newsminer.com

FAIRBANKS — The state Libertarian party is considering replacing candidate David Haase’s name on the November ballot in the U.S. Senate race with Republican David Cuddy.

Haase sent a letter to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner on Tuesday blasting the leadership of the Libertarian party and apologizing to Republican incumbent Ted Stevens.

“When I agreed to run for the U.S. Senate, I thought I was doing the right thing for the right reasons,” Haase wrote. “A three-way debate is a good thing when it is an honest debate, but what is about to happen is a fraud. I want no part in it, but I do not know how to stop it.”

Harley Brown, the party’s vice chairman, said the party’s eight-member board discussed the possibility of replacing Haase, but had not reached a decision as of Tuesday afternoon.

Brown said the board was concerned Haase wouldn’t be able to attract the 3 percent of the vote necessary to keep the Libertarian party on the statewide ballot next year.

Cuddy received 27 percent of the Republican primary vote last week against Stevens.

Brown said he doesn’t like the idea of switching candidates in the middle of the campaign, but couldn’t speak for the rest of the party leadership.

“Personally, I don’t like to turn my back on someone,” he said. “Right now, our decision is Haase, and I’m fine with that.”

The deadline for making changes to the general election ballot is Sept. 17.

Brown said the issue had been discussed a few times at party meetings, but he had hoped members would lose interest in it.

“Now we have to do something because obviously it’s gotten to him,” Brown said. “We’ll have to sit down with Haase and Cuddy and resolve this.”

Haase said he first heard that the party was considering replacing him in mid-August at the candidate forum put on by the Greater Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce, but he shrugged it off.

Then last Wednesday, Haase said he was told of the plan at a party meeting in Fairbanks attended by about a half-dozen members.

“I’ve been flat told,” he said.

Cuddy acknowledged being approached by several members of the party leadership prior to the primary election about the possibility of replacing Haase, but said he hadn’t given the idea much thought.

“I know the Libertarians like me, we have a lot in common, but I haven’t had the conversation,” he said.

Cuddy said it was “unlikely” he would accept such an offer from the party.

“I’ve just been through an election. It cost a lot of money and a lot of time. I’m not looking to do something else right now,” Cuddy said.

The Anchorage developer, however, is watching to see whether Stevens, who has been indicted for failing to disclose $250,000 in gifts and home remodeling work from former VECO chief executive Bill Allen, withdraws from the race. He said if that happens he would expect to be asked to fill the empty spot on the GOP ticket in November.

“I put a lot of energy into this race and I would like to be a U.S. Senator, but I think the best path would be to run as a Republican,” Cuddy said.

Cuddy spent about $700,000 on the primary, including $650,000 of his own money.

Cuddy said he suspects Libertarians are trying to make sure there’s a conservative choice come November.

“If things go badly in the trial and Stevens is getting beat up in the general, it’s important that voters have a choice on the ballot,” he said.

Stevens recently said he has no “plan B” and plans on wining both his trail and the election.

Stevens’ trial starts Sept. 22 in Washington, D.C., federal District Court. The trial is expected to last about five weeks.

Haase considers his attempted ouster part of an effort to aid Democrats in unseating Stevens, who’s represented Alaska in the Senate for nearly 40 years.

“I am an unknowing accomplice in a conspiracy to rig the election in favor of Mark Begich,” he wrote. “A straw man, that’s what I am and I am so ashamed of myself.”

In his letter, Haase asked Alaskans to forgive him.

“I know Sen. Ted Stevens will forgive me for that is the kind of man he is, but the people of Alaska would be just to send me packing tarred and feathered,” Haase wrote.

A spokesman for the Stevens campaign had no comment.

Julie Hasquet, Begich campaign spokeswoman, said there was not “one shred of truth” to the accusation that there’s been coordination between the campaign and the Libertarian party.

“That is absolutely ridiculous,” she said. “The Begich campaign has had absolutely nothing to do with any such scenario.”

Haase said he thought the attempt to replace candidates after the primary would harm efforts to build the party base.

“If they truly want to build a Libertarian Party you have to do it from the bottom up, you can’t go steal someone else’s second-comer,” he said.

The party provided no financial assistance in the primary and refused to give him the party’s mailing list or put him on their Web site, Haase said. He said he spent about $500 of his own money on the campaign.

“The Lord provides what’s needed,” he said.