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Political Corruption, Alaska-Style: Provision in NDAA Benefits Native Corp Instrumental in Murkowski's Write-In Campaign

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Credit - AP

Credit – AP

By Edwin Mora. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) negotiated the inclusion of a land entitlement provision in the “must-pass” National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for a Sealaska, an Alaska Native Regional Corporation that helped fund her re-election in 2010 as a write-in candidate.

The NDAA, which includes a public lands package that has been lambasted by conservative lawmakers as unrelated to defense operations, passed the House last week. It is expected to be voted on in the Senate this week.

The public lands package includes the conveyance of tens of thousands of acres in the Tongass National Forest to the Sealaska Corp. It would allow the corporation to handpick lands outside the boundaries set by the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

In the past, “opponents have accused the Native corporation of choosing some of the best and most valuable lands in the national forest for their own private, moneymaking enterprises,” reported The Associated Press in June 2010.

A Dec. 3 press release acknowledged that Murkowski helped negotiate the Sealaska measure into the NDAA.

Read more from this story HERE.

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NDAA Passes, Authorizes Transfer of Large Tracts of Land to Fed Govt.

Credit: Reuters - Jonathan Ernst

Credit: Reuters – Jonathan Ernst

By Donna Casata

Congress on Friday sent President Barack Obama a massive defense policy bill that endorses his stepped-up military campaign of air strikes and training of Iraqis and moderate Syrian rebels in the war against Islamic State militants.

The Senate overwhelmingly approved the bill that authorizes funds for basic military operations, including construction of new ships, aircraft, and weapons as well as a 1 percent pay raise for the troops. The vote was 89-11.

A coalition of defense hawks and Western state Republicans overcame objections by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and several other GOP senators, who were furious that unrelated provisions to designate 250,000 acres of new, federally protected wilderness were added to the popular legislation dedicated to military operations.

The measure would authorize the training and equipping of moderate Syrian rebels battling the extremists, a mandate that lasts for two years. It also would provide $5 billion to train Iraqis to counter the militants who brutally rule large sections of Iraq and Syria.

“American air power had changed the momentum on the ground somewhat and given moderates in the region an opportunity to regroup, but ISIS cannot be defeated without an opposing force to take the fight to it on the ground,” said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Armed Services Committee. “To do that, our Arab and Muslim partners must be in the lead because the fight with ISIS is primarily a struggle within Islam for the hearts and minds of Muslims.”

Read more from this story HERE.

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Cruz Votes Against NDAA

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, today voted against the National Defense Authorization Act citing several concerns, including an extreme land grab provision and ongoing assistance to Syrian rebels.

“The 2015 National Defense Authorization Act includes a number of problematic provisions, including an extension through 2016 of the program to arm Syrian rebels and an extreme land grab that restricts more than a half-million new acres of property from productive use,” said Sen. Cruz. “This is yet another example of Majority Leader Reid’s legacy of obstruction by not allowing any amendments to be called on this bill.

Read more from this story HERE.

Murkowski Highlights Climate Change In Alaska

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Photo Credit: Ted S. Warren / AP

Photo Credit: Ted S. Warren / AP

On election night in a hotel ballroom in Anchorage, Alaska, Sen. Lisa Murkowski picked up a chair and waved it over her head.

“I am the chairmaaaaaaaaaaan!” she shouted.

The Republican takeover Tuesday night puts Murkowski in charge of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. That’s great news for Alaska, which is always eager for the feds to allow more oil drilling up here. But what does her chairmanship mean for the other side of that coin — global warming?

At that same election-night party, Murkowski said she takes climate change seriously.

“I come from a state where we see a warming. We’re seeing it with increased water temperatures; we’re seeing it with ice that is thinner; we’re seeing it with migratory patterns that are changing,” she said. “So I look at this and I say this is something that we must address.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Two Senators Willing to Defy the Party Line

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Photo Credit: CHIP SOMODEVILLA / GETTY IMAGES; GABRIELLA DEMCZUK / THE NEW YORK TIMES

Photo Credit: CHIP SOMODEVILLA / GETTY IMAGES; GABRIELLA DEMCZUK / THE NEW YORK TIMES

Who are the two most disagreeable United States senators?

Not disagreeable in personality, but willing to buck their own party. That would be Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, both Republicans.

The pair are the most reliable Democratic supporters on roll-call votes in the current Congress. In large part because of an increase in votes on presidential nominations after Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, limited the use of the filibuster last year, both senators are headed toward record levels of disagreement with their party.


