sets a bad example for them. These ads cause children to believe that it is OK to lie.
Featherly already has a sketchy record while in public office involving his recall in 1992. For this campaign, Featherly is apparently resorting to a ‘stolen endorsement’ tactic. Not only does this indicate he is a person who is dishonest, it more importantly suggests Featherly is not the brightest candidate around. Why lie about something obviously false and can be very easily ‘fact checked’? This means that Representative Coulombe is the obvious choice for District 11 on November 5th.