In a column on Friday in the Washington Times, Alaska Republican Senate nominee continued to rail against the apparently successful write-in campaign by incumbent GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski. In this new column, entitled “Writing In Corruption,” Miller blames the federally-charted Alaska Native corporations, which have a big presence in the state, for supporting Murkowski. They did this, he writes, in order to maintain a pipeline of federal earmarks that sustain them.
In this effort, he says, they formed a “super-PAC” called Alaskans Standing Together, which conducted all sorts of underhanded activities for Murkowski — such as running an ad campaign against him, educating voters on how to cast a write-in vote, and getting out the vote with rides to the polls.
“AST hit the airways with hundreds of thousands of dollars in attack ads, making numerous false allegations regarding my positions and background. Within a mere three weeks, AST spent $1.2 million, inundating the Alaska market,” Miller writes. “It also hired dozens of workers to travel to the villages to teach people how to vote for Lisa Murkowski. They even painted vans with AST’s logo to bus people to the polls.”
In another key quote, Miller seems to sow doubts that the Alaska Native corporations might have committed shenanigans upon the ballots themselves:
The native population apparently got the message. Supermajorities of numerous villages that had gone strongly Democratic in previous elections voted for Mrs. Murkowski last month.
One native leader proudly boasted on Election Day that his people had made history. If Mrs. Murkowski survives the inevitable recount of ballots(ballots that were transported and “secured” by an Alaska Native corporation), native leaders have said there will be no quid pro quo expected from their efforts - central to Mrs. Murkowski’s attempt to retain her office.
Miller has been suing to try to block Murkowski’s apparent win in the race, charging that various write-in ballots for Murkowski should be thrown out — though even the ballots he has challenged would not close the current gap. He is also urging for a statewide recount that might make up the rest. A state judge has expedited the case, with arguments set for this Wednesday.
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
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