The New York Times has explained its reporting on an alleged Democratic effort to influence Alaska’s Senate race by recruiting a second Republican candidate named Dan Sullivan. The newspaper said its investigation found that political operatives aligned with Mary Peltola’s campaign recruited Dan J. Sullivan to run against incumbent Republican senator Dan S. Sullivan, potentially diverting votes from him.
Reporter Kellen Browning said the inquiry began in September, after he reported on allegations about Peltola’s management of her staff. Elisa Rios, a former Peltola campaign coordinator who had been dismissed, then shared information about Democratic efforts to recruit candidates for the Senate ballot. Browning had previously interviewed Dan J. Sullivan about his reasons for running; at the time, Sullivan said nobody had persuaded him to enter the race.
The Times published its report on Wednesday, less than a week before Election Day. Some readers questioned the timing and suggested the story could influence the contest. Amy Gardner, the newspaper’s deputy politics editor, said the reporting took weeks because journalists had to investigate leads and confirm key details. Once the story was verified, she said, withholding it would itself have risked influencing the election. Browning said the paper’s priority was to check the facts and let voters decide what they meant.
Gardner said candidates with the same name as those from major parties have occasionally been used as decoys, but described Dan J. Sullivan’s candidacy as unusual. The newspaper had also reported on ballot-stacking efforts by both parties, including in Alaska. She said the candidate’s limited campaigning and the Peltola campaign’s repeated denials added to the story’s significance.
The Times said it considered Rios’s potential motives, including that she was preparing for a possible wrongful-dismissal lawsuit against the campaign. Browning said she had distinguished what she knew from what she could only speculate about. Gardner said the newspaper corroborated the central claims with dozens of text messages involving senior campaign aides and national Democratic operatives, as well as interviews with other potential candidates whom Democrats had approached in similar ways. The Times also presented its findings to the Peltola campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which, according to the newspaper, did not provide an explanation.
Rios later sought to withdraw statements made in her interviews. Gardner said there had been no agreement allowing her to retract them, and that the interviews had been conducted with the understanding that the material could be used. After consulting standards editors, senior editors and the newspaper’s deputy general counsel, the Times decided not to change those terms, and Browning informed Rios before publication.
Sources: Folha Mundo.