In another sign that this is a strange election year, the U.S. Senate campaign of Libertarian Joe Miller is mailing leftover flyers the Alaska Republican Party printed in 2010, but didn’t send. The flyers are critical of the incumbent, Sen. Lisa Murkowski. In 2010, she was the candidate the party was trying to defeat in the General Election. Now, though, Murkowski is the Republican nominee, so the Republicans are crying foul on Miller.
The GOP has complained to the Anchorage Police Department and Party Chairman Tuckerman Babcock says the Postal Service informed him it is looking into the mailing.
“I don’t know if they were printed up recently and not reported, or whether someone hoarded them in their garage for six years hoping that there’d be another contest between Miller and Murkowski,” Babcock said. “I don’t know. But it’s a pretty bizarre situation.”
Miller said last week someone dropped off boxes of the leftover GOP flyers at his campaign.
“Many boxes were brought. I wasn’t here when they were brought,” he told reporters.
Miller treated it as a contribution from the party to his campaign. On his campaign finance report he put the value at $4,500.
A Miller spokesman says the campaign paid a printer to black out the original bulk mail permit and added “Paid for by Citizens for Joe Miller.” They affixed first-class stamps and mailed an undisclosed number of them. There are two other additions to the mailer: At the very top, the Miller campaign wrote “What the Republican Party said in 2010 ….” and, further down, “What has changed?”
Babcock says the mailer would confuse voters, because it has the original disclosure, saying it’s paid for by the Alaska Republican Party, and another saying the Miller campaign paid. Babcock said a postal employee told him the service had refused to accept some version of the flyer late last week, although it is not clear why. Babcock says he was told there was no attempt to use the Republican party’s bulk mail permit. The Postal Service confirmed the matter is under review but did not immediately provide specifics.
Miller, on Monday evening, was striking back, accusing the Republican Party of making a false police report.
Liz Ruskin is the Washington, D.C., correspondent at Alaska Public Media. Reach her atlruskin@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Lizhere.
