The family of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan has given another $300,000 to an independent group supporting Sullivan's campaign, after donating more than $350,000 in advance of the Aug. 19 Republican Party primary.
Sullivan's parents, Sandra and Thomas Sullivan, each gave $150,000 on Aug. 29 to American Crossroads, a super PAC that supports Republicans and that has reserved $5.5 million in television commercials in Alaska's U.S. Senate race.
Members of the Sullivan family had previously given $375,000 to Alaska's Energy/America's Values, another super PAC backing Sullivan that's run by Anchorage political consultant Art Hackney.
The donations were first reported by the Center for Public Integrity, which also found that American Crossroads in its monthly filing to the Federal Election Commission originally misidentified the source of the $300,000. The super PAC, in its original filing, said the money came from Philadelphia-based Glenmede Trust Co. but listed the company's address as a Florida condominium owned by Thomas Sullivan.
Thomas Sullivan is the former CEO of RPM International, an Ohio-based industrial products company with more than $4 billion in annual sales.
American Crossroads' filing has since been corrected; it shows the Sullivans as the group's second- and third-largest donors for August. A spokesman for the group said it had mistakenly listed the source of the money as the financial institution that issued the Sullivan family's checks.
In an emailed news release, the Alaska Democratic Party said that "Dan Sullivan's parents have gotten caught trying to make a secret donation of $300,000" to American Crossroads, which was co-founded by Republican strategist Karl Rove.
A message left at the home of Sullivan's parents Monday evening was not immediately returned. A spokesman for the Sullivan campaign declined to comment.