Life History Of United States Senator Lisa Murkowski
Lisa Ann Murkowski was born May 22, 1957 in Ketchikan, Alaska is the senior United States Senator from Alaska and a member of the Republican Party. She has served in the Senate since 2002. She became the state's senior senator when Ted Stevens retired in 2009
Senator Lisa Ann Murkowski
.
She is the daughter of former U.S. Senator and Governor of Alaska Frank Murkowski. Before her appointment to the Senate, she served in the Alaska House of Representatives and was eventually elected majority leader.
Murkowski was appointed to the U.S. Senate by her father, Frank Murkowski, who resigned his seat in December 2002 to become the Governor of Alaska. She completed her father's unexpired term which ended in January 2005. She ran for and won a full term in 2004.
She ran for a second term in 2010. She lost the Republican Party nomination to Tea Party candidate Joe Miller. She then ran as a write-in candidate and defeated both Miller and Democrat Scott McAdams in the general election, making her the first senator to be elected by write-in vote since Strom Thurmond in 1954.
Early life, education, and early career
Since winning re-election, her voting record has become more moderate when compared to her previous years in the Senate.She is generally pro-choice on abortion and supports non-federally funded embryonic stem cell research, although she has cast significant pro-life votes, including ones to ban partial-birth abortions. She is a member of the Republican Majority For Choice, Republicans For Choice, and The Wish List (Women in the Senate and House), a group of pro-choice women Republicans.
Murkowski is a signer of Americans for Tax Reform’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge.The National Federation of Independent Business named Murkowski a Guardian of Small Business for her "outstanding" voting record on behalf of small business owners
Murkowski is currently the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural
Resources Committee. She has given her support to efforts to drill for
oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge For the 109th Congress, Republicans for Environmental Protection,
a group dedicated to environmental causes, gave Murkowski a rating of
2%, noting that in 2006, she voted against S.C. Resolution 83, intended
to bolster energy security and lower energy-related environmental
impacts, against an amendment to S. 728 that would make the Army Corps of Engineers more accountable for the environmental and economic impacts of their projects, for oil drilling in ANWR, for offshore oil and gas drilling.
Murkowski believes that recent technological developments have made drilling safer and more economical.
Murkowski introduced a bill that would block the Environmental Protection Agency from limiting the amount of greenhouse gases that major industries can produce. In a statement, Murkowski said, "We cannot turn a blind eye to the EPA's efforts to impose back-door climate regulations with no input from Congress."
In the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill(BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico), Murkowski opposed a bill that would have raised the liability cap for oil spills from $75 million to $10 billion. She said that such a large cap would jeopardize various businesses, and that exposing companies to greater risk would make it impossible for smaller companies to compete.
arriage
On March 27, 2013, Murkowski said that her opinion on same-sex marriage was "evolving". She said she noticed that the country's views on marriage are changing, noting conversations with her children and their friends as an example. She said the country had more important issues to focus on than same-sex marriage.On June 19, 2013, Murkowski announced her support of same-sex marriage, citing the encouragement of family values and Alaskans' favor of limiting government's power. She became the third sitting Republican United States Senator to do so after Senators Rob Portman of Ohio and Mark Kirk of Illinois.
Following the outcome of the primary election, the Murkowski campaign floated the idea of her running as a Libertarian in the general election. But on August 29, 2010, the executive board of the state Libertarian Party voted not to consider allowing Murkowski on its ticket for the U.S. Senate race.[53]
On September 17, 2010, Murkowski said that she would mount a write-in campaign for the Senate seat.Her write-in campaign was aided in large part with substantial monetary aid and assistance from the Native corporations and PACs, as well as support from state teachers' and firefighters' unions.
