WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich are not saying how they feel about two of President Trump’s most controversial priorities: a $1 billion security-related request for his ballroom and a nearly $1.8 billion compensation fund that could pay Jan. 6 riot defendants and other Trump allies.
The Trump administration claims the fund will compensate people who have been “victimized” by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Since mid-May, Alaska Public Media has sent multiple emails asking for Sullivan’s position on these two issues. Staff at his Senate office and his campaign have not responded, and Sullivan did not grant interview requests for this story.
Begich’s office did not respond this week to an interview request or specific questions either.
Sullivan and Begich rarely criticize the president’s initiatives, even those that push the boundaries of executive power in ways that have other congressional Republicans speaking out. Their silence on Trump’s recent controversies reflects the bind they’re in on the two issues, which public polling suggests are broadly unpopular. Both the senator and congressman have Trump’s endorsement as they seek reelection this year, and Trump showed in recent elections in Louisiana, Kentucky and Texas that he’ll punish Republicans he deems insufficiently loyal, by campaigning against them and supporting their opponents in primary elections.
Alaskans critical of Trump often say they don’t feel they have access to Sullivan and Begich.
Kodiak retiree Jone Suleski said she wanted to ask questions of the two candidates at a meet-and-greet event during the island town’s Crab Fest last week.
Suleski was among a crowd of people who went to Double Shovel’s cider house in Kodiak for what was billed as a 6 p.m. session with Sullivan and Congressman Begich, organized by Republican District 5 chair Aaron Griffin.
“We were waiting,” she said.
Suleski said she planned to press Sullivan about Trump’s $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, which she called a “corrupt money grab.” Alaska’s other Republican senator, Lisa Murkowski, calls it a “slush fund.”
But, after about 40 minutes with no members of Congress in sight, Suleski said she and others gave up.
“The overall feeling amongst everybody was, ‘We didn't really think he was going to show, did you?’” she said.
Sullivan’s office did not say why he missed the Kodiak meet-and-greet on May 22. The Senate was released for the week the prior afternoon.
A Begich campaign spokesman said notice of the meet-and-greet was circulated before the congressman’s travel schedule was finalized. The organizer, Griffin, confirmed that account.
The House took evening votes on Thursday, May 21 before breaking for the weeklong Memorial Day recess. Leaders of both chambers scuttled votes that were expected to keep lawmakers in Washington longer.
Begich’s opponents attended their own separate meet-and-greet events at the Kodiak cidery earlier. Democratic challenger Matt Schultz isn’t giving the incumbent a pass.
“If this was the first time that Nick Begich were completely inaccessible or ducked and covered from an important meeting, I'd think, ‘All right, cut the guy some slack,’” Schultz said. “But this is a pattern. It's an obvious pattern … so no, that excuse does not hold any water with me.”
Both Schultz and independent challenger Bill Hill are critical of the compensation fund and say spending taxpayer funds on the ballroom is a bad move.
Hill said the voters he talked to at the cider house, and at Crab Fest more broadly, were polite, even if they disagreed with him.
“Whenever you're in that setting, there are some challenging questions that come, because we all don't see eye to eye on any specific issue,” Hill said. “But I wouldn't say necessarily confrontational.”
After not meeting nor greeting Sullivan at the Double Shovel event, Suleski saw him walk in the Crab Fest parade the next morning.
“We yelled out at him, ‘Where were you last night?’” she said. “And he turned around, you know. And we said, ‘Hey, hey, we waited for you.’”
Sullivan, she said, did not respond to them and jogged ahead to keep up with his support car.
