By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon
An attorney advising the Alaska Legislature said Wednesday that Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom may have violated the U.S. Constitution when she disqualified Petersburg’s Daniel J. Sullivan from this year’s U.S. Senate race in Alaska.
Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage and chair of the House Judiciary Committee has scheduled a legislative hearing on Monday to discuss the disqualification.
By email, the Alaska Division of Elections said it will not have someone attend the hearing.
In a memo to Gray, attorney Andrew Dunmire said “the Lieutenant Governor was likely not legally justified in her decision to reject Mr. Sullivan’s declaration of candidacy.”
Dan J. Sullivan of Petersburg has the same first and last name as incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan.
The Alaska Republican Party filed two complaints against the Petersburg Sullivan, saying his candidacy was merely intended to confuse voters and he was not acting as a candidate in good faith.
Dahlstrom ultimately agreed with those complaints and disqualified Dan. J. Sullivan under a state regulation that forbids the Division of Elections from listing a candidate’s name “in a manner that is confusing or misleading to voters or compromises the fairness or neutrality of the ballot.”
Dunmire, analyzing the situation, said Dahlstrom was incorrect because state regulations cannot trump the U.S. Constitution’s requirements for candidates.
“As a general matter, the U.S. Constitution is supreme in all areas of law, and an administrative regulation cannot override or contravene a constitutional requirement. Therefore, if Daniel J. Sullivan is constitutionally entitled to be recognized as a candidate for U.S. Senate, then no regulation can prevent him from appearing on the ballot,” Dunmire wrote.
Amber Lee, a consultant working with Dan J. Sullivan, said by text message on Wednesday that the Petersburg Sullivan is still deciding what he will do after the lieutenant governor’s decision.
