I just emailed the following message to Senator Lisa Murkowski.
"Like your fellow corrupt right wing Alaska Republicans Palin and Ted Stevens, you are a disgrace, given your attempts to represent corporate polluters over and above the interests of the American people. I'm sick of you moronic, scientifically ignorant, big money representing right wing republicans and will gladly support anyone who might defeat you in the next election."
This was in reponse to this news story.
Lisa Murkowski - a female version of the science denying, corporate shill George W. Bush, and thus your typical Republican - wants to simply "nullify the EPA's finding that Greenhouse gasses are a danger to human health."
She is yet another example of Alaska's blatantly corrupt Republicans.
Alaska's GOP seems filled with these ignorant and criminal big money shills. Ted Stevens, for example, appeared to finally get, more or less, what he deserved, being found guilty on multiple corruption charges (even though these charges were, very sadly, overturned because of prosecutorial misconduct by the Justice Department). And Sara Palin's ignorance, greeD, and outright corrption are all well known. Thus, it appears that Alaska and its Republicans embody a deeply rooted culture of corruption. To whit, we have:
Ex-state rep Beverly Masek (R) - Plead guilty to bribery March 12, 2009
Ex-state rep John Cowdery (R) - Fingered by Bill Allen for taking bribes. Sentenced March 10, 2009
US Senator Ted Stevens (R) - Convicted of 7 felonies, got off on misconduct by prosecutors
Ex-speaker of House Pete Kott (R) - Sentenced to six years in prison
Ex-state rep Tom Anderson (R) - Sentenced to five years in prison
Lobbyist William Bobrick - Sentenced to five months in prison
Ex-state rep Victor Kohring (R) - Sentence to 3 1/2 years in prison
and
Ben Stevens - Disgraced son of convicted senator Ted Stevens (R) - Fisheries bribes, VECO bribes, and more. Fingered by Bill Allen for taking bribes
Trevor McCabe - Cohort of convicted senator Ted Stevens - Received money funneled from Ted Stevens for illicit business transactions. Sea-life Center scam in Seward sticks out.
Congressman Don Young (R) - Campaign contribution bribes, Jack Abramoff scandal, VECO bribes, Troha scandal, Coconut Grove scandal, etc... Former aides ratting him out now to feds
Ex-state rep Bruce Weyrauch (R) - Trial pending. Fingered by Bill Allen for taking bribes
Ex-governor of Alaska Frank Murkowski (R) - Accepted illegal polling from VECO for over $20,000. Former aides to testify against him
US Senator Lisa Murkowski (R) - Funneled taxpayer money to road to her home in Kenai, Alaska.
High-profile fisheries executives and their Juneau cronies who bribed mulitple Alaska legislators including Ben Stevens
As far as Lisa Murkowski, as with Ted Stevens's son, the sleaze seems to run in the family. CREW has the goods on this natural resource industry shill, referring to her as among the "22 most corrupt members of Congress" and offering these tidbits.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) is a first-term senator representing Alaska. Sen. Murkowski’s ethics violations stem from her purchase of land in Alaska for a price below market value, her acceptance of a mortgage on terms not available to the general public and her failure to accurately disclose the transaction in her 2006 financial disclosure report.
Kenai River Property Purchase
In December 2006, Sen. Murkowski and her husband paid $179,400 for a 1.2 acre vacant lot on the banks of the Kenai River in Alaska from long-time friend and campaign contributor Bob Penney. Three days after the purchase, the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assessing Department valued the land at $214,900, 20% over what Sen. Murkowski paid for the land. According to numerous real estate sources in the area, the Kenai lots actually sell for significantly higher than the Borough assessed price because they are located on a world-famous fishing river. Mr. Penney, the seller of the property, has been questioned in connection with a criminal investigation into real estate transactions involving Alaska Senator Ted Stevens. Mr. Penney, though a real-estate developer who has testified regarding the economic impact of fishing upon the Kenai River property values, claims that he was unaware that the Borough assessed value of Sen. Murkowski’s land had increased since 2005, when it was valued at $120,000.
By purchasing the land at a price below the property’s real value, Sen. Murkowski accepted an improper gift from Mr. Penny in violation of the Senate gift rule.
Mortgage for Purchase of Kenai River Property
Sen. Murkowski financed the purchase of the property with a loan for 80% of the purchase price from First Bank in Ketchikan. Sen. Murkowski once sat on the board of directors of First Bank, her sister is a shareholder and member of the bank’s board of directors, her father previously sat on the board of directors and her grandfather was president of the bank. Financial records show the maturity date for Sen. Murkowski’s loan as 2046, making it a thirty-nine year term. First Bank, however, told an Alaskan media outlet that the standard loans for undeveloped property such as Sen. Murkowski’s have a maximum seven-year maturity. On her 2006 financial disclosure form, Sen. Murkowski reported the term as 15 years.
By accepting a loan on terms not generally available to the general public, Sen. Murkowski accepted an improper gift in violation of the Senate gift rule.
Is it any wonder, then, that an individual so blatantly self-serving and corrupt as this would want to kill the Clean Air Act, a law that tries to give us clean air to breathe. Murkowski's bill was written was essentially written by utility company lobbyists, the same lobbyists that reward her with such benefits as a $126,000 contribution.
Senator Barbara Boxer, reacting to Murkowski's bill,
expressed outraged over Murkowski's move, calling it "unprecedented" and likening it to Congress' overturning a finding that cigarettes are bad for one's health. At a press conference, she and other committee Democrats portrayed the Murkowski maneuver as an assault on established science.
Of course, Alaska's entire GOP has enshrined the rape of the environment, right in its party platform.
And what does it say about the fundamental corruption of the Senate Republicans that Murkowski is the senior Republican member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee?