
共和党人在一份报告披露后正寻求追究责任,该报告称前众议员玛丽·佩尔托拉(民主党-阿拉斯加州)的竞选团队招募了“搅局者”候选人参选,以从现任参议员丹·沙利文(共和党-阿拉斯加州)那里分流选票。民主党议员目前尚未纷至沓来为佩尔托拉辩护。自周三新闻曝光以来,许多共和党人呼吁追究法律责任,调查也在不断增加。
Republicans are out for blood following a report that former Rep. Mary Peltola’s (D-Alaska) campaign recruited “spoiler” candidates to run on the ballot and siphon votes away from incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska). Democratic lawmakers, so far, have not come rushing to Peltola’s defense. Many in the GOP have called for legal consequences since the story broke Wednesday, and the probes are mounting.
《纽约时报》周三报道称,佩尔托拉的竞选团队和全国民主党参与了“堆砌选票名单”行动——招募额外候选人上选票,其中包括丹尼尔·J·沙利文,一名退休教师,因与现任参议员同名而受到关注。这些指控出现在大选日前不到一周之际,当时佩尔托拉似乎有望成为民主党翻转一个参议院席位、进而有望夺回多数党地位的最佳希望之一。
The New York Times reported Wednesday that Peltola’s campaign and national Democrats had been involved in “ballot stacking” — recruiting extra candidates for the ballot including Daniel J. Sullivan, a retired schoolteacher who has garnered attention for having the same name as the incumbent senator. The allegations come less than a week before Election Day, as Peltola appears poised to be one of Democrats’ best hopes to flip a Senate seat and, hopefully, the majority.
佩尔托拉的竞选团队和民主党参议院竞选委员会继续否认涉嫌参与该计划。佩尔托拉批评媒体关注此事,而非关注现任参议员丹·沙利文的履历。“这只是另一个干扰。又是一个转移视线的手段。每天都有什么新的、你知道的,‘看这边’的时刻,”佩尔托拉周三在一次竞选活动上说。“任何为你的最大利益工作的人都不会谈论这些废话。这些全是卖报纸的东西。这些全是搞订阅的东西。《纽约时报》没人关心阿拉斯加的负担能力问题。”
Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee have continued to deny any involvement in the alleged scheme. Peltola criticized the media for focusing on the story rather than on the incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan’s record. “This is just another distraction. It’s another diversion. Everyday it’s some new, you know, ‘Look over here’ moment,” Peltola said at a campaign event Wednesday. “Anyone who’s working in your best interest isn’t going to talk about the nonsense. This is all stuff to sell newspapers. This is all stuff to get subscriptions. Nobody at The New York Times cares about affordability in Alaska.”
民主党人总体上基本置身事外。参议院少数党领袖舒默(民主党-纽约州)的一名发言人否认参与任何候选人招募计划,但除此之外未提及这些指控,也未发布任何支持声明。周三在CNN的一次采访中,参议员参议员克里斯·墨菲(民主党-康涅狄格州)将这些指控归咎于一名“心怀不满、被解雇的前竞选工作人员”,并指出选票足够清晰,选民能够看懂,因此关于选举干预的指控毫无根据。
Democrats in general are largely staying out of the fray. A spokesperson for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) denied involvement in any candidate recruitment scheme but did not otherwise mention the allegations or release any statements of support. In a CNN interview Wednesday, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) blamed the allegations on a “disgruntled fired former campaign staffer,” noting the ballot was clear enough for voters and claims of election interference were unwarranted. “I trust what she’s saying, she didn’t have anything to do with it,” Murphy said of Peltola.
墨菲谈到佩尔托拉时说:“我相信她的说法,她与此事无关。所以我不会参与这些假设性的讨论。我只想说,唐纳德·特朗普总统正在寻找借口,试图窃取这场大选。” 参议员安迪·金(民主党-新泽西州)周三在社交媒体发文支持佩尔托拉,但未提及这场争议。金写道:“我曾在众议院与玛丽·佩尔托拉共事,我知道她多么在意为阿拉斯加家庭而战。她关心的是渔业、家庭和自由,将致力于恢复阿拉斯加渔业,降低汽油、食品杂货、住房和托儿成本,并修复华盛顿被操纵的体制。她在无党派初选中获得的选票多于对手,她能在11月赢得大选。”
“So I’m not gonna engage in these hypotheticals. All I will say is that [President] Donald Trump is looking for a pretext to try to steal this election.”Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) posted in support of Peltola on Wednesday but did not mention the controversy. “I served with Mary Peltola in the House, and I know how much she cares about fighting for Alaskan families,” Kim wrote on social media Wednesday. “She’s all about fish, family, and freedom and will work to restore Alaska’s fisheries, lower the cost of gas, groceries, housing, and childcare, and fix a rigged system in Washington. She got more votes than her opponent in the non-partisan primary, and she can win this in November.”
