Republican officials order investigations of Peltola and other Democrats after report

Alaska’s governor said late Wednesday that he is ordering the Alaska Department of Public Safety to investigate whether Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola, her campaign or national Democratic groups violated state law by recruiting independent candidate Dan J. Sullivan to run in this year’s election.

Sullivan’s recruitment was first reported Wednesday by the New York Times, which said Democratic campaigners worked through an intermediary to convince Sullivan to run for office and act as a spoiler for Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan’s re-election campaign.

State law does not prohibit the recruitment of spoiler candidates, and it is a tactic that has been used by both Republicans and Democrats in statewide races within Alaska.

Alaska’s Senate race is thought to be among a handful of elections that may decide whether Republicans or Democrats control the Senate.

Following Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s announcement, a Republican member of the U.S. House said he would also investigate, and the Associated Press reported that the U.S. Department of Justice has expanded an ongoing criminal investigation.

Speaking Thursday on Fox News, Gov. Mike Dunleavy said the state investigated Sullivan’s candidacy before ruling him ineligible, a ruling that was overturned by the Alaska Supreme Court in June.

“With these new revelations in the New York Times article, we’re more than compelled to follow up on the investigation, and we are starting that diligently here today,” Dunleavy said.

On Thursday morning, the head of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. James Comer, R-Kentucky, said he would seek to interview two of the sources cited by the Times.

He asked Elisa Rios, Peltola’s former campaign manager and a source for the Times’ reporting, to sit for a voluntary interview after Election Day. If she does not agree, he said in a letter, “we will be forced to evaluate the use of compulsory process.”

Comer sent a similar letter to Jerid Kurtz, a person whom the Times article said acted as an intermediary between Democratic campaign groups and Dan J. Sullivan.

The U.S. Department of Justice is pursuing a criminal investigation into Dan J. Sullivan and the Peltola campaign, and the Associated Press — citing an unidentified source — said the DOJ issued more subpoenas related to the investigation on Thursday.

In addition, the DOJ is pursuing a civil lawsuit against the Alaska Division of Elections. 

President Donald Trump said last week that he ordered the lawsuit, which asks a federal judge to prohibit anyone but Dan S. Sullivan from being declared the winner of the Senate election.

On Thursday, the DOJ filed an amended legal complaint that puts the Times article at the center of the issue. 

Judge Sharon Gleason — an appointee of President Barack Obama — had been expected to rule by Monday on motions seeking to dismiss the DOJ lawsuit, but hours after its filing, the DOJ argued that the amended complaint means she should push back her deadline.

That could mean a ruling on or after Election Day.