Ms. Collins has sided with Democrats on cloture votes that allow a nomination to proceed for a vote on confirmation 82 times in this Congress.

Bucking a majority of their party on roll-call votes has become much less common among senators over the past quarter century. As recently as 2008, as many as 10 senators disagreed with a majority of their party colleagues on at least one in five votes. Now there are only these two who do. In the current political climate, where a primary challenge is a real threat (even if few succeed), increased voting against the party seems like potentially risky behavior.

Read more from this story HERE.

'The Record Speaks for Itself': Murkowski-Begich Tension Looms Over Senate Race

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140723_lisa_murkowsk_mark_begich_gty_compy_328In Mark Begich’s view, fellow Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski is a valuable member of his “team” on issues ranging from fisheries to fighter jets.

But in the heat of Begich’s bruising reelection bid, Murkowski wants off that team…

When asked to characterize their relationship, Murkowski added: “He’s running for office, and I want a Republican partner.”

Begich brushed off Murkowski’s criticism.

“The record speaks for itself,” he said on Wednesday. “The votes that we have been taking are showing clearly that we’re one of the few delegations in this whole chaotic dysfunctional Washington, D.C., that actually vote together more often than anyone. That’s a fact.”

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Sick: Democrat Senators and RINO Murkowski Vote for Late-Term Abortion Up to Nine Months of Pregnancy

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senate-abortion

Four months before the mid-term congressional election, Senate Democrats are pushing into the national spotlight “the most radical pro-abortion bill ever considered by Congress,” said Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of state right-to-life organizations.

Tobias was one of two non-congressional witnesses who testified against the so-called “Women’s Health Protection Act” (S. 1696), at a hearing before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee this morning.

Read more from this story HERE.

Miller Calls Out U.S. Senate Delegation for Voting Against Alaskans' First Amendment Rights

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Memorial Day 13Following the Senate cloture vote today on S. 2578, the so-called “Hobby Lobby Fix,” Joe Miller called out Senators Mark Begich and Lisa Murkowski for their vote to override the First Amendment rights of Alaskans.

The Democrats brought a motion to invoke cloture on the controversial bill, which Mark Begich and all the senators in their party (except Harry Reid for procedural reasons) supported, and which all Republican senators opposed, except for Senators Lisa Murkwoski, Susan Collins and Mark Kirk.

“The Supreme Court made the right decision in the Hobby Lobby/Conestoga Wood Specialties case last month,” said Miller. “All Alaskans, all Americans have a First Amendment right guaranteeing them free exercise of religion that not even Barack Obama, Mark Begich or Lisa Murkowski can override.”

The owners of Hobby Lobby, Conestoga Wood Specialties and other companies in bringing their case before the Supreme Court did not object to providing contraception with their healthcare plans, but did object to paying for abortion inducing drugs.

“As I indicated last fall, when the Supreme Court was hearing the case, it should come as no surprise to Barack Obama, Mark Begich–and I can add Lisa Murkowski to the list–that the owners of Hobby Lobby and other companies around this nation, in seeking to honor and worship God, cannot participate in the taking of human life,” said Miller.

Begich Ad Highlights Treadwell and Sullivan's 80% Problem

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Joe Miller weighed in today on Senator Mark Begich’s latest ad touting his ties to Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski. In the ad, a supporter of both senators claims that Begich and Murkowski vote together 80% of the time.

“As I’ve been saying for months, there is likely to be a significant issue in November if Republicans put forward a nominee who fails to provide significant contrast with the incumbent,” said Miller. “How, for instance, do Mead Treadwell and Dan Sullivan make the case to Alaskans that they should give up power and seniority when the wouldbe senators have already demonstrated that they’re alright with Mark Begich 80% of the time? I think it’s going to be a hard sell.”

When asked by Politico Magazine shortly before announcing his candidacy last year, Treadwell said, “I voted for Lisa Murkowski in the primary and in the general, and I think Alaskans made the right decision.”

And just a few months back Sullivan reportedly claimed in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner that, acting as Attorney General, he spearheaded the effort to assist the write-in candidate by arguing in clear violation of State Administrative Code that lists of write-in candidates should be allowed polling places.

United Press International also reported that the non-statutory standards deployed during the 2010 vote-count in Juneau, in direct violation of Alaska Statute, came at the advise of then-Attorney General Dan Sullivan.

With Congressional Quarterly reporting earlier this year that Mark Begich voted with Barack Obama 97% of the time last year, and Murkowski 72% of the time, this new claim should come as no surprise.