但除此之外,民主党人几乎没有发声为佩尔托拉辩护;如果她下周被认证为胜选者,她在参议院可能面临与共和党人激烈的席位争夺战。相比之下,9月《纽约时报》另一篇报道指控她虐待并辱骂工作人员时,民主党人对佩尔托拉的支持声更响亮。共和党希望对佩尔托拉的新审视能在及时削弱她的民调优势,从而挽救现任参议员丹·沙利文的连任前景。
But otherwise, there has been little noise from Democrats defending Peltola, who could face a potentially bruising floor fight with Republicans in the upper chamber if she is certified as the winner next week. In contrast, Democrats were more vocal about backing Peltola in September when another New York Times story alleged she had mistreated and verbally berated staffers. Republicans are hoping the new scrutiny on Peltola dents her polling advantage in time to save the incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan.
但他们并未坐以待毙,调查正在升级。共和党人几个月来一直声称民主党参与招募了另一位沙利文,新指控给了他们新的弹药。阿拉斯加州长迈克·邓利维(共和党)已启动调查。州长周三在社交媒体写道:“阿拉斯加人有基本权利投票给他们真正想支持的候选人。”
But they are not waiting around, and the probes are mounting. Republicans have been claiming for months that Democrats were involved in recruiting the other Sullivan and the new allegations have given them fresh ammo. Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, has already launched an investigation. “Alaskans have a fundamental right to vote for the candidate they actually intend to support,” the governor wrote on social media Wednesday.
“故意欺骗选民将选票投给他人,这损害了我们选举的公正性。任何被发现违法的个人或组织都必须承担责任。” 众议院监督委员会的共和党人也在寻求进一步调查。该委员会主席、众议员詹姆斯·科默(共和党-肯塔基州)周四在一份新闻稿中表示,他已传唤《纽约时报》报道中提到的两名民主党操盘手出席作证。科默说:“民主党是欺诈之党。明知在议题上无法获胜,民主党密谋通过故意混淆选民来操纵阿拉斯加联邦参议员选举。这是当今民主党更广泛不当行为模式的一部分。”
“Deliberately tricking voters into casting their ballots for someone else strikes at the integrity of our elections. Anyone or any organization found to have broken the law must be held accountable.”Republicans on the House Oversight Committee are also looking to probe further. Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who chairs the committee, said in a press release Thursday that he has summoned two Democratic operatives named in the Times report to testify. “Democrats are the party of fraud,” Comer said. “Knowing they can’t win on the issues, Democrats schemed to rig the U.S. Senate election in Alaska by deliberately confusing voters. This is part of a broader pattern of misconduct by today’s Democrat Party.”
众议院监督委员会首席民主党议员、众议员罗伯特·加西亚(民主党-加利福尼亚州)周四在接受CNN采访时回应科默称,“应该进行调查”,但应由州政府负责,而非国会。加西亚说:“我认为阿拉斯加州应该履行其职责。每当出现任何类型问题的指控时,都应在州一级进行调查。” 加西亚补充说,他认为佩尔托拉会获胜,任何调查都不太可能影响这场竞选。
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, responded to Comer in a CNN interview Thursday, saying there “should be an investigation,” but that the state should be in charge, not Congress. “I think the state of Alaska should do its job,” Garcia said. “They should investigate any time there is accusations of any kind of issue, those should be done at the state level.”Garcia added he thought Peltola would win and that any investigation was not likely to impact the race.
参议员蒂姆·斯科特(共和党-南卡罗来纳州)领导国家共和党参议员委员会,他在周四上午表示,司法部(DOJ)应调查佩尔托拉,称“堆叠候选人”行为“属于刑事犯罪”。斯科特对NewsNation(《国会山报》的广播合作伙伴)表示:“毫无疑问,玛丽·佩尔托拉至少她的竞选团队和民主党机构,他们涉及串通。他们一直在协同合作,通过协调一致的努力来欺骗选民。”
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who leads the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said Thursday morning that the Department of Justice (DOJ) should investigate Peltola, calling the ballot stacking “a criminal offense.”“There’s no doubt that Mary Peltola has been, at least her campaign and the Democrat apparatus, they are involved in collusion,” Scott told NewsNation, The Hill’s broadcast partner. “They’ve been colluding together in a coordinated effort to deceive the voters.”
