Speaker 1: Touchy around.
Speaker 2: This is the seventy seven WABC Mini Cast.
Speaker 3: Well, we are going now to the great state of
Speaker 3: Alaska to Governor Mike Dunleavy and Governor this is Rita.
Speaker 3: We have John katzmatit's on the phone. Also in studio
Speaker 3: Michael Cohen and Judge Richard Weinberg. It's so great to
Speaker 3: have you here. You guys have a huge primary tomorrow.
Speaker 3: You've got a lot of big races, tell us because
Speaker 3: a lot they're open primaries, and then you got rank choice.
Speaker 3: Can you kind of explain how it works? Because people
Speaker 3: are going, Wow, it's all over the.
Speaker 2: Place exactly Rida. It's kind of like a cross between
Speaker 2: New York City and Maine. And now we have this
Speaker 2: rank choice voting and open primary system, which we never
Speaker 2: had up until just a couple of years ago. It
Speaker 2: was brought in through some dark money on an initiative,
Speaker 2: and many of us have been trying to get rid
Speaker 2: of it ever since because so right now, for example,
Speaker 2: we have upwards of seven candidates for governor, several candidates
Speaker 2: for US Senate Congress, and it's really just a confusing
Speaker 2: issue for a lot of people. But anyway, the voters
Speaker 2: tomorrow are primary for governor, senator, state legislators, congressman. And
Speaker 2: what will come out of this is in the governor's race,
Speaker 2: for example, out of seventeen, there will be only four
Speaker 2: that will come out of this for the general those
Speaker 2: four aren't necessarily part of any particular party like the
Speaker 2: old system was, where you'd have a primary process and
Speaker 2: you'd end up most likely with a Republican and Democrats
Speaker 2: facing off. We could have four Democrats, we could have
Speaker 2: four Republicans, we could have a mix of three and
Speaker 2: one independent are undeclared. So everyone is trying to get
Speaker 2: through this primary to see what we're really looking at
Speaker 2: for the future. But the bottom line is this in
Speaker 2: Alaska read it's very important. We need to have a
Speaker 2: governor that is going to continue with resource development, oil, gas, timber, gold, rare, earths,
Speaker 2: you name it. We're the only state that got an
Speaker 2: executive voter from President Trump to be able to capitalize
Speaker 2: on all these opportunities in our resources. And if we
Speaker 2: don't have that, and we don't have somebody that puts
Speaker 2: the best interest of the people the state of Alaska first,
Speaker 2: it's gonna be a long four years. But we're optimistic
Speaker 2: that we'll get somebody that comes out of this pack
Speaker 2: of folks that will be able to fit that bill.
Speaker 2: So we're gonna wait and see what the results are tomorrow.
Speaker 3: Wow, the whole country is going to be watching. And
Speaker 3: John Katzmatitis, I understand you have a question for Governor
Speaker 3: Mike Dunlevy of the great State of Alaska.
Speaker 4: Governor, what is the poults of the people? Has Alaska
Speaker 4: maintained its common sense like when they voted for you?
Speaker 4: And I understand is it true still that they still
Speaker 4: have two Dan Sullivan's running.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's another one. So for us, Senator, we have
Speaker 2: our own Dan Sullivan that's been in a coming for years,
Speaker 2: a great champion for Alaska, be perfectly honest with you.
Speaker 2: And then out of nowhere, all of a sudden, individual
Speaker 2: appeared in one of our southeastern towns with quote the
Speaker 2: same name and just quote had a desire to run
Speaker 2: for office. Many many folks were suspicious of this move,
Speaker 2: obviously for obvious reasons, because in a ranked choice voting scenario,
Speaker 2: people will go to the polls. And this is the
Speaker 2: case that the Division of Elections made in trying to
Speaker 2: keep that person off off the ballot. You're going to
Speaker 2: go to the polls and you're going to see the
Speaker 2: exact same name. You know, that would be having Mike
Speaker 2: Dunlady and Mike Dunlaby, and it would be which Mike
Speaker 2: Dunlady is this It's going to make things difficult. And
Speaker 2: so again, if you had a primary that would have
Speaker 2: been worked out, if it was a primary based upon
Speaker 2: a party that would have been worked out, we wouldn't
Speaker 2: even be having this conversation. So it's going to be
Speaker 2: a dicey situation here for the next couple of months
Speaker 2: until we get through the selection season.
