Alaska Senator Threatens Department of the Interior With Budget Cuts

if Interior Secretary Sally Jewell doesn't allow oil exploration and development in Alaska.

Alaska leaders continued to pressure U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell at a rare event in Northwest Alaska on Tuesday, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski saying that reducing the budget of the Interior Department is just one of the tools she has to control the agency.

Murkowski said she is afraid Obama wants to see the trans-Alaska pipeline shut down completely, and that he’ll eventually use the Antiquities Act to single-handedly declare the oil-rich coastal plain of the refuge a monument before he leaves office.

Hit 'em in the pocketbook: perhaps the single greatest threat to a politician/political appointee that can be levied. 

I've not been in Murkowski's corner very often, as she's frequently too liberal for my taste. But she's right on the money, this time. Alaska's State constitution makes the natural resources of the State the property of Alaska residents (an "owner state", if you will).

This amounts to the fedgov telling individuals that they're not allowed to use or develop their own property, which most Alaskans take as a personal threat, and an offense. 

But, as always, the proof is in the pudding, so we'll see what happens when Ms. Jewell gets back to the security blanket of D.C., some 4,000 miles away.

AK Supreme Court Dismisses Miller's Claims

In a copyright story at the Daily News' website:

JUNEAU, Alaska – The Alaska Supreme Court delivered another stinging setback to Republican Joe Miller, refusing to overturn election results that favored his GOP rival, Lisa Murkowski, in the state's U.S. Senate race.

The high court on Wednesday upheld a lower court's ruling dismissing Miller's claims of impropriety in the state's handling of the election and ballots for Murkowski, who waged a longshot write-in campaign after losing her primary to Miller. It found "no remaining issues raised by Miller that prevent this election from being certified."

Sen. Begich (D-AK) to Joe Miller: You're "Certain to Fail"

From today's Daily News website:

Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, on Monday called on Republican Joe Miller to drop his legal challenge to the Senate election, saying a drawn-out court suit is "certain to fail." Begich also said he's concerned Miller's continued legal challenge could deny Alaska full representation in the U.S. Senate when the new Congress resumes in January.

...

Begich, though, said it's time for Miller "to put Alaska interests ahead of personal ambition and allow the State of Alaska to certify Lisa Murkowski as the winner."

"Failure to certify the election could prevent Senator Murkowski from being sworn into office in early January when other new senators officially take office," Begich said.

 

I'm so impressed by the Democratic senator fighting for the Republican senator, in such a, ahem, display of bi-partisanship. And assuming that the judge says she won. She probably did .. but then, why the full-court press to discourage the Republican nominee from pursuing his goal?

 

You probably already know the answer to that question.

Read the rest by clicking on the link.

Judge Moves Miller Lawsuit to Juneau

From the Anchorage Daily News website:

JUNEAU -- A state court judge has moved a lawsuit over Alaska's still-disputed U.S. Senate race from Fairbanks to the state capital, Juneau.

Judge Douglas Blankenship said the case brought by Republican nominee Joe Miller raises statewide issues and that he believes it's inconvenient for the state to be involved in a case in Fairbanks, about 620 miles from Juneau.

He said it may be necessary for a recount or for disputed ballots to be inspected and that he did not want to do anything that might "further risk the integrity of the election" -- like moving the ballots from Juneau to Fairbanks.

Blankenship told attorneys a status hearing would be held Wednesday.

He did not rule on whether Sen. Lisa Murkowski could intervene in the case, saying he'd leave that to the next judge.

Read the rest at the link.

Another Day; Election Dispute Continues

Our friends at AccuHunch assured us it would be bitterly cold overnight, with the east side of town - along the mountains - going well below zero.

Just before sunrise this morning, about 9:00 a.m.

It's 17 degrees, or about 1 degree colder than yesterday. We're not impressed.

Regarding the Miller vs. Murkowski issue, it's all over but the shouting ... or so it seems. Lisa appears to have a significant lead exclusive of the challenged ballots. Of course, it's not over until the lawyers decide it is. Sigh. The consensus around the coffee pot this a.m. is that Joe should step aside. We know he doesn't want to ... and the final tally* appears to be 92,715 for Murkowski vs. 90,468 for Miller. Close, but no cigar.

