AUDIO: Super PAC-dependent candidate welcomes Outside ad spending

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 4/24/2014

ANCHORAGE — Behind closed doors U.S. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan is telling supporters he received advance knowledge that Condoleezza Rice was participating in an American Crossroads super PAC ad on his behalf.

“I got a heads up about six hours before this ad started running on TV. Hopefully some of you saw it. I had nothing to do with it. But it was their group. And someone said, ‘hey there’s going to be an outside group that’s going to come in and, you know, make some points on what were you actually doing when you left the state.” - Dan Sullivan, 4/14/2014, Juneau, Alaska, speaking to the Capital City Republicans. Listen to the audio.

Sullivan’s statement about his questionable relationship with a super PAC tipster is a clear indication that Sullivan wants Karl Rove and the American Crossroads super PAC to flood Alaska TV and radio with Outside money and ads on his behalf.

“First Dan Sullivan traded promises about how he would vote in the Senate for an endorsement from the DC-based Club for Growth in a secret interview, now Sullivan is disclosing his advance notice from super PACs while endorsing their message and ads,” said Max Croes, Alaskans for Begich Communications Director.

Sullivan’s Senate campaign has been entirely dependent on Outside groups funded by anonymous money. A staggering $2.5 million has already been spent on TV and radio in Alaska against Senator Mark Begich.

Super PACs began running ads attacking Begich as early as last year and began running radio and TV ads promoting Sullivan before his own campaign did.

Sullivan regularly touts his relationship with former Secretary of State Rice and has admitted to speaking with her since his name appeared as a potential candidate.

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Begich fight with Obama administration yielded historic permits for Arctic oil development

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 4/22/2014

ANCHORAGE — Atop the frozen Arctic Ocean U.S. Senator Mark Begich declares Shell’s 2012 drilling in the Chukchi Sea a victory for Alaska. Begich’s years-long fight for Arctic drilling produced historic permits despite objections from the Department of Interior, EPA, NOAA, national Democrats and the White House.

Begich is a steadfast supporter of expanded oil and natural gas drilling in Alaska’s Arctic Ocean and Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In a previous TV spot, Begich highlighted the persistent pressure he put on the Obama administration to allow a road to be built in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, the road will allow the first ever commercial oil production to occur there.

Begich’s push for Arctic development drew the attention of the New York Times in 2012 which reported: “The intensity of Shell’s campaign was matched by the fervor of Mark Begich, the new senator from Alaska.”

Similarly, the Alaska Dispatch reported Begich’s efforts got “closer than any Republicans in Juneau have toward actually adding more crude to the trans-Alaska pipeline.”

Begich’s previous commercials:

“Road” — Begich won a fight with the Obama administration, EPA and Army Corps to advance oil drilling in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, which will lead to the first ever commercial oil production from the NPR-A.

“Alaska’s Son” — As a born-and-raised Alaskan, there’s nowhere Begich won’t go to listen to Alaskans and then deliver results. Named the best ad of the 2014 electoral cycle so far.

“Into The Ground” — Begich fought back against attack ads from the billionaire Koch brothers accusing Mark Begich of supporting a “Carbon Tax.” Two separate independent fact check organizations labeled the attack ads “False” and “Not True.”

Transcript:

Mark Begich: For decades, they said it would never happen. There was no way the Department of Interior, the EPA, NOAA, national Democrats and the White House would ever allow oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean. I’m Mark Begich – I fought for five years to get the permits so we could drill under this ice. And we won. I approved this message because sooner or later, Washington’ll figure out that I don’t take no for an answer.

Read the ad backup here.

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Sullivan made undisclosed promises to organization set to flood Alaska w/ money

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 4/18/2014

ANCHORAGE — After acing a secret interview about how to vote in Congress U.S. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan is putting an endorsement from the anti-Alaska Club for Growth front and center in a new ad.

The organization has spent over $1 million in Alaska trying to defeat Congressman Don Young and U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski. Young once called the Club “one of the most extreme groups in Washington D.C.”

