Reply #23: Oh, he's really horrible, you have no idea. [View All]

[Blue_In_AK]

There was some question about the senatorial election last year (Knowles/L. Murkowski). They were basically tied right up until the end, with Tony Knowles (Dem) having a slight lead, but there was a huge push at the end for Lisa from national republican types, saying that a vote for Tony would doom ANWR. (Even though Tony, being an astute Alaskan politician, supported drilling -- you have to assume you're going to lose here if you don't). Also that Ted Stevens would lose his leadership position if there was a Democratic majority - I forget which chairmanship it was - even though because of term limits or something he had to give it up this year anyway. They didn't mention that part.

Anyway, there was enough of a question about the result of the election that we got the money together for a recount (thanks to help from DU), but Lisa ended up "winning" it by about 3%. We do have paper ballots here, so everything appeared to be on the up-and-up, but it's hard to say. I really don't have much faith in our elections at this point. Tony Knowles was a popular Anchorage mayor for two terms, a popular state governor for two terms, and I believe he should have won. Lisa Murkowski was merely a fairly inexperienced state representative when her dad appointed her to his senate seat when he left to run for governor in 2000. That action created a huge uproar here, and the people voted last year (in the same general election that Lisa "won") to hold special elections to fill vacant congressional seats rather than have appointments. It seemed odd to me that people would be so against her appointment and still elect her.

As for Frank, I know of him from way back in the '80s when he was the head of Alaska National Bank of the North. As a paralegal, I worked on a lawsuit against him and his bank for bilking a native corporation of millions of dollars in questionable investments. The bank ended up with a $10 million judgment against it and folded. Frank went on to become a 20-year, ineffective senator, based on what, I have no idea. As governor, not only he, but various members of his administration, have had numerous ethics challenges -- including the head state republican committee guy, Randy Ruedrich, and Frank's attorney general, who had conflict-of-interest issues and had to resign.

Alaska's politics are almost as much fun as Texas.

This may be more than you wanted to know, but there you have it.