Speaker 3: That's incredible, Judge Weinberg.
Speaker 1: Governor Scritcher talks to you again, Sir, I'm deeply troubled
Speaker 1: by the Sullivan situation. A great United States Senator, a
Speaker 1: great representative of Alaska, one of the leads the United
Speaker 1: States Senator, an expert on military affairs and energy, and
Speaker 1: then you have some clown that's pushed in there and
Speaker 1: with the direct and deliberate purpose of confusing the electorate.
Speaker 1: So your state regulatory agency did the right thing by
Speaker 1: knocking the other guy out as a consumer fraud, as
Speaker 1: a voter fraud, and then you stay Supreme Court allowed
Speaker 1: him to stay in. So how do people supposed to
Speaker 1: differentiate between the real Dan Sullivan, the great United States Senator,
Speaker 1: and this clown that was ginned up by the Democrats
Speaker 1: to try to create a problem for the real senator.
Speaker 2: Yeah, judge, you're right. It makes it very difficult, and
Speaker 2: it gets a little weirder if people wanted to in
Speaker 2: the future. But what I mean by that is, let's
Speaker 2: say somebody, let's say I'm Reoray for office. Mike Dunlaby
Speaker 2: runs for office in the future. But let's say the
Speaker 2: other side, however you define that decides that they want
Speaker 2: to screw things up, and so they find somebody that's
Speaker 2: willing to change their name months in advance, and their
Speaker 2: name just happens to be Mike Dunlaby as they go
Speaker 2: on the ballot. What do you do then, because this
Speaker 2: this opens the door for a lot of interesting approaches
Speaker 2: to elect.
Speaker 1: If I'm voting tomorrow and Alaska and I want the
Speaker 1: real Dance Sullivan, how do I know I'm getting a
Speaker 1: real Dance Sullivan?
Speaker 2: What?
Speaker 1: How How is it distinguished?
Speaker 2: Yeah, because we're gonna have We're gonna have terminology on
Speaker 2: the ballot Uh, the proper proper name, proper middle name,
Speaker 2: but also uh, Republican and the other guy does not
Speaker 2: have Republican because the party did not want that to occur.
Speaker 2: Now that may end up being challenged after this primary.
Speaker 2: We'll have to see what we can do in the
Speaker 2: general to really distinguish, whether it's whether it's photos, whether
Speaker 2: it's other other other details that we can put in there.
Speaker 2: But this is all new ground. Uh, this is something
Speaker 2: we didn't contemplate. But quite honestly, it's a very interesting,
Speaker 2: very interesting uh, I guess uh for some of us
Speaker 2: believe it's a very interesting maneuver that if it's not
Speaker 2: stopped this year, could have consequences such as I mentioned
Speaker 2: earlier about just name changes before an election. So we've
Speaker 2: got some identifiers. We just hope that those identifiers are
Speaker 2: enough to get the people of Alaska and to understand
Speaker 2: who they're.
Speaker 3: Voting for him and Michael Cohen governor.
Speaker 5: What happens if, hypothetically the guy's name is really Robert
Speaker 5: Johnson and he changes the name before with the sole
Speaker 5: purpose to Mike Dunlevy and just doesn't spell it l
Speaker 5: eavy but l e v v.
Speaker 2: Y, Well that's what I just brought up. I think
Speaker 2: this opens the door for somebody to actually change their name.
Speaker 2: Maybe the other side employs them for two hundred thousand
Speaker 2: dollars and they agree to change the name to Mike
Speaker 2: Dunlady spelled exactly like my name, and goes on the ballot.
Speaker 2: That's the part that's the problem that we foresee occurring
Speaker 2: in the future as a campaign and electoral maneuver in
Speaker 2: which the people of Alaska or any other state, if
Speaker 2: this were to happen in the other state, but if
Speaker 2: it happens here, they don't really know who they're voting for,
Speaker 2: and that is just going to lead to more of
Speaker 2: a corrosive effect on believing that your vote matters. That's
Speaker 2: part of the problem.
Speaker 3: Wow, what a mess. This is really scary. Well let's
Speaker 3: see what happens. All eyes are going to be there tomorrow.
Speaker 3: I'm glad you're speaking out against it. Thank you so much, Governor.
Speaker 3: So it was so great to have you.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Governess.
Speaker 2: So thanks for having me. Guys, thank you, thank you
Speaker 2: so much.