However (you just knew there was going to be a "however", didn't you?), the Miller campaign - backed by the Republican National Committee - is now insisting that the Miller votes should be hand-counted, just as hers were. The Election Commissioner says standard procedure includes re-scanning many of the ballots in any recount. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Let's get it over with.




* Again, that's not counting the over 8,200± challenged write-in votes.

Ugly Politics in the Last Frontier

The race for the U.S. Senate in Alaska is getting uglier.

New ads are appearing which make further allegations of wrong-doing on Joe Miller's part ... or rather, they hint that he might have done something wrong, without coming right out and saying so. One such ad has been running for the last week or so, claiming that when he & his family first moved to Alaska, they applied for (GASP) a low-income hunting permit.

I'm here to tell you that it takes a metric boatload of money to move a family & household up here. We arrived with only our clothes and two cars, and had to start over. Literally, from scratch. Although my wife was blessed with a good job after only one week, I bounced around for a year, from one barely-sufficient job to another, before landing a decent income.

So his income was low when he first arrived? Sorry, Murkowski-ites, but that's normal.

The newest ad claims that his wife worked for him several years ago. Omigosh, it can't be nepotism*, can it? (/sarcastic whisper) The ad doesn't exactly SAY it was nepotism, you see; it hints that it might have been.

Typical.

He was a part-time federal magistrate from 2002 - 2004. It's entirely likely that his budget didn't allow for a full-time staff.

The latest move is literally from the 2008 Obama/Democrat playbook. You'll recall that Missouri Democrats formed a hit squad of sorts, purportedly to go after any local TV or newspapers which supported McCain/Palin. The Governor of that state had to step in & slap a few local pols into place, to make it stop.

Now, the Murkowski campaign (she's running now as an independent, write-in candidate) is accusing the Tea Party Express of running ads "littered with lies and mischaracterizations."

The 2008 tie-in?  I quote: "They're demanding that the ads not be aired and have sent a letter to Alaska broadcast stations reminding them that they will be liable for knowingly running false information."

Murkowski, who claimed to be a conservative during the last 2 weeks of the primary campaign, then toyed with the idea of running as a Libertarian. When the Alaska Libertarian Party stated clearly that they wouldn't make room for her on their ticket - AND that she does not share their values - she stated that she is a moderate, and wouldn't change her views just for a chance to get party backing.

Right. So now her campaign muscles up, and in true Chicago-esque manner, leans on local news outlets with thinly-veiled threats.

Sorry, Princess; you'd be my second choice.  My first, you ask?

Whomever else is running ... and in this case, the Constitutionalist.


* As Jenny points out in comments, this charge of nepotism, coming from the camp of a Senator who was appointed to her father's Senate seat by her father, is ironic, no? Yes, she won reelection in 2004 - but let's not forget how she got there in the first place.

Joe Miller Opens Big Lead over McAdams, Murkowski

Tea Party Express-backed Joe Miller, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, has opened a fairly wide lead over his opponents: Scott McAdams (D) of Sitka, and Lisa Murkowski (Sore Loser-AK).  As expected, Murkowski is splitting the "moderate Democrat" and "moderate independent" votes with McAdams, leaving the conservatives firmly behind Miller.

A new Rasmussen Reports poll shows Alaska Republican Senate nominee Joe Miller with a surprisingly comfortable lead over incumbent and write-in candidate Lisa Murkowski.

In the poll, Miller had the support of 42 percent of Alaska voters, while Murkowski was just slightly ahead of Democratic nominee Scott McAdams with 27 percent. McAdams finished in third place with 25 percent.

From Rasmussen:

 

h/t Real Clear Politics

The Campaigns That Just Won't Die

This just sucks.

Lisa Murkowski supporters are urging people to come out tonight for what’s being called a “campaign kick off,” although her campaign manager isn’t ready to say that she’s decided to run.

