October 24, 2016
Monday PM

In a recent letter to the editor, my opponent, Bob Sivertsen, wanted to 'clear the air' about negative advertising. He stated that he has non connection to PACs or any control over what an outside PAC may do. In fact, Bob does have the ability to denounce their misleading and negative attacks, but he has chosen not to do this. His argument for keeping silent is 'this is politics as usual' and uses the current presidential campaign as an example. I would hope that Southeast Alaska can set the bar higher than this year's presidential race!

Bob's argument for why he deserves your vote on November 8th is that he will be a part of the Republican majority. He claims this will result in better representation for District 36. He then states he will do this independently while being uninfluenced by oil companies and other special interest groups. However, it will be difficult for him to do this as a member of the current Railbelt and Oil friendly Republican majority. The current House Majority has a clear record of being increasingly unfriendly to S.E. interests. If he is elected and becomes a part of this majority, will that suddenly change?

I am running as an independent. I have a record that shows my votes are in the best interest of SE and the State and they sometimes cross party lines. I have and I will vote my conscience and only in the interests of my District before anything else.

My opponent says that your choice on November 8th is between a "more liberal or more conservative set of policies". This is not your choice on election day. Bob himself could not identify any policy differences between us at the recent KDN debate.

No; your choice is between someone who refuses to denounce the negative campaign of the oil industry and claims he will act independently, even though he is committed to joining the Railbelt Majority, and myself, an actual Independent who will vote for the best interests of Southeast and has the record to prove it.

Dan Ortiz
Ketchikan, Alaska

Received October 24, 2016 - Published October 24, 2016

About: Dan Ortiz, an Independent, is running for re-election to the Alaska House.

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PACs' Negative Campaigning By Bob Sivertsen

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