On November 17, 2010, the Associated Press reported that Murkowski became the first Senate candidate in more than 50 years to win a write-in campaign, thereby retaining her seat. Murkowski emerged victorious after a two-week count of write-in ballots showed she had overtaken Miller. Miller did not concede defeat[U.S. Federal District Judge Ralph Beistline granted an injunction to stop the certification of the election due to "serious" legal issues and irregularities raised by Miller as to the hand count of absentee ballots. On December 10, 2010, an Alaskan judge dismissed Miller's case, clearing the way for Murkowski's win; however, Miller appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court, and the results were not certified. On December 13, Miller appealed the Alaska Superior Court decision of the prior week to the Alaska Supreme Court. Miller's appeal was rejected by the state Supreme Court on December 22, 2010. On Dec. 28, 2010, U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline dismissed Miller's lawsuit. Murkowski was certified as the winner on December 30 by Gov. Sean Parnell.
.
She is the daughter of former U.S. Senator and Governor of Alaska Frank Murkowski. Before her appointment to the Senate, she served in the Alaska House of Representatives and was eventually elected majority leader.
Murkowski was appointed to the U.S. Senate by her father, Frank Murkowski, who resigned his seat in December 2002 to become the Governor of Alaska. She completed her father's unexpired term which ended in January 2005. She ran for and won a full term in 2004.
She ran for a second term in 2010. She lost the Republican Party nomination to Tea Party candidate Joe Miller. She then ran as a write-in candidate and defeated both Miller and Democrat Scott McAdams in the general election, making her the first senator to be elected by write-in vote since Strom Thurmond in 1954.
Early life, education, and early career
She earned a B.A. in economics from Georgetown University in 1980, the same year her father was elected to the U.S. Senate. She is a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority and represented the state of Alaska as the 1980 Cherry Blossom Princess. From Willamette University College of Law, she received her J.D. in 1985. Then, she was employed as an attorney in the Anchorage District Court Clerk's office from 1987 to 1989. From 1989 to 1998, she was an attorney in private practice in Anchorage, Alaska. She also served, from 1990 to 1991, on the mayor's task force for the homeless.
In 1998, Murkowski was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives
and reelected in 2000 and 2002. She was named as House Majority Leader
for the 2003–2004 legislative session, but resigned before taking office
due to her appointment to the U.S. Senate.
Murkowski sat on the Alaska Commission on Post Secondary Education and
chaired both the Labor and Commerce and the Military and Veterans
Affairs Committees. In 1999, she introduced legislation establishing a
Joint Armed Services Committee.
Political positions
Since winning re-election, her voting record has become more moderate when compared to her previous years in the Senate.She is generally pro-choice on abortion and supports non-federally funded embryonic stem cell research, although she has cast significant pro-life votes, including ones to ban partial-birth abortions. She is a member of the Republican Majority For Choice, Republicans For Choice, and The Wish List (Women in the Senate and House), a group of pro-choice women Republicans.
Murkowski is a signer of Americans for Tax Reform’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge.The National Federation of Independent Business named Murkowski a Guardian of Small Business for her "outstanding" voting record on behalf of small business owners
Alaska Native issues
Murkowski has helped protect and ensure that health care is delivered by the 100 percent Native American-owned and controlled Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and a network of tribally operated hospitals and clinics in rural Alaska hubs and villages. Murkowski is an active member of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and served as Vice Chair of the Committee during the 110th Congress. She is the Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and a member of the Committee on Appropriations, and has a continuing role on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. In 2009, she was honored with a Congressional Leadership Award by the National Congress of American Indians.She is the first Alaskan to receive the award.
Healthcare
Murkowski opposed President Barack Obama's health reform legislation; she voted against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in December 2009, and she voted against the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.Murkowski has stated numerous times that she would like to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Murkowski voted for H.R. 976, which called for the expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program to provide coverage for additional uninsured children. That bill passed both the House and the Senate, but was vetoed by President George W. Bush. She supports health care reforms in her native state, as well, largely because health care costs for Alaskans are up to 70% higher than costs in the contiguous United States.
Energy and environment
Murkowski believes that recent technological developments have made drilling safer and more economical.
Murkowski introduced a bill that would block the Environmental Protection Agency from limiting the amount