A Begich ad showed a detective discussing a murder and sexual assault case in Anchorage. Why Begich's 'Horton' ad matters

Alaska Sen. Mark Begich finally pulled down a controversial attack ad against Republican challenger Dan Sullivan on Tuesday night, but he’s still in hot water over the episode, threatening to undo some of the momentum the Democrat had generated over the past few months.

The Begich campaign ad featured a retired Anchorage detective standing in front of an apartment building, discussing the murder of two seniors and the sexual assault of their granddaughter — crimes allegedly committed by someone who received a shorter sentence than he should have for a previous offense when Sullivan was the state’s attorney general.


The ad, which was yanked from the airwaves only after pleas from a lawyer for the family of the victims, touched a nerve. The water could now be muddied on what internal polls and focus groups have shown is one of Begich’s most potent lines of attack against Sullivan.

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Sullivan, meanwhile, also pulled down his response ad to the original attack (at the request of the family). And while the Begich spot is no longer on the air, the controversy has sparked an ongoing conversation — leading local newscasts — about Sullivan’s tenure as the state’s attorney general and, specifically, his record on sexual assault.

Begich has been credited with running a top-notch campaign — including lots of praise for his television ads, produced by Mark Putnam — which has put him in a stronger position than any of the other red-state Democrats running for reelection. Republicans hope that his decision to air and then pull what they’re calling a Willie Horton-style ad undercuts that narrative and helps put Alaska more in the mix with Arkansas, Louisiana and North Carolina.

The crime occurred in 2013. Jerry Active, who is charged with murdering the elderly couple and raping the young girl, had been released from prison after serving four years as part of a plea deal stemming from a 2009 sexual assault.

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The plea deal for the 2009 incident, arranged by prosecutors who worked under Sullivan, happened because of a clerical error that took place before Sullivan became attorney general. Sullivan was still on active duty in the Marines when the incorrect information was entered into the computer. And when the crimes took place last year, his campaign noted, Sullivan had already moved on to become commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources.

This incident surfaced on a far-right blog ahead of last month’s primary, and the Sullivan campaign had a fact sheet and response ad ready to fire back. A review last year by the Department of Law called the plea deal “inconsistent with the law,” and the Anchorage Daily News called it “a glaring error.” Sullivan’s response ad mentioned the name of the accused killer, and the campaigns shared the ad along with a timeline of events.

Current Attorney General Michael Geraghty, a Republican, said in a statement that Begich’s ad has “no basis in fact.”

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“The State is actively prosecuting the person who has been charged with those crimes,” he said. “Drawing publicity to the case in a political ad, and highlighting the home where a family suffered such a horrific tragedy, is inappropriate and offensive.”

On Sunday, the victims’ family attorney contacted both campaigns and asked them to take down the ads — partly for fear of poisoning the jury pool ahead of Active’s trial.

Sullivan’s campaign quickly announced in a news release that it would take down its ad. But the Begich camp initially said Sunday night that it would modify its ad but not take it down.

On Monday, the family attorney responded by sending the senator a cease-and-desist letter.

“The family directly and without question has told your campaign they want no part of this,” wrote the lawyer, Byron Collins. “You are tearing this family apart to the point that your ad was so shocking to them they now want to permanently leave the state as quickly as possible. Again, to be perfectly clear, it was your ad that shocked them.”

Begich’s campaign said it was complying with the request by removing references to the pending case and thought updating the ad would be enough.

The campaign provided POLITICO a copy of an email it sent at 6:30 a.m. Alaska time on Monday to Anchorage’s NBC affiliate, the largest station in the state, asking that the ad be swapped out for one on a totally different subject. This was before the campaign received the cease-and-desist letter. Its records show that the last time the spot ran on that station was 1 p.m. Monday, and Sullivan’s response ad ran until 6 a.m. local time Tuesday.

“An attorney for the family has acknowledged the campaign’s actions on Sunday evening were in accordance with the pending requests,” Begich spokesman Max Croes said in a statement.

The Begich campaign was adamant that it will keep attacking Sullivan on his tenure as attorney general, though not necessarily in its next ad.

“One case aside, there is a pattern of him as attorney general allowing light sentences to go forward for sex offenders,” Croes said in a Wednesday afternoon phone interview.

The Sullivan campaign defended the candidate’s record as AG.

“He led the effort with Governor [Sean] Parnell to help lower Alaska’s disturbingly high number of sexual assault and domestic violence statistics, spearheading the ‘Choose Respect’ Campaign — a comprehensive statewide effort to stop all violence against women and children that included toughening sentences for sexual assault offenders; expanding law enforcement particularly in rural areas; increasing services and pro bono legal representation for victims and their families; and undertaking a broad-based public campaign to make Alaskans aware of this epidemic,” the campaign said in a release.

The Sullivan campaign stressed that he also mandated as attorney general that, even in plea deals, those charged with sexual assault still register as sex offenders.

The back-and-forth was a front-page story in Alaska’s two biggest newspapers on Wednesday. The Anchorage paper noted in its lead story that both Begich and Sullivan dropped their ads. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner played the story below the fold, leading with Begich pulling his ad down.

Republicans said they will keep hammering Begich until he actually apologizes.

“Begich finally pulled the plug when this began to damage him politically, yet he remains in hiding and refuses to apologize for the pain that he caused or have the courage to explain his exploitation of a family that has suffered enough,” said the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s Brad Dayspring. “This is beyond pure politics, its matter of Mark Begich’s values, character and frankly – decency.”

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee stressed that both campaigns pulled ads down, and Sullivan was the one who actually named the defendant in an open criminal case.

“Sullivan is so desperate not to discuss his failed record that he shamefully named an open criminal case in his response ad and has since been forced to pull the ad off the air,” said DSCC spokesman Justin Barasky. “Even Alaska’s current attorney general had to fix the sentencing rules after Sullivan’s tenure as attorney general to put a stop to plea deals for violent crimes and sexual abuse cases.”

Most Republican statements are likening Begich’s ad to the notorious Willie Horton commercial that George H.W. Bush ran during his 1988 presidential campaign against then-Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis. But Democrats note that the Horton ad was so explosive because it touched on issues of race, which are not at play in this case.