Miller concluded, “I expect this to be an ungoing issue, because I just don’t believe that most Republican primary voters are going to buy my opponents’ conservative schtick when they have no problem supporting someone who is 80% with Begich and has only a 26% rating with Heritage Action, the nation’s leading conservative organization.”

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See candidate comparison on the issues HERE.

Thad Cochran's Senate Enablers (Hint – Lisa Murkowski is One of Them)

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Photo Credit: APBy Senate Conservatives Fund.

Here is the complete list of Republican senators who contributed to Cochran’s campaign as well as to his super PAC.

Please contact these senators and tell them to stop funding candidates who run on liberal issues and use race-baiting tactics to get Democrats to hijack Republican elections.

GOP Senate Contributions to Cochran

Senator — Amount Given — Phone Number

Mitch McConnell (R-KY) — $60,000 — (202) 224-2541

Rob Portman (R-OH) — $40,000 — (202) 224-3353

Bob Corker (R-TN) — $30,000 — (202) 224-3344

Roger Wicker (R-MS) — $17,000 — (202) 224-6253

John Barrasso (R-WY) — $15,000 — (202) 224-6441

Roy Blunt (R-MO) — $15,000 — (202) 224-5721

John Cornyn (R-TX) — $15,000 — (202) 224-2934

Dean Heller (R-NV) — $15,000 — (202) 224-6244

Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) — $15,000 — (202) 224-6665

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: APThad Cochran gets lost in Senate building, winds up at Democratic event

By T. Becket Adams.

Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., got lost on his way to a Senate Republican luncheon on Tuesday and ended up at the Democrats’ gathering instead, the Hill reported.

The Mississippi senator, who recently won an intensely ugly primary election against Tea Party-backed candidate Chris McDaniel, apparently forgot where he was going while navigating the halls of Congress.

“After exiting a Senate elevator on the wrong floor” Cochran re-boarded, the report notes. “He then found the right floor but turned away from the Senate GOP luncheon, a few yards from the elevator, to stroll the opposite direction, arriving at the Democrats’ weekly gathering a few hallways away.”

Cochran then entered the wrong room and chatted away with Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., until someone asked the longtime Republican senator if he planned on lunching with Democrats.

Read more from this story HERE.

“Beware Of Wolves In Sheep’s Clothing”: A Minister's Perspective On the US Senate Primary Race in Alaska

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During every election cycle, it’s the same old story. Democrats and RINO Republicans make every effort to hide their liberal records in order to fool the electorate into believing they are a different person then who they actually are. Of course, once elected, they do exactly that opposite of what the people elected them to do. There is no wonder that Congress has one of the lowest approval ratings in history and that the average person is fed up with politicians and the political process.

This year’s US Senate race in Alaska is no different. There are two millionaire establishment candidates, Dan Sullivan and Mead Treadwell, running against one middle class constitutional conservative in Joe Miller.

However, listening to the TV and radio ads of the two establishment candidates, you would think Sullivan and Treadwell were tea party conservatives. Beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing.

What these wolves are not telling the electorate is that they both blocked a pro-life initiative from the ballot (not even allowing citizens to vote on the issue), they both promote the manmade global warming agenda, are against voter ID, favor some sort of amnesty for illegal aliens, and favor a United Nations tax and regulation (Law of the Sea Treaty).

Sullivan and Treadwell have already proved that they can under no circumstance be trusted, and that they could care less what Republicans and independents in Alaska want.

Both of them ignored the will of the people in 2010 when they did not support the Republican nominee and joined with Democrats to help elect liberal RINO Lisa Murkowsi, who has voted with Obama 72% of the time. Sullivan and Treadwell are good friends with Murkowski; so you can bet that if either one of them end up in office, Alaska will have liberal Lisa for life.

Both politicians have deep establishment ties; and their loyalty is to the elite they hobnob with and who finance them, not to everyday working Alaskans.

Read more from this story HERE.

GOP Senator Collins Says She Supports Gay Marriage

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Photo Credit: TownHall Republican Sen. Susan Collins on Wednesday announced her support for gay marriage for the first time after getting an endorsement from the nation’s largest LGBT advocacy organization in her bid for re-election.

“A number of states, including my home state of Maine, have now legalized same-sex marriage, and I agree with that decision,” the Maine Republican said in a statement issued after several news organizations made inquiries.

Collins joins three other GOP senators who have said they support gay marriage: Illinois’ Mark Kirk, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and Ohio’s Rob Portman.

Read more from this story HERE.