Bonnie Jack, who was a Murkowski campaign elections observer for the count of absentee votes, sent out an email this morning. “Join us at the Kick-off of Senator Lisa's campaign -- with a theme of "write in her name in and fill in the oval."

"Sore loser" just doesn't quite cover it.

In a similar vein, Bill Walker - an "R" gubernatorial candidate who placed a distant second to the incumbent Sean Parnell - refuses to rule out a write-in campaign.

This is not good.

Alaska Libertarians Say NO to Murkowski

From the Anchorage Daily News website, this excerpt:

From Sean Cockerham in Anchorage --

The Alaska Libertarian Party will not consider allowing Lisa Murkowski on its ticket for the U.S. Senate race, party chairman Scott Kohlhaas told me this morning. Kohlhaas said Murkowski's positions do not reflect the values of the Libertarian Party.

The five-member executive committee of the party had an emergency meeting yesterday to discuss it and came to a unanimous decision.

Kohlhaas said Murkowski or her campaign staffers never approached the party about running as a Libertarian but that there'd been so much speculation that party officials decided to act.

"Let's put this to rest; it's not happening," Kohlhaas said.

So much for that. A PPP poll released yesterday indicated that Miller would edge past Murkowski in a three-way race, anyway.

Hijinks in the Absentee Ballot Count?

Maybe; accusations are starting to fly.

There were more allegations by the Joe Miller campaign of ballot-counting monkey business on Saturday as the absentees continue to pour into the Alaska Division of Elections. State elections officials now say there are 23,472 ballots to process, with more coming, and the first count set for Tuesday ... Miller campaign spokesman Randy DeSoto said in an e-mail Saturday that there are many calls going out to Alaskans who voted absentee ballots, asking them who they voted for in the primary.

DeSoto said his basis for making that assertion is that a woman contacted the Miller campaign about getting a call, that such a call was brought up in the comment section of a story on the Daily News website, and that several people had called an Anchorage talk radio show to say they've received such calls.

~ snip ~

Several people called the Dan Fagan talk radio show in Anchorage on Friday to say they voted absentee and have received calls asking who they voted for. One man, who was identified as Brian, said the caller identified themselves as being from the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. Another, Arnie, could not recall the full name but said that it included the words "Republican National." Another, Ryan, said the caller identified themselves as from the "something information group." Fagan, who asserted on his show he had sources confirming this was being done as an effort to challenge absentee ballots for Miller, on Saturday evening did not immediately return a cell message and an e-mail.

Remember, this isn't R vs. D: it's entrenched bureaucrat vs. Tea Party candidate of the same party. The fun's just starting, and the official count doesn't begin until Tuesday.

Alaska Primary: U.S. Senate - UPDATED

I know the national media is talking about this, but here's what they're NOT saying: with 98% of precincts reporting, Tea Party-backed Joe Miller is leading the incumbent Lisa Murkowski by less than 2,000 votes. Disputed & absentee ballots have not yet been counted.

As you might imagine, it takes some time to get the ballots from all the remote Bush villages, over 90% of which are accessible only by air. It ain't over yet; stay tuned.

UPDATE #1: Per the Daily News,

The final results of the race won't be known for over a week. The Alaska Division of Elections said over 16,000 absentee ballots were requested and as of Monday night 7,600 had been returned. The first count of absentees will be next Tuesday and there will be two subsequent counts as the absentee votes trickle in on Sept. 3 and on Sept. 8.

UPDATE #2:

Lisa Murkowski said this morning that she was surprised Joe Miller is leading but that she’s optimistic the count of absentee votes will turn it around.

“It ain’t over yet folks. There are thousands of absentees that are yet to come in,” Murkowski said this morning at her campaign headquarters in Anchorage.

I Hadn't Heard This

"You may be interested to know that I supported an amendment to the HELP Committee health care bill which would require Members of Congress and their staff to enroll in any new federally-run government plan. The amendment passed the HELP Committee by a vote of 12 to 11, and I will continue to support this requirement if the Senate again considers a government option.

Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)"


I didn't know they had passed the amendment; I give them credit for doing the right thing ... even though they may not ever mention it again.