“Alaskans don’t want the Club for Growth’s agenda of privatizing Social Security and turning Medicare into a voucher system that Dan Sullivan is putting his arm around — The Club for Growth’s record in Alaska is one of endorsing against Lisa Murkowski, Don Young and Mark Begich, that sounds more like a group that opposes drilling in ANWR than anything else,” said Max Croes, Alaskans for Begich Communications Director.

Sullivan refuses to share any details of what promises were made to the Club for Growth in a secret Washington D.C. interview process known as a “policy murder board.” Alaskans will never hear Sullivan’s answers but they’ll see the Club’s Outside money join the $2.5 million already spent against Mark Begich on TV and radio.

The Club for Growth is famous for pushing the privatization of Social Security and a desire to turn Medicare into a voucher system.

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Begich fought taxes on Alaska’s small businesses and energy industry

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 4/15/2014

ANCHORAGE: As a small businessman Mark Begich knows the importance of supporting Alaska’s job creating small businesses by reducing tax burdens. Begich supports a simplified tax system and believes Alaskans should be able to do their taxes on a single page.

Begich’s has supported efforts to require the federal government to budget the same as Alaska’s families while providing tax relief to businesses who create jobs. Begich’s record includes:

• Begich supports a Balanced Budget Amendment.
• Begich voted against $975 billion in taxes in a Senate Democrats 2013 budget proposal.
• Begich passed $288 billion in tax relief including a program offering a $400 tax credit to individual workers.
• Begich has supported payroll tax reductions to provide relief to workers.
• Begich is fighting to increase flexibility for small businesses to write off ‘depreciation’ investments in the first year.
• Begich supported a permanent patch for the Alternative Minimum Tax, saving 28 million taxpayers an average of $3,400 in 2014.
• Begich made permanent tax credits for families with children.
• Begich supported Alaska’s job creating small businesses by protecting credit unions tax-exempt status, which ensures continued access to affordable credit for small businesses.
• Begich supports pay-as-you-go budgeting to require the federal government to budget the same as Alaska’s families do.
• Begich fought for IRS refunds for Alaska air taxi operators who were improperly assessed excise taxes.
• Begich successfully repealed the burdensome 1099 tax reporting requirement for small businesses.

Additionally, Begich supports Alaska jobs by consistently opposing efforts by the president and national Democrats to unfairly target tax incentives for oil & gas development:

• In 2009, Begich called for a guarantee for no additional big taxes on oil & gas industry.
• In May 2011, Begich slammed Democrats for singling out the oil & gas industry in tax reform efforts.
• In August 2011, Begich joined two Democrats and six Republicans to call on the president to drop a plan to selectively target oil & gas companies in its debt-cutting efforts.
• In March 2012, Begich was one of three Democrats to vote against a measure that targeted billions in oil & gas incentives. He was one of just four senators total to vote against a cloture motion on the bill.
• In February 2013, Begich fought national Democrats to drop a plan to include oil and gas penalties in budgeting legislation.

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Contributions from over 1,500 Alaskans sets the bar for Alaska Senate candidates

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 4/8/2023

ANCHORAGE: Over 1,500 Alaskans donated to U.S. Senator Mark Begich to fight back against false and misleading attack ads from Outside groups flooding Alaska TVs. Begich posted his biggest fundraising total of the cycle by raising $1,045,615.66 in the first quarter of 2014.

“Mark Begich is proud to have the support of Alaskans who know his record of successfully fighting to keep the F-16′s in Fairbanks and fighting to drill in the National Petroleum Reserve, the false attack ads from Outside groups supporting Mark’s opponents can’t change that,” said Max Croes, Alaskans for Begich Communications Director.

Begich has $2,818,176.61 cash on hand and will file electroncially.

Contributions have helped Begich run three ads:

Telling the story of Mark Begich’s efforts to travel Alaska to listen to Alaskans and deliver results: LINK

Calling out the Koch brothers for closing an Alaska refinery and eliminating 80 Alaska jobs while running false attack ads: LINK

Promoting his successful efforts to advance oil drilling in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska: LINK

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Anti-Alaska Club for Growth spills new details about endorsement process

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 4/7/2023

ANCHORAGE: A new story from Politico discloses details about a secretive interview process known as a “policy murder board” U.S. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan aced in exchange for an endorsement from the anti-Alaska Club for Growth.

Sullivan hasn’t shared any details with Alaskans about how he acquired the endorsement or how much cash it will produce, but he is “honored” to have the nod from a group that aims to privatize Social Security and voucherize Medicare.

Today’s story confirms rumors that the organization required Sullivan to give pin-point answers about how he would vote in the U.S. Senate. But Alaskans will never hear those questions or answers, they’ll only get more attack ads from another Outside group.

“They provide circumstances to candidates and really force them to question how they would vote,” said one candidate running this cycle. “Specifically, if you were given the choice of having a debt ceiling hike, when you get X amount of savings from a tax cut plan.” Politico 4/7/2023

Alaskans would welcome an answer from Sullivan on questions such as this after he showed a fundamental misunderstanding of what the debt ceiling is in addition to his regular unwillingness to discuss Alaska issues like the closure of the Flint Hills refinery.

The Club for Growth’s dangerous anti-Alaska agenda includes attempts to defeat both Congressman Don Young and U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski.

Don Young has called the Club for Growth “one of the most extreme groups in Washington D.C.” who wants to cut funding for veterans, seniors and Alaska Natives.

The Club for Growth recently described their endorsement of Sullivan as a continuation of their efforts to “outmaneuver, out-influence, outdo the entire establishment and all their allies.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 4/1/2024

ANCHORAGE – With a rapid rise in seniority through the U.S. Senate and a seat on both the Senate Appropriations Committee and Senate Indian Affairs Committee U.S. Senator Mark Begich has been an effective fighter for Alaska Native peoples and rural Alaska.

Begich’s record includes:

• Supporting the Voting Rights Act – Begich opposes the Supreme Court’s decision to eliminate preclearance under the Voting Rights Act and supports restoration of the law’s authority.
• Indian Health Service – Begich secured a permanent reauthorization of the Indian Health Service, the first reauthorization in over twenty years. He also secured historic full funding for IHS Contract Support Costs to Alaska Native tribal facilities this year.
• Safe Families & Villages Act – Begich introduced the Safe Families & Villages Act to give Alaska tribes resources and local control to empower communities to manage domestic violence.
• Rural Veterans – A successful Begich initiative allows veterans in rural Alaska to receive health care at tribal health facilities, saving veterans thousands of dollars in travel costs and allowing them to get care close to home.
• Alaska Territorial Guard – In 2009, Senator Begich successfully secured reinstatement of pension payments for members of the WWII-era Alaska Territorial Guard.
• Postal Service Reform — Begich has fought back efforts to end Bypass Mail and pushed the U.S. Postal Service to reverse rate increases in rural Alaska, ensuring critical service to Alaskans and a lifeline for the rural Alaska economy.
• Rural Broadband – Begich helped deliver over $140 million in improvements to rural broadband to provide education and health services and encourage small business growth.
• Essential Air Service – 82% of Alaska communities are off the road system and Begich has protected vital transportation routes and services by protecting the Essential Air Service program.

Mark Begich spoke this morning to a meeting of the Alaska Native Village CEOs.

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Koch brothers’ attempt to buy Alaska’s elections with same false attacks in a new attack ad

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 4/1/2024

ANCHORAGE – The billionaire Koch brothers are committing a folly by celebrating Alaska’s hallmark state holiday, Seward’s Day, with a new attempt to buy Alaska’s U.S. Senate election with false ads attacking Mark Begich.

“Alaska is not for sale and the Koch brothers’ attempt to be a modern day William H. Seward and buy Alaska’s elections won’t work because Alaskans know Mark Begich opposes a Carbon Tax and these claims are false,’” said Max Croes, Alaskans for Begich Communications Director.

The Kochs new ad buy from the American Energy Alliance repeats the same attacks from Americans For Prosperity that were called “false” and “not true” by two separate independent fact check organizations. The Kochs have pumped millions into the American Energy Alliance and founded Americans for Prosperity.

