BELTRAMI, BRENA, TOGETHER FOR DEMOCRATS?
Rep. Liz Vazquez has sent a letter to Together for Alaska, an independent expenditure group formed by political consultant Jim Lottsfeldt, asking for a retraction of defamatory statements the group has made against her and her legislative aide, David Nees.
A flyer that has been distributed throughout her West Anchorage district, claims that Vazquez is using her staff to campaign for her, underwritten by public money.
“It’s pure lies,” Vazquez said today. “We can corroborate it because David Nees not only logs into the state computer every day, and logs out, he logs in and out of the parking garage. They are just fabricating this claim. David has never gone door to door for me.”
Vazquez hired an attorney and is demanding a retraction. Attorney Stacey Stone sent the following letter to Tom Wescott, who is chairman of the group:
“The referenced flyer contains multiple false and defamatory statements which accuse Representative Vazquez of using taxpayer funds to support her reelection campaign. Specifically, the flyer falsely states that Representative Vazquez has hired David Nees to go door-to-door for her using public funds, not campaign funds. The flyer goes on to allege that the door-to-door work is being performed under the guise of “constituent relations”. When in fact, Mr. Nees has never gone door-to-door for Representative Vazquez campaign for reelection, and Mr. Nees does absolutely no campaign work for her during his legislative office hours.
By falsely stating that Representative Vazquez is improperly utilizing public funds, Together for Alaska is wrongly attributing illegal conduct to her. Together for Alaska has put Representative Vazquez in a false light and has defamed her. This allegation of such conduct has irreparably damaged Representative Vazquez’s good name and reputation.
I strongly encourage Together for Alaska to only disseminate such facts that are accurate and not attribute the foregoing conduct to Representative Vazquez. Representative Vazquez does not deserve to be portrayed in a false light or be defamed and her reputation should not be besmirched in order to illegally swing an election.
On behalf of Representative Vazquez, we request that an immediate retraction be prepared and disseminated to each and every voter residing in and eligible to vote in House District 22. If such does not occur on before Friday, September 30, 2016, we have been authorized to pursue all legal remedies available to Representative Vazquez, up to and including litigation.
A full week has passed since the first negative campaign flier hit mailboxes in District 22, and now a second one has landed, with the same false information.
Lead contributors to the group are IBEW, AFL-CIO, and attorney Robin Brena, a close associate of Gov. Bill Walker, and the purchaser of his law firm. Brena is viewed by political observers as a surrogate for Walker in the election cycle. Together for Alaska has identified Vazquez, a conservative, as a target to give the governor a more compliant legislature. They are supporting liberal Jason Grenn for House District 22.