Rep. Jesse Sumner, who was once considered a conservative in Wasilla, has now joined the cause to keep ranked-choice voting going in Alaska elections, something that few conservatives in the state support.
Sumner’s name showed up on the ad disclosures that are part of the public files at radio stations. He and Bryan Schroder (law partner of the father of Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system Scott Kendall), as well as political strategist Art Hackney make up the Conservative Majority Fund, which is not registered with Alaska Public Offices Commission but which is clearly attempting to influence voters to defeat Ballot Measure 2.
Ballot Measure 2 provides Alaska’s the opportunity to get rid of the jungle primary and ranked-choice general election system that installed Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Rep. Mary Peltola.
Schroder, some Alaskans may recall, is the former U.S. Attorney for Alaska, thanks to Murkowski, and is also part of the Lisa Murkowski’s extended family, through marriage. Ranked-choice voting, advanced by Murkowski surrogates, was designed to get her around the Republican primary election, which she was no longer able to win.
Earlier this month, Sumner submitted an opinion column that he signed his name to, which supported ranked-choice voting. Must Read Alaska ran it. Sumner did not disclose at the time that he was part of the group intending to sway elections.
The Conservative Majority Fund is telling people that “smart conservatives” will vote to keep ranked-choice voting, and claiming that if it had been in place in an earlier era, Sen. Ted Stevens would have beat Mark Begich. But the ads offer no proof, only wild speculation.
The group can run issue ads to influence the election and it doesn’t have to disclose where its funding comes from just yet because it’s not yet 60 days before the general election, when the matter comes before voters. But this ad is actually running within 30 days of the first military, overseas, and remote Alaska ballots being in the mail. Technically, the group may be advertising legally, but this shows the loophole in the APOC laws governing issue advertising and transparency.
Sumner recently dropped from his race for Alaska House after serving just one term.
