In an Attack Ad, an Alaskan Voter Is Really an Actress From Maryland

WASHINGTON - In a tough new advertisement from the Koch brothers-backed Americans for Prosperity, an unnamed woman looks directly into the camera and upbraids Senator Mark Begich, Democrat of Alaska.

“Senator Begich didn’t listen. How can I ever trust him again?” she asks in criticizing Senator Begich’s support for President Obama’s health care law. “It just isn’t fair. Alaska deserves better.”

But there is a slight problem with the commercial. The woman is not from Alaska. She is actually an actress who lives in Maryland. And to some, the elegant kitchen she is standing in, done in French country style with granite countertops, might seem out of place somewhere as rugged and frontierlike as Alaska.

The commercial, which was scheduled to start running on Wednesday, never explicitly claims that the woman is a real Alaskan voter. And actresses are used routinely in political commercials. But as far as Mr. Begich is concerned, it is an illegitimate attack from outsiders who have no business getting involved in Alaska politics.

“Today’s misleading ad from the Koch brothers is just more evidence that even billions of dollars can’t buy integrity,” said Rachel Barinbaum, a spokeswoman for Mr. Begich.

Aides to Mr. Begich, who is up for re-election next year and is expected to face a tough fight in a state where Mr. Obama lost handily in 2012, also took issue with the commercial’s claims, which attempt to tie the senator to the problems that millions of people are having in keeping their current health plans.

In a sign of how politically perilous the health care law’s problematic implementation has been, Mr. Begich’s office put out a fact sheet highlighting his support for a Senate plan that would allow people to maintain their current insurance through 2015. It also points to his impatience with the president’s claims that the problems are being addressed.

As for the actress, a woman named Connie Bowman who does voice-overs, commercials and print ads, she said she was just doing her job. “I’m just an actress,” she said Wednesday when reached by phone.