Who is Robert Delaware? Why does he care about Charlie Chang?

By
Suzanne Downing
-
10

EXTREMELY DETAILED PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST EMERGES

A  former Microsoft  contractor, whose Twitter account was closed briefly last year when the social media company thought he was a Russian bot, has made a public records request to the FBI for information about the late Charlie Chang.

Chang, who died Sept. 11, according to Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, was hired by LeDoux to bring in 100 absentee ballots from District 15 so that she would be ensured a primary win against challenger Aaron Weaver. LeDoux paid Chang $10,000 and two round-trip tickets to Anchorage from Fresno, Calif., where Chang was a known Democratic Party activist.

LeDoux traveled to San Francisco, Calif. on Aug. 28, and returned to Anchorage on Sept. 10, one day after Chang had a massive stroke, and one day before he died. She announced his death to the media on Sept. 12 from Anchorage.

Delaware is an avid freedom-of-information requester who is from California but now lives in the Eastern European country of Georgia, a former USSR satellite nation. Evidently, he read stories on MustReadAlaska and KTVA, and the case of possible voter fraud caught his attention.

On Monday, Delaware sent a FOIA request to the FBI, for all materials the agency has at headquarters, field offices from Fresno, Juneau, and Anchorage office legal attaches, and facilities that maintain records under the FBI’s control.

Delaware requested “all communications, reports, inquiries, investigations, photographs, audio files, video files, memos, directs, etc. His very specific request includes all materials found in other subject files and all materials associated with any potentially related names and aliases, nicknames, code names, or identifying pseudonyms or references used by the agency.”

He further asked the FBI to consult the Central Records System, the Electronics Surveillance Data Management System, microphone surveillance records, technical surveillance records and all available cross-reference indices, databases, and records, in addition to any other locations containing potentially responsive materials related to Chang.

He said the requested documents will be made available to the general public. The agency has 30 days to complete his request.

Not much can be found about Delaware except that during the political churn over possible Russian interference in the 2016 elections, at one point the U.S. government thought Delaware was a Russian propagandist or bot. Twitter had investigated and deleted Delaware’s account, and then sent it to Congressional representatives as evidence of foreign interference. Shortly thereafter Twitter reinstated his account but never gave him a reason why it had suspended it in the first place.

The story is told here in the online publication Vice.

LEDOUX VISITS CALIFORNIA, CHANG DIES

When LeDoux returned from California earlier this month, she described Chang as being “under a lot of stress” due to the unraveling of the absentee voter situation in District 15.

That unraveling included seven dead people requesting absentee ballots, according to state officials.

The Alaska Division of Elections, which forwarded a potential voter fraud case to state prosecutors, said seven dead people asked for absentee ballots in the district. None of those ballots were mailed to the applicants, state officials said.

At least 26 “irregular” absentee ballots went for LeDoux, although the Elections officials did not add those in the final count, where LeDoux won by 87 votes against challenger Aaron Weaver.

Among the irregular votes were 17 voters registered at one single mobile home and 13 registered to another. Charlie Chang was registered to one of those mobile homes and voted, although he was also a registered Democrat in California.

On Jan. 16, 2018, Chang was a registered delegate to the District 15 convention of the Alaska Republican Party, representing LeDoux. He brought several people with him, according to those who were there. He was elected a delegate to the state convention and he was a precinct leader in District 15. But he never attended the state convention in March nor responded to any attempts by the party to contact him.

It’s now known that investigators never got to interview Chang before his alleged death on Sept. 10, but some believe that LeDoux spoke to him, and that is why he became stressed to the point of a stroke. Must Read Alaska has not been able to independently verify his death.

Since the primary election, Jake Sloan has launched a write-in campaign, vowing to restore the respect that voters deserve from their representatives.

Sloan’s campaign site was recently launched and he’s now going door to door, asking for the support of voters who will need to write in his name and fill in the bubble on Nov. 6.

10 COMMENTS

  1. Has anyone read a single article, front page or otherwise in the Anchorage Daily News speaking about the voter fraud that the Board of Elections has discovered in District 15? Please tell me if they have written anything at all on the story because I have seen nothing. The closest thing they wrote about this was the fact that this Weaver came close to defeating her the day after the election. This is journalism malpractice and bias at its worst. This story would be perfect for any newspaper. People love to read this stuff. You have a state legislator who has completely gone off the rails. She possibly makes a human being up-Mr. Chang. Then she says, without any verification on something very verifiable, that Mr. Chang is dead. She has absolutely lost it and turned into a loose cannon and if I were a reader of the Anchorage Daily News I would know none of this. A Republican who made a disgrace of himself was Senator David Wilson. He allegedly (and I believe did) struck a reporter from the Anchorage Daily News in the hallway. This action was illegal, a disgrace, and newsworthy. It was on the front page of the Anchorage Daily News when it happened. What LeDoux has possibly committed is way worse. She has possibly undermine our democratic system and is acting in a way that is erratic if not out of touch with reality altogether. Why is the Anchorage Daily News now covering this??????? If DeLena Johnson (just a run-of-the-mill Republican Representative) started to conduct herself in a similar manner tomorrow, it would be the headline of the front page of the Anchorage Daily News. I get they are biased towards Democrats and it shows, but I do not understand how the primary newspaper in Alaska can say not a word about this entire situation. A newspaper or television station’s job is to report our world. The Anchorage Daily News is neglecting there job to an extent that is unfathomable even for a company like CNN. I would like to thank Must Read Alaska for their continued coverage of this story. It is almost the only place I can stay up to date on this story.

  2. Also, why in heavens is submitting fraudulent absentee ballots a misdemeanor in Alaska? It is a felony in Mississippi and just about every state in the country. Was this some byproduct of S.B. 91? Give people who commit voter fraud a chance to rehabilitate themselves and rejoin society?

  3. This story is crazy! It’s kind of like reading a John Grisham novel, except the characters are dumber….. Thank you for actually being a journalist and covering it.

    • It’s like reading a John Grisham novel except the stake are so much lowers and the players so much more small time.

  4. Where is the Lieutenant Governor in this? If he won’t do his job, the one and only thing he is supposed to do, then who will? Byron, if you won’t do the job you ran for and were elected to do then stop running for it again!

    • He didn’t seem to care about double ballots in the bush. He got the job so Walker could get the native vote. And I’m not a racist just a realist.

      • Jack, you don’t have to explain yourself. Pointing out the obvious doesn’t make a person a racist. Clearly, there is an issue: the division of elections leader should be fired. The Commissioner of H&SS should be fired. And why aren’t they? Hmmmm…. Here is a quote from the division director of elections, Straight from their web page: “There is nothing more important to us than the integrity of our elections …..” – Josie Bahnke, Division Director.
        Hahaha Knock Knock…. Byron, are you there????

  6. How did Chang become a delegate to the Republican state convention yet be a known Democratic activist and living in CA? And he died the day after she visits him? Wow.

Comments are closed.