Sullivan defends record on Alaska Native issues

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan on Friday said that he is proud of his record on Alaska Native voting rights and efforts to combat the scourge of domestic violence and sexual assault in the state.

Sullivan is challenging Democratic Sen. Mark Begich in a race that could help decide control of the U.S. Senate. Opponents of Sullivan, including the state Democratic Party, have sought to cast him as soft on issues important to Natives, an influential and a key constituency. For example, they point to an appeal he filed while attorney general to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a long-running Alaska Native food-subsistence case, characterizing him as having an anti-subsistence record.

In an interview Friday, Sullivan, who married into an Alaska Native family, said he respects the subsistence culture and understands how important it is for food security and the culture of Alaska Native people.

He said the case, initially brought by the Athabascan elder Katie John, had morphed into an issue of “federal control and the extent of federal or state control over the internal waterways of Alaska.” He said that was the broader issue from the state’s perspective.

Sullivan served as attorney general from June 2009 until becoming Natural Resources commissioner in December 2010. Throughout the campaign, he has pointed to a record in those posts of fighting against federal overreach.

The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year decided not to hear the state’s continued appeal. Going forward, the state, Native community, tribes and federal government need to work together on this issue, Sullivan said.

Begich said the case was about protecting the subsistence rights of Alaska Native people.

“He opposed the legal rights of subsistence for the Alaska Native community,” Begich said. “You can’t have some rewriting of history because now he has to run in a general election.”

As state attorney general, Sullivan said he pushed to settle a long-running case by tribal governments seeking improved language assistance for Yup’ik-speaking voters in the Bethel area. That case was cited in litigation, filed last year, seeking to have the assistance extended to other communities.

During the 2010 Senate race, in which Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski ran as a write-in candidate, Sullivan said he led the state’s efforts to allow voters to see lists of write-in candidates. That effort was opposed in court by the state Democratic and Republican parties.

“I have a real record of getting things done in this realm,” Sullivan said.

Begich has introduced legislation aimed at protecting voting rights for Alaska Natives and American Indians. It was meant to complement legislation that would rewrite a formula for special protections under the federal Voting Rights Act after the previous formula was thrown out by the U.S. Supreme Court last year.

Sullivan would not say if he thought there should be a requirement that states with a history of discrimination against voters be required to get federal approval before making election changes, saying he would let his record speak for itself. Alaska fell into that category before the high court’s ruling and in 2012 had sued over the formula.

Sullivan also said he would support changing the name of Mount McKinley to Mount Denali. “It’s about respect for the people who named it,” he said.

Denali is an Athabascan word meaning “the high one.” Murkowski introduced legislation to change the name of the mountain during this session of Congress. Prior efforts, going back decades, have been stymied by members of Ohio’s congressional delegation. Ohio is the birthplace of President William McKinley.

Sullivan is from Ohio, but he has roots in Alaska dating to the 1990s.