The anti-Trump conservative group known as The Lincoln Project is not stopping with their affronts against President Donald Trump himself. They’re also going after Trump’s enablers, including Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), who’s up for re-election this year. Sullivan is one of the many Republican Senators whose guiding philosophy seems to be following in line with the agenda of Republican Party leaders. Recently released tapes of covertly recorded conversations with mining industry executives reveal that according to some top industry brass, Sullivan also follows in line with a big business agenda. The Lincoln Project spotlights Sullivan’s capitulation in a new ad.
The tapes that The Lincoln Project spotlights in their new ad include comments from now former Pebble Limited Partnership CEO Tom Collier, who insisted that Sullivan is “off in a corner being quiet” and hoping to “ride out” the upcoming election, without, presumably, making waves with opposition to a controversial proposed gold mine in the state. Collier, who resigned from his CEO position in the wake of the publication of his comments, thought that he was speaking to potential Pebble Mine investors. He was not — he was speaking to undercover environmental activists.
Describing their new anti-Sullivan ad, The Lincoln Project insists:
‘Dan Sullivan doesn’t speak up for Alaska. He does what he’s told.’
Check out the video below:
Dan Sullivan doesn’t speak up for Alaska.
He does what he’s told.
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) October 5, 2020
In the original covertly taped conversations with the mining execs, the brass also took aim at Alaska’s other U.S. Senator, Lisa Murkowski, who Collier claimed “never does anything to hurt Pebble. Never.” Both Murkowski and Sullivan have responded to the leaked comments and reiterated their previously stated opposition to the Pebble Mine project. Sullivan aide Amanda Coyne said that the Senator “continues to stand by” a late August statement “supporting the administration’s decision that Pebble has not met the high bar required and that a federal permit cannot be issued.”
Meanwhile, the election forecast site FiveThirtyEight gives Sullivan an 83 percent chance of winning re-election, but in a September poll from Harstad Strategic Research, Sullivan led his Democratic challenger Al Gross by a mere 1 percent. In a late August Public Policy Polling survey, Sullivan and Gross were tied.
Check out Twitter’s response to the Lincoln Project video below:
