Alaska Governor Says 'Decoy Dan' Refused to Answer Under Oath, Asked to Use Senator's Initial

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy says the second Dan Sullivan on the state's Senate ballot would not answer the state's questions under oath, and first tried to get listed with the senator's middle initial.

"We wanted him to answer questions, you know, through [an affidavit]. And he refused to do that," Dunleavy told Fox News' John Roberts on Thursday. "He answered the questions, but it wasn't an under oath scenario."

It's the governor's most detailed account yet of what the state ran into when it looked at Dan J. Sullivan, a retired Petersburg teacher, this spring. A day earlier, Dunleavy ordered the Department of Public Safety to investigate whether the effort to put him on the ballot broke state law (our report on the probe). Election Day is Tuesday.

'His middle initial is not S'

Dunleavy said Sullivan's first emails to the Division of Elections asked to list him as "Daniel S. Sullivan." "His middle initial is not S. That's the initial of our incumbent U.S. Senator," he said. "And so we knew that the intent was questionable then."

The state's own paperwork backs him up. In a June 15 letter, elections director Carol Beecher wrote that Sullivan had first emailed asking to be listed as "Dan S. Sullivan." She gave him until June 11 to answer the complaints against his filing. "You did not submit additional information and evidence to respond to the complaints," she wrote, before striking him from the primary ballot.

'The tip of the iceberg'

Asked who is funding the second Sullivan's campaign and whether anyone is paying him, Dunleavy said that is what the new probe is for. "That's where the investigation I think is incredibly important," he said. "We have to answer those questions."

"We saw the tip of the iceberg back in May and June. And now we're seeing more of the iceberg," he added. "Quite frankly, the individual should not be on the ballot. They simply should not be on the ballot. And it's unfortunate that right now he is."

Where it stands

No one has been charged. Dan J. Sullivan says he entered the race on his own, and Mary Peltola's campaign denies recruiting anyone. The courts put him back on the ballot in June, ruling the state could not strike him over his motives, so his name stays there while state investigators work.

Dunleavy called it a "sad moment" for Alaska and "a warning to the rest of the country." On the ballot, the senator is listed as "Sullivan, Dan S." Check the middle initial.