This story was originally published in Reporting from Alaska.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy has spent $9,640 of state money on partisan political ads, many of which referred to “petitions’“ on education reform and parental rights.
There were never any petitions. It was a scam.
He was simply collecting names and addresses of people who could be called upon for political support.
“By clicking submit, you agree to send your info to Governor Mike Dunleavy, who agrees to use it according to their privacy policy,” the fine print on a Dunleavy ad said. “Facebook will also use it subject to our data policy, including to auto-fill forms for ads.”
One of Dunleavy’s ads featured a fake image of four lecherous old characters with oversize noses polluting the room with cigar smoke and a headline, “They don’t want you to have parental rights.”
Other ads about phony petitions claimed that teachers are leaving because the Dunleavy teacher bonus plan failed in Juneau and that families are fleeing the state because of a lack of education “reform,” a word that means whatever you want it to mean. There were also ads attacking teachers and their union.
I wrote about the Dunleavy data harvesting expedition in June.
Dunleavy’s office refused to respond when I asked for the text of the alleged “parental rights petition” and the alleged “education reform petition.”
The Anchorage Daily News reported Sunday that 2,256 names were collected as people responded to the state-funded political ads.
“Sign our petition to support parental rights in Alaska,” Dunleavy said in one of his ads. “Together, we can promote educational options that empower parents and improve learning outcomes for all students.”
“Sign the petition today and let your voice be heard,” Dunleavy says.
I asked Dunleavy’s spokesman in June where Alaskans can find the petitions. He replied, “You click on the ‘sign up’ button at the bottom right corner of the ad.”
There were never any petitions.
We’ve seen this tactic before.
In 2019, Dunleavy claimed he was gathering signatures on a petition to submit to legislators to support a Permanent Fund Dividend of $3,000.
“We need your help to make sure that we follow the decades-old statute,” Dunleavy said on Facebook.
“Please sign the petition that we have online and let your legislators know where you stand on following the decades-old calculation so that a full PFD can come out of this legislative session,” he said on Facebook ads, paid for with public funds.
He also claimed he had a petition to cap government spending. And a petition to pay back PFDs.
But there were no petitions on which Dunleavy collected signatures to submit to the Legislature for a bigger dividend, for a cap on spending or for paying back dividends.
The governor’s office was collecting names for a mailing list for marketing and partisan politics.
The phony petition drives were just one aspect of the improper behavior described in the lawyer’s report that followed an ethics complaint about the use of state money for Dunleavy’s political ads.
Dunleavy’s attorney told the investigator for the state personnel board that the petitions were fake.
These “petitions were only used to gather constituent information and were not used to directly petition the Legislature or to advocate for the subject policies in any manner.”
“Further, an Excel spreadsheet disclosed by the governor listing the ad purchases made by the governor’s office refers to these petition ads as ‘lead generation,’” attorney John Tiemessen wrote in 2020.
“Lead generation is a business term which means ‘the action or process of identifying and cultivating potential customers for a business’s products or services.’ A curated lead list may have value to the governor’s office for future targeted communications with self-selected groups of citizenry,” he wrote.
In other words, the governor lied to Alaskans about his so-called petitions and their purpose. He was looking for leads.
But Tiemessen, the independent counsel in the case, excused the governor and his staff in 2020 by saying that since Dunleavy was not then an official candidate then for reelection, none of this was improper.
“There is insufficient evidence to conclude that these ‘petition’ ads were intended to differentially benefit or harm a candidate, potential candidate, political party or political group,” wrote Tiemessen. “There is also no current indication that the resulting lead list has been sold outside of the governor’s office or that it is being used for personal gain by any individual.”
The main lesson to be drawn from the new campaign of half-truths is that Dunleavy is hoping to build a database—using tactics that are not being openly disclosed—to support his long-standing campaign to direct public funds to private schools, which is against the Alaska Constitution.
RIP RICHARD FINEBERG: Reporter Richard Fineberg, who had been ill for several years, has died in Fairbanks.
Richard was a rare combination of scholar and reporter, one of the greatest in Alaska history. Editors never found it easy to work with him, but then again, Fineberg did not find it easy to work with them. His persistence and determination set him apart, as did his commitment to finding the truth. No one worked as hard as he did. I’ll have more on his life later this week.
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October 6, 2024
Dermot Cole has worked as a newspaper reporter, columnist and author in Alaska for more than 40 years. Support his work here.
