I know Sen. Dan Sullivan. I also know Alan Gross. When Alan told me several months ago he was considering running for the senate, he indicated he would run as an independent candidate against Sen. Sullivan. When the deep pockets of the Democratic Party said they would bankroll his campaign for the most expensive Alaska senate race in history, he accepted. The question is, what does the Democratic Party want in return?
With 62 days left in the race, he announced his campaign had raised $3 million dollars in just one weekend. That’s almost $50,000 dollars per day to spend until the election to convince Alaskans that Sen. Sullivan has done nothing for Alaskans except drive up the cost of health care.
If this were true, which it isn’t, then why does he need to spend millions of dollars to convince us? Can’t Alaskans think for themselves? Like Joe Biden said, “You say the lie long enough, keep repeating, repeating, repeating, it becomes common knowledge.” What is not a lie, is his statement in favor of a single-payer health care system. According to Chris Jacobs, CEO of Juniper Research Group, this health care plan would have 24 million Americans losing employer coverage and cost $2.2 trillion over 10 years.
Let’s talk about jobs, because his campaign sure isn’t. Sen. Sullivan has created jobs through military and oil and gas development in Alaska by working across the aisle with other legislators that he has developed a relationship with over the years. The recent announcement from the president for a multi-billion dollar rail line connecting Alaska to Canada and the Lower 48 is an example of the work he has done and his commitment to Alaskans for jobs. The deep pockets bankrolling the Gross campaign are committed to shutting down oil and gas development, which has historically paid for 70% of our state budget.
Alan Gross has changed his stance on health care more times than he’s changed his mind on party affiliation, but that doesn’t matter. What does matter is who is financing his campaign. Make no mistake about it, a lot of Alaskans feel the same way.
— Dennis Smith
Wasilla
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