The same news story can be at once shocking and the least surprising thing in the world. Such is the New York Times report that independent Alaska Senate candidate Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., who shares the same name as endangered Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), is a Democratic plant.
On the one hand, of course this guy is only running to siphon votes off Sen. Sullivan, thus giving Democrat Mary Peltola a better chance to win a Senate seat with a minority of the vote. No honest person ever doubted that.
On the other hand, it is a bit shocking to see the New York Times nail the Democrats dead to rights for propping up this candidate after they denied it — and after much of the news media tried to ignore the obvious. Peltola campaign aides recruited Sullivan, according to the report, and her lawyers were also involved in getting him on the ballot. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, here in Washington, was behind “Decoy Dan” as well.
So what’s the remedy for this obviously dishonest tactic intended not to give voters a choice, but to deceive them?
The Justice Department, under President Donald Trump, is trying to intervene to keep the Democrats from winning by dirty tricks. This has, hilariously, driven Democrats to emphatically state a position they have long derided: All elections are state matters, not federal affairs.
And dirty election tricks have always been part of politics: Joe Kennedy Sr. helped funnel money to a Boston janitor named Joe Russo to draw votes away from Boston City Councilman Joe Russo to help his son, future President John F. Kennedy, win his first congressional race in 1946.
Whether there is a political or legal solution is unclear, but it’s clear how the news media should react to this report: Every article and broadcast mentioning the Democratic plant Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. should call him “Democratic plant Daniel J. Sullivan” on first mention. After that, he should be distinguished from Sen. Sullivan by being described as “the Democratic plant Sullivan” or “the Dan Sullivan whom the Peltola campaign recruited into the race.”
RAISING BIRTHRATES REALLY DOES TAKE A VILLAGE
These are not slurs. They are simple factual statements that will eliminate any confusion. Will using this terminology harm Democrats? Yes. It will defuse Democrats’ dirty tricks, and it will serve democracy, which so much of the news media has sworn itself to defend in recent years.
People will always play dirty in politics. We can’t always stop them. But we ought to always blow the whistle when we see it.