Suzanne Downing: Decoy Dan and Alaska’s see-no-evil media

By SUZANNE DOWNING

Nov. 1, 2026 – Since May, I have been calling him Decoy Dan. It took The New York Times to explain just how much machinery was actually behind the decoy candidate who is now, apparently, on the lam.

That should embarrass every major newsroom in Alaska.

On May 30, I wrote about the suspicious arrival of the Petersburg man named Daniel J. Sullivan in the US Senate race against Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. The campaign announcement had the fingerprints of Amber Lee, a political consultant with deep connections to Alaska Democrats. Her name was in the document’s metadata. I found it.

It was The Alaska Story that broke open that initial lead.

And it’s that was the very thread that began the unraveling of the entire Decoy Dan operation. One sloppy move from Amber Lee, who then fled the country briefly.

Decoy Dan files appeal to regain place on ballot as his Democrat strategist flees the country

The questions practically wrote themselves: Why was a consultant associated with Democrats and Democrat operative Jim Lottsfeldt helping launch a supposed “Republican” challenger with the same name as the Republican incumbent, and who just happened to register as a Republican candidate, although he was not a Republican?

The Alaska Story pursued it. Much of Alaska’s mainstream press treated it as a “namesake” controversy, a ballot-access dispute, or just another Republican complaint.

In June, the Anchorage Daily News ran this headline: “Judge allows namesake challenger to Sen. Dan Sullivan to appear on Alaska ballot.”

Namesake? Such a benign word for such a dirty business that we now know much more about, and that the FBI and Alaska State Troopers are investigating. This is now a criminal investigation, mind you. But we don’t know about this because of the Alaska newsrooms. They could not have cared less.

A “retired teacher from Petersburg” wants to run for Senate? Republicans object? A judge lets him run, no big deal.  Nothing to see here. The central questions were just kicked to the curb: Who helped put him there, and why? Who connected him with Amber Lee? Who stood up his website?

The Petersburg Poser seeking office was one thing. Lots of people did before the deadline. There were 16 candidates altogether. The fact that he tried to get on the ballot by using the same middle initial as the senator, and as a Republican, is another thing altogether. Whether experienced political operatives were exploiting his name to confuse voters was an obvious question, and we all know that the Alaska reporting brigade has these Democrats on speed dial.

Well, I kept writing about Decoy Dan and the people around his campaign. The consultant connections. The campaign materials. The contradiction between the Republican label and the Democratic political help. Any little thread … I pulled on it.

The Alaska Story clearly does not have the resources of KTUU, the Anchorage Daily News, or the Alaska Beacon. This is a one-woman operation. There is no team of reporters to spend weeks interviewing former campaign employees and obtaining their communications. I simply pursued what I could establish with the 12 hours I work each day, and kept the questions in front of readers.

I did not uncover everything, no question. The New York Times deserves credit for advancing the story substantially beyond what I was able to report.

First came its reporting about Peltola’s treatment of her staff. That was huge. Now, I’d heard about the screaming and berating that was the Mean Mary habit, but didn’t have enough corroboration to report it fully.

Then came The New York Times investigation into efforts by Democratic operatives and campaign insiders to shape Alaska’s Senate ballot.

The Times pulled the curtain back on a recruitment operation involving Ohio political operative Jerid Kurtz, drawing on interviews and text messages. They had the receipts. Former campaign manager Elisa Rios said Peltola was fully aware of the effort to recruit Decoy Dan. Peltola has been in damage-control mode ever since then.

Alaska Public Media subsequently interviewed Times reporter Kellen Browning about how he obtained the story. He described former staff members willing to talk, along with corroborating evidence.

Good. Alaskans should hear how that reporting was done — the reporting that was not done by local media.

Mainstream media made it out to be something Republicans simply were alleging.  Reporters made the underlying concern sound like partisan noise.

That is where editorial judgment comes into play. Which story gets another day of reporting? Which denial gets challenged? Which political relationship gets examined closely?

When newsrooms fail to pursue evidence that could damage Democrats, the practical beneficiary is the Democratic operation that should be under scrutiny. Whatever the editors intended, that kind of coverage provides political protection.

In my view, that is how a newsroom becomes an actor on behalf of Democrats while continuing to advertise itself as an impartial observer. I call BS on them.

Was this a failure of competence, curiosity, or willingness to challenge people in the same political circles? Although I was once part of the mainstream media, and I know how things are done and the biases involved, I am outside of it now and only can judge what they put in front of Alaskans, and what an Outside newspaper uncovered.

Alaska’s mainstream media owe their readers an explanation for why they did not get there first. ADN was once a Pulitzer Prize-winning news organization. Now, it’s just a political putz for the Democrats. Alaska Beacon is no better.

Suzanne Downing is founder and editor of The Alaska Story and is a longtime Alaskan and former editor of The Juneau Empire.