The campaign to recall Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has ended, announced Meda DeWitt, the chair of Recall Dunleavy, in an opinion article on Wednesday in the Anchorage Daily News.
DeWitt wrote that the Recall Dunleavy campaign protected Alaska and Alaskans from Dunleavy. She also linked the decision to Dunleavy filing for re-election. She wrote that as a result of Dunleavy’s filing, the recall campaign would have to treat donor data differently, as well as that of people who signed the recall petition.
“Dunleavy’s administration has a history of vengeful and illegal retaliation,” she wrote. “We believe that a new submission of signatures would put even more civil servants and dedicated Alaskans’ service at risk.”
RELATED: Alaska House committee lowers proposed PFD amount to $1,100
She also said that ending the campaign would end the governor’s ability to raise funds for a group opposing the recall, which she said amounted to supporting his re-election campaign. She said the campaign created pressure on the administration that protected state services from budget cuts.
DeWitt said the campaign gathered 62,373 signatures. It needed roughly 9,000 more to hold a recall election.
DeWitt couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on Wednesday. Contacts with two groups opposing the recall campaign, as well as the governor’s campaign, also couldn’t immediately be reached for their reaction.
[Sign up for Alaska Public Media’s daily newsletter to get our top stories delivered to your inbox.]
Andrew Kitchenman is the state government and politics reporter for Alaska Public Media and KTOO in Juneau. Reach him at akitchenman@alaskapublic.org.
