Sen. Dan Sullivan, during his speech to the Legislature, exaggerated his role in the passage of the Social Security Fairness Act and didn’t mention that he opposed the bill until it was clear that the measure would be approved by the full Senate.

There’s no need for confusion on this point and no justification for Sullivan’s attempt to erase his record as he heads into his 2026 reelection campaign.

The Alaska Legislature unanimously approved a resolution supporting the Social Security reform plan last March, calling for an end to the federal provision that unfairly penalized many Alaska employees by cutting Social Security benefits they earned.

At the time, as sponsor Rep. Alyse Galvin explained, about half of the U.S. Senate, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski, were on the record supporting the bill. That number climbed in the months that followed, but Sullivan never joined the group.

The Senate approved the bill 76-20 on December 21 at 12:04 a.m.

A week before the Senate vote, Sullivan had his PR person, former journalist Amanda Coyne, tell the Anchorage Daily News that he didn’t like the bill, but he refused to answer questions.

“Questions about Sullivan’s position on the bill went unanswered. Spokesperson Amanda Coyne instead shared a statement prepared last month, indicating Sullivan favored a more tailored response from the Social Security Administration ‘to find an Alaska solution for Alaskan public servants,’” the Anchorage Daily News reported on December 17.

Coyne wrote that Sullivan had “long fought to eliminate the reduction in Social Security Benefits for Alaska workers who qualify for retirement benefits for certain programs, such as Alaska’s PERS and TRS.”

He wanted a bill aimed at Alaska, a bill that would never stand a chance of passing the Senate.

Sullivan’s office was still sending out muddled form letters to Alaskans in December, warning that approval of the Social Security Fairness Act would mean the system would go bankrupt six months sooner than under the status quo. That was the main argument against the bill in the Senate.

After the bill passed, however, Sullivan became a born-again champion. His rendition of events to the Alaska Legislature came off like a victory lap, with him saying he had his doubts, but the bill was the right thing to do.

He told legislators that “I didn’t think a national fix was gonna be possible. But it was. This was a great example of the state and federal legislators working together.”

“So you came to me last year, thank you again Alyse, coming together as one voice, unanimously, and asked me to support the Social Security Fairness Act. And we did and that passed and that is the power of speaking together as Alaskans on a big issue with one voice,” Sullivan said. “So thank you very much for that.”

He should have said that while Murkowski pushed the bill, he didn’t support it.

And he should have admitted that Alaska’s federal legislators were not speaking with one voice and that he had opposed the bill until December 21, 2024.

The tone of the form letter that Sullivan sent to Alaskans after the bill was approved mentioned that he had heard from more than 1,500 Alaskans.

After the vote, Sullivan said he decided to favor the bill because of a reason that he never mentioned in his earlier form letter to Alaskans.

“In a written statement, U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan said he voted for the bill because the Alaska Legislature passed a unanimous resolution earlier this year supporting the federal legislation,” the ADN reported.

He did not repeat the statement in his form letter that the bill “would result in these funds reaching exhaustion roughly half a year earlier than current estimates.”

In a newsletter sent to all Alaskans at government expense, Sullivan said, “In December, we finally passed this important bill into law to fix the problem,” never mentioning his refusal to support it until the end.

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Sullivan tries to erase his opposition to Social Security Fairness Act