The Kochs have committed several follies in Alaska while spending over $1.5 million attacking Mark Begich, a staggering amount of Outside money for Alaska’s elections:

• The Kochs attempted to pass off a DC-area actress as an Alaskan in a widely panned attack ad.
• FactCheck.org called the Kochs’ claim that Mark Begich supports a Carbon Tax “Not True.”
• Politifact called the Kochs’ claim that Mark Begich supports a Carbon Tax “False.”
• The Kochs are closing Alaska’s Flint Hills refinery eliminating 80 Alaska jobs.
• Alaska’s Republican Governor Sean Parnell is suing a Koch-owned company over groundwater contamination.
• The same week the Kochs closed the Flint Hills refinery Americans for Prosperity cancelled $100k in Alaska attack ads.

Alaskans from Fairbanks and North Pole pushed back on the Kochs’ false claims and their decision to close an Alaska oil refinery in an earlier Begich campaign ad:

Click to watch the ad

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Begich won fight for new oil drilling on Alaska’s North Slope

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 3/31/2014

ANCHORAGE: Since his first days in the Senate, Mark Begich has fought to open the Arctic to new oil and gas development. In his new TV spot “Road” Begich highlights his fight to secure permits for a road and bridge over the Colville River on Alaska’s North Slope.

Begich’s dogged fight with the Obama administration started when the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers attempted to stop progress on oil development in the National-Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). After bringing Interior Secretaries to the North Slope and putting non-stop pressure on the administration for development in the NPR-A, the first-ever commercial oil will be produced in 2015.

Development of Alaska’s CD-5 drill site, pictured in the ad, will create an estimated 500 jobs and put 16,000 barrels a day of oil into the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. Begich also forced the Obama administration to open the Arctic Ocean to oil drilling and continues to fight for drilling in ANWR.

Begich’s previous commercials:

• “Alaska’s Son” — As a born-and-raised Alaskan, there’s nowhere Begich won’t go to listen to Alaskans and then deliver results. Named the best ad of the 2014 electoral cycle so far.
• “Into The Ground” — Begich fought back against attack ads from the billionaire Koch brothers accusing Mark Begich of supporting a “Carbon Tax.” Two separate independent fact check organizations labeled the attack ads “False” and “Not True.”

Ad Transcript:

Mark Begich: First the EPA said no. Then the Army Corps of Engineers said no. We had waited decades to drill here in the National Petroleum Reserve… But Washington was still saying no. All because they didn’t want to build a road here. I’m Mark Begich. It took five years… but I got the road approved. Next year? The oil starts flowing. I approved this message because sooner or later, Washington’ll figure out that I don’t take no for an answer.

Read the ad backup here.

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Calls in favors from old friends in the Lower 48, but keeps Alaskans in the dark on what he stands for

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 3/25/2014

ANCHORAGE — U.S. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan is extending open arms to Karl Rove and his American Crossroads super PAC. Sullivan’s campaign touted ads featuring Rove political ally Condoleezza Rice in a press release on Monday, a forthright endorsement of the super PAC’s presence in Alaska and Outside spending supporting his campaign.

“Dan Sullivan is putting out the welcome mat for Outside ads from Karl Rove and the Koch brothers but continues to dodge questions from Alaskans on issues important to Alaska families,” said Susanne Fleek-Green, Alaskans for Begich Campaign Manager.

Sullivan has yet to run more than a single radio ad, instead allowing the Koch brothers, Karl Rove and national Republican organizations to speak for him with their dangerous anti-Alaska agenda. Sullivan recently went 11 days without any announced campaign appearances in Alaska.

Meanwhile, Alaskans still don’t know where Dan Sullivan and his primary opponent Mead Treadwell stand on every day Alaska issues:

• Sullivan and Treadwell have refused to comment on Koch brothers closure of the Flint Hills refinery in North Pole. 80 Alaska jobs were eliminated and the state of Alaska is currently suing the refinery operators over contaminated drinking water.
• Sullivan and Treadwell have refused to condemn Alaska State Senator Pete Kelly’s proposal to put state-funded pregnancy tests in bar and restaurant bathrooms or Senator Fred Dyson’s comments about Alaska women needing to stop buying lattes to pay for birth control.
• Sullivan and Treadwell have refused to elaborate on the future of Social Security. Do they support the Club for Growth’s agenda to privatize Social Security and end Medicare as we know it?

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