More on the bogus Republican claims about imported paid protesters

The president of the school board and the city mayor complained at length on KFAR Monday about my blog post headlined “Alaska Republicans invent lie that 200 Fairbanks protesters were imported actors.”

In the process, School Board President Melissa Burnett and Mayor David Pruhs misrepresented the contents of that blog post. Now I admit the headline could have been toned down, but nothing in that blog post was inaccurate.

Burnett later wrote me that “if there was a lie invented it came from 1 or 2 people. Not from all the Republicans.” Correct, it was not from all Republicans.

One of the people it came from was Suzanne Downing, who serves as the propaganda division of the Alaska Republican Party—for all Republicans except Sen. Lisa Murkowski and a dozen legislators. Downing wrote and published the piece.

What I also said in my blog was that Assembly Member Barbara Haney promoted Downing’s lie about so-called “tourists” pretending to be protesters.

Burnett claimed that since Haney did not attend the protest, she had nothing to do with promoting the paid protesters fantasy. She said I lied. I did not.

"There's an article going around talking about 'Alaskan Republicans invent lie that 200 Fairbanks protesters were imported actors' and there are people out there saying that this came directly from Barbara Haney," Burnett said.

“Barbara wasn't even there. Barbara was out at the Spring Fling at Chena Lakes, hanging out there,” Burnett said, adding “she had no idea this protest was going on.”

"When does it stop because she wasn't even there and now you're putting words into her mouth. And if there's one thing I hate, it's when people put words into your mouth that weren't there to begin with. Don't lie about people,” Burnett said.

As to what I actually wrote about Haney, it was that she was spreading the lie that the protesters were imported actors. She did this on her Facebook page, quoting Downing as if her every word was true.

Haney called into KFAR Monday and spoke to Pruhs and Burnett on the air. She launched into a spiel linking Sen. Bernie Sanders to the Fairbanks protest and suggesting Outside control.

The protest organizers said they have signed up with the national 50501 group, but that it is no more than an umbrella to organize under. They haven’t gotten any money or any Outside help.

And there were no paid protesters shipped to Fairbanks for the event and disguised as Alaskans.

Pruhs tried to wrap things up and allow Haney to say she had nothing to do with promoting Downing’s lie: "You weren't there, you didn't say anything about these are imports or whatever," he said.

Haney, however, was not ready for closure. She said that while she wasn’t at the protest, she believed that the people she saw on videos later looked like tourists, not local protesters.

"The videos that my friends sent me it's like, 'oh, it looks like a tour group,'" she told Pruhs and Burnett. She was reluctant to accept it as a local protest.

"I look at the graphics, it's sponsored by 5051. (sic) That's Bernie Sanders. That's his organization. So that's not exactly local to Fairbanks you know, but whatever," she said.

"It's more deep, deep dark money coming in, simple as that," said Pruhs.

It’s not deep dark money at all.

Haney posts on X, formerly Twitter, under the name Steamboat Landing@SL147DW, where she has been candid about promoting the bogus imported protesters story.

"Walked like a tour group, behaved like a tour group, nobody recognized them—even among the regular lefties. Totally astroturf—paid for by the 50501 fund. Protest tourism seems to be a new industry. We will see if there was an uptick in bed tax revenue," Steamboat Landing wrote.

Spoiler alert: There will not be an uptick in bed tax revenue from imaginary people.

After I posted the video by Eric Muehling of the protest, the Steamboat Landing account repeated the claim that the protesters were not from Fairbanks. "Looks like a tour bus and a half—protest tourism brought to you by the 505021 fund."

In response to a post from Suzanne Downing that "these protesters are starting to look like imports," Haney/Steamboat said, "Paid for by the 50501 fund—‚the Bernie Bros."

On Saturday, Haney/Steamboat linked to Downing’s piece and added this:  "The Fairbanks 50501 AntiTrump protest seemed more like a tour group than a local protest. They arrived, met at City Hall, Marched to Goldenheart Plaza and broke up after a few speeches."

On Sunday, Steamboat Landing said, "The 50501 fund is a Bernie bro pac. Last I checked he is a senator from Vermont, touring the country with AOC. Totally Astroturf. The paid for on the graphic is 50501. Decidedly not Alaskan. Neither is your planned protest for April 5—Hands Off 2025—which lacks a 'paid for' on the graphic."

There is no rule that I have ever heard of for a “paid for by” disclosure, as this is not an election campaign.

ONE MORE THING: Pruhs went on at great length with a false claim that the Noel Wien Library failed to follow borough rules when it allowed the empty-chair town hall with Sen. Dan Sullivan in the auditorium last week. He claimed that someone should be held accountable.

Pruhs complained about renting a public space to people who wanted to “try and publicly humiliate a U.S. senator.”

“The total intent was to publicly humilate an elected person, a U.S. senator. Now, whose idea was it? Who asked for permission? Who gave permission? How much time did they give you?”

Perhaps the mayor should read the rules. The rooms are open for public meetings, under a clear borough policy that allows freedom of speech.

We don’t need the city mayor or any politician dictating what opinions are allowed to be discussed in public facilities.

Your contributions help support independent analysis and political commentary by Alaska reporter and author Dermot Cole. Thank you for reading and for your support. Either click here to use PayPal or send checks to: Dermot Cole, Box 10673, Fairbanks, AK 99710-0673