Sullivan Fails to Stand His Ground
I support the Second Amendment. I have guns and, because we have some lunatics on the loose in this state, I conceal carry. But I didn’t support the so-called “Stand Your Ground” law that allows people to shoot those they fear without trying to retreat first. If you can retreat safely, you should — rather than take someone’s life.
It was a controversial bill that many believed would lead to more violence, so you can imagine my happy surprise when Sarah Palin’s then-attorney general, Dan Sullivan, opposed the bill and helped kill it in 2010. I was impressed that Sarah Palin had actually hired an attorney general willing to stand his ground against insane gun laws.
But now I’m watching as Ohio Dan tries to rewrite the history of his opposition to Stand Your Ground. In a recent radio ad, Sullivan claims, “As Alaska’s attorney general, (I) successfully fought to protect our Second Amendment rights and passed ‘Stand your Ground.'”
This claim is just plain false, according to the nonpartisan, Pulitzer Prize-winning website Politifact.com. Come on, Dan, don’t weasel on this. Embrace your decision to do the right thing and kill what really was a bad bill.
As a Marine, Dan Sullivan is a chain-of-command guy. As attorney general, he made sure the troops under him — directors, assistants and others — toed his line. In fact, just last March, in front of a tea party audience, Dan bragged that he was responsible for “everything” done by the Department of Law while he was AG. That’s what makes Sullivan’s lie about Stand Your Ground so blatant.
How do we know he’s running from the truth? For starters, there’s a March 15, 2010, letter to the House Judiciary Committee expressing “serious concern” about House Bill 381, the Stand Your Ground bill. The letter went on to say the law would be “a bad idea for our state.” The letter is signed, “Sincerely, Daniel S. Sullivan Attorney General” and “By John Skidmore Assistant Attorney General.”
As reported by the Daily News, Sullivan now claims “it’s not my letter,” that it was written by a “staffer,” he had no idea about it and disagrees with it. President Harry Truman, also a military man, famously had a sign on his desk that said, “The buck stops here.” Apparently, Dan left his sign back in Ohio.
So let’s assume Sullivan managed his department in such a way that he had no idea what his assistant attorneys general were writing to the Legislature under his signature. Surely he knew what testimony they were giving to the Legislature on high-profile legislation, right?
So wouldn’t he have known that Anne Carpeneti, an assistant attorney general, Legal Section, Criminal Division, Department of Law, was requested to appear before the House Judiciary Committee on March 15, 2010, “to offer us the point of view of the Department of Law”?
Carpeneti started her testimony by saying, “I represent the Criminal Division of the Department of Law.” She apologized for the late delivery of the March 15 Sullivan/Skidmore letter, explaining, “We were working on it all morning.”
She went on to testify: “We are confused and concerned about this bill … The way the department reads this bill, it would really contribute to violence in this state.” She testified again on March 29, 2010, before the House Judiciary Committee. She noted that the Department of Law “still has concerns” about the bill.
The bill passed out of the committee and advanced to the House Finance Committee. Before Finance, on April 8, 2010, Carpeneti again testified that the law department was concerned that HB 381 would increase violence in Alaska. Nonetheless, HB 381 passed the House, 32-8, that same day.
As the discussion moved to the Senate, the Department of Law sent Susan McLean, the director of the Criminal Division of the Department of Law, to testify before the Judiciary Committee. On April 16, 2010, she pulled no punches, forcefully declaring, “I want to make our position very clear here, which is, we are opposed to the law.” The bill died a few days later. The bill didn’t become law until three years later — long after Dan Sullivan had left the Department of Law.
Does Dan really expect us to believe he had no idea Assistant Attorney General Skidmore was writing under his name that HB 381 was a “bad idea”? That Assistant Attorney General Carpeneti was testifying before multiple committees about the Department of Law’s “concerns” about promoting violence? That his Criminal Division director testified that the department flat out opposed the law?
What does this tell us about Dan Sullivan’s ability to run a department of state government? Did the Department of Law simply go rogue while supposedly under his control? I don’t think so. I think the real question is:
Does U.S. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan have the integrity to tell Alaskans the truth and suffer the consequences?
The answer seems to be no. Sullivan is trying to deceive Alaskans, and he appears willing to turn anyone who gets in the way into a speed bump.
Oh, there’s one more document Dan hasn’t explained. It’s a “fiscal note,” dated March 30, 2010, detailing the expected costs of the Stand Your Ground bill: $400,000 a year for two new attorneys because “this bill will make prosecution of homicide cases more difficult … and it will probably result in more jury trials.” The note was “Approved by: Daniel S. Sullivan, Attorney General.”
To quote Dan’s former boss, Sarah Palin, “How ’bout ya quit makin’ stuff up.”
Ms Moore,the headlines coulda/shoulda stopped after Sullivan Fails. “nuf said.
Would it not be better to run on this policy from the past. Side step the sovereign citizen crowd and talk to the sane center to come out and elect him to the Republican Ticket? Would this not secure a better position for November? O wait this is Alaska.
Tangent, but still regarding Sullivan. What was the bill Sullivan supposedly wrote that would deny private citizens input on access to public lands? Or something like that. There is an ad (not approved by Mark Begich – I think) that points out this bill and I would like a bill number so I can look it up and see exactly what it says.
Thanks, CArol
HB-77 would deny public input on decisions involving resources and allow the DNR and ultimately the Governor to find in favor of resource extraction.
http://fishanddemocracy.com/billslist/parnells-permitting-initiative/
For the bill itself Google HB77 alsaka
HB77 Alaska
thank you.
If that isn’t the bill you were looking for,let me know and I’ll see what else is out there.:)
A politician that lies? What a novel concept. Perhaps it is just carpetbagger dust clouding his memory. Or jet lag.
Dan Sullivan will do or say whatever it takes to get him back to his beloved Washington DC where he can use the distance and the cover of Alaska to his advantage in the pursuit of his personal ambitions of Very High Office.
There’s one solution. Don’t vote for Dan Sullivan. He’s a liar who’s pandering to the T-partiers. I don’t know what kind of support he’s getting from ALEC (origin of the stand your ground laws) or the Kochroaches.
Wow! “Kochroaches” Hadn’t seen or heard that one before. Marvelous