county news online
Politico...
Lisa Murkowski shows independent streak
By Manu Raju & Darren Goode
5/27/11

Dangling on Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s left arm is a gold-plated reminder of why she’s continuing to ride her independent streak five months into the congressional session.

“I still wear my write-in wristband,” the Alaska Republican said after voting this week to reject the House GOP budget plan. “It used to be plastic, but my husband turned it into gold.”

After her stunning reelection victory last fall as a write-in candidate and departure from the GOP party leadership, Murkowski has irked conservatives on a series of key message votes this year. Her newfound independence puts her in the cross hairs of this summer’s battles over raising the national debt ceiling and next year’s budget.

Knowing she holds a valuable vote, Republican leaders are giving Murkowski space but watching her closely — unsure whether she will eventually side with Democrats when the major fights come to a head.

In recent weeks, Murkowski was the lone Republican to oppose a GOP filibuster, targeting President Barack Obama’s most controversial judicial nominee, Goodwin Liu, for an appellate court seat — and was among a handful of Republican defectors who helped break a filibuster on Rhode Island attorney Jack McConnell’s nomination for a seat on a district court. She also opposed Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget plan and a Republican measure to cut funding for Planned Parenthood.

It’s a continuation of a path she blazed soon after she beat Republican nominee Joe Miller as a write-in candidate in November. In last winter’s lame-duck session, she voted with Democrats to ratify the New START agreement with Russia, to repeal the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and to advance a controversial immigration measure known as the DREAM Act.

She hasn’t sided with Democrats all of the time. Murkowski ultimately voted in favor of a broader Republican budget bill in March, as well as a budget bill floated by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) this week, underscoring her unpredictable voting pattern.

Murkowski not only has the relative freedom afforded to someone just embarking on another six-year term, but she is doing so without owing her party leaders any sense of loyalty.

Her wristband — emblazoned with her name and the words “Fill it in. Write it in” — is a gold-plated version of those that Murkowski’s campaign handed out to voters when she defied the odds by becoming the first incumbent and woman in U.S. history to win as a write-in Senate candidate.

“I am not here as my party’s nominee. I am unique among the 100 senators in that regard,” she said. “And so, there is that distinction, and I think it’s a very clear distinction.”

Read to rest of the story at Politico


 
site search by freefind
click here to sign up for daily news updates
senior scribes

County News Online

is a Fundraiser for the Senior Scribes Scholarship Committee. All net profits go into a fund for Darke County Senior Scholarships
contact
Copyright © 2011 and design by cigs.kometweb.com