THE ANCHORAGE DAILY PLANET
Now that the Alaska Supreme Court has cleared the way for signature-gathering to set a special election to unseat Gov. Mike Dunleavy for sins real and imagined, backers of the effort are absolutely giddy.
Letters to the editor, breathless pronouncements in the press and headlines such as “After a Supreme Court win, Alaskans have a right and responsibility to recall,” all attest to the fervor stirred by the Dunleavy recall effort in some quarters.
With all due respect, these folks are shielding their true financial backers by the sin of omission – and playing the rest of us for chumps.
They have yet to tell us who is underwriting the recall effort that started nine months ago, on Aug. 1. They have not said who is paying the legal bills stretching from Superior Court to the Alaska Supreme Court. Who is paying for signature gatherers? Who is paying for the myriad incidental costs associated with a statewide effort? Who is paying?
Without knowing whose checkbook is being used to unseat a sitting governor, how can Alaskans know their motives, their hearts? Is it a political hit-job by the unions? Outside liberal interests? Misguided leftists simply seeking to undo a Republican’s election? Who knows? The news media are avoiding the question like the plague.
Right now, all that information remains a deep, dark secret. The group Recall Dunleavy dutifully has filed with the Alaska Public Offices Commission, but its income and expenditure reports show noting. No income. No outgo. Nada. A kink in state law actually allows that, allows Recall Dunleavy to take in and spend unlimited, undocumented amounts of money from anybody, except foreign interests – until the question reaches the ballot.
Then, and only if signature-gathering money is rolled over into the ensuing election campaign, backers would have to report every penny collected and spent since signature-gathering began. That is unlikely to happen based on the secrecy so far.
Recall Dunleavy’s effort, now blessed by the Supreme Court’s impeach-for-anything ruling, is no more than a we-don’t-like-you effort paid for by shadowy figures Alaskans may never be able to identify. And the group wants the rest of us to play along?
We all should be demanding truth for signatures. The absolute and complete truth. Who are you? seems a reasonable question to ask those skulking in the political shadows to undo our will, all the while claiming a halo.
Amen, agree 100%!
Seems sad, we all consider that we should be treated fairly when we know we won’t be.
Tell the WaPo with it BS on its masthead, “Democracy dies in darkness”
with _its_ BS. . .
How about we send sponsors of this packing. Get the He double ho key stick out of Alaska to West Coast of the lower 48
Obviously, who is paying for it is irrelevant. What IS relevant is whether or not the Governor has done anything deserving of being recalled. Who payed for funding the process should not be part of that discussion.
…………pst…… S O R O S.
I think it is extremely important to know who is funding an effort such as this. I am not pro-recall. But, if I were in favor of this or any effort, I would want to know who is behind it – who is financing it – why they are doing what they do, before I put my name on it. I won’t put my name on a petition outside a grocery store unless I know the details. Usually they make it sound like a really great thing, but the devil is always in the details.
While I agree with you, I would not sign this recall (assuming I wanted to) simply because I don’t want my name and address showing up on some politicians list. It was bad enough in 2018 that the DNC sent me weekly postcards pushing me to vote for Alyce Galvin, and in April I was inundated with postcards from my local Assembly person. I’m registered as Undeclared. I don’t appreciate propaganda showing up in my mailbox from any politician or group unless I actually asked for it. I have more respect for trees than I do for (most) politicians. I’m content with waiting for November’s ballot and then decide from whatever options we have then.
People must of already forgot. Dunleavy’s public meetings sponsored by the American’s for Prosperity required the same information to attend as the recall petition. Imagine having to give up this information to hear our governor speak on his ideas for our state.
And yet 4 out of 5 of those who will sign the recall petition have no idea why they are signing to recall the governor, nor do they care. Some, possibly most, will even sign knowing full well that they aren’t signing in good faith. Many, probably most, will sign for reasons not outlined in the recall. Shameful for anyone to do such dastardly deeds in a democracy, even if our democracy is actually a constitutional republic.
Why are they not having to report their income to APOC? Are they not under at lest the same guidelines as a lobbyist do they not have to report when they dally in politics?. How would one know if it Was China trying to influence our Alaska elections? This loophole needs to be fixed. And the next Democrat Governor better hope he does not fund anything some of us don’t like because they will be the next recall. Precedent is now set.
There was an old saying when Truman was elected President; “Every Gravestone in Kansas City voted at least twice”. That saying should be repeated again. It expresses the same crooked dealing all over again. Seymour Marvin Mills Jr. sui juris
Nobody liked Harry. Little yipper snapper. At least he took over with the nukes.
Interesting to hear people complaining about the exact reason I support the recall. Lack of transparency in the political process. If you are not concerned about the outside special interest groups creating Dunleavy’s political positions why should you be concerned about outside special interests supporting the recall.
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