斯科特补充道:“我希望司法部花费一切必要时间来起诉并调查这一情况。” 据ABC新闻报道,司法部周四发出了一波传票,针对据信参与招募丹尼尔·J·沙利文的民主党官员。
“I hope that the DOJ takes all the time necessary to prosecute and investigate this situation,” Scott added. The DOJ on Thursday issued a wave of subpoenas targeting Democratic officials believed to be involved with recruiting Daniel J. Sullivan, according to ABC News.
最新调查是在司法部(DOJ)已提起的一项诉讼之上展开的,该诉讼是在特朗普指示下提起的,旨在阻止该州认证选举结果,前提是参议员丹·沙利文(Dan Sullivan)落选。选票堆叠并非罕见做法,历史上两党都有此类例子。根据州法律,这也不违法。许多选民已经投票或已对自己的选择做出决定。阿拉斯加公共媒体(Alaska Public Media)周三采访的几位选民表示,即使这些指控让他们感到“气氛糟糕”和“有点搞砸了”,报道也未改变他们的观点或投票决定。
The latest investigations come on top of a lawsuit already filed by the DOJ, at Trump’s direction, to block the state from certifying the election if Sen. Dan Sullivan loses. Ballot stacking is not an uncommon practice, and there are examples from both parties throughout history. It is also not illegal according to state law. And many voters have already voted or made up their minds about their choice. Several surveyed by Alaska Public Media on Wednesday said the reporting did not change their views or their vote, even if the allegations struck them as “icky vibes” and “kind of messed up.”
两党人士都批评了政府的诉讼,包括由共和党主导的州立法机构。一些民主党人当时公开支持佩尔托拉(Peltola),自由派团体支持介入该案,希望使其被驳回。但一些曾反对该诉讼的温和派人士也抨击了这种政治操纵。共和党阿拉斯加州参议员丽莎·默科夫斯基(Lisa Murkowski)表示,选民“应当从佩尔托拉及其竞选团队那里得到诚实的真相”。
People on both sides of the aisle criticized the administration’s lawsuit, including the Republican-led state legislature. Some Democrats were vocal in standing by Peltola in that instance, and liberal groups supported a move to intervene in that case, hoping to get it dismissed. But some of the same moderates who pushed back on the lawsuit slammed the political maneuvering. Fellow GOP Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski said voters “deserve the honest truth” from Peltola and the campaign.
默科夫斯基过去曾支持佩尔托拉——尽管她在这场竞选中支持参议员丹·沙利文——并且最近支持了一位民主党州长候选人。她也批评了之前旨在阻止选举结果的司法部诉讼。周三,默科夫斯基在她长期沉默的社交媒体竞选账号上发布了一条批评帖子。“虽然有些人可能会将此视为当今政治的常态,但选票堆叠不应出现在我们的选举进程中,”默科夫斯基说。
Murkowski supported Peltola in the past — though she is backing Sen. Dan Sullivan in this race— and recently endorsed a Democrat for governor. She has also criticized the earlier DOJ lawsuit to block the results. Murkowski on Wednesday took to her long-quiet campaign account on social media with a critical post. “While some may try to write this off as just how politics works now, ballot-stacking should have no place in our electoral process,” Murkowski said.
“凭你的优势参选并获胜:你的观点、你的政策理念和你的成就。相比之下,招募候选人来操纵选举局面并影响投票结果,简直是错误的。”“阿拉斯加人应当从玛丽及其竞选团队那里得到诚实的真相——所揭露的是一连串谎言和掩盖,以及一种欺骗文化,这绝不应出现在我们的选举中,也不应出现在我们的当选官员中间,”默科夫斯基补充道。
“Run and win on your merits: your views, your policy ideas, and your accomplishments. By contrast, recruiting candidates to manipulate the field and influence voting outcomes is simply wrong. “Alaskans deserve the honest truth from Mary and her campaign—what has been revealed is a pattern of lies and coverups and a culture of deception that belongs nowhere in our elections or among our elected officials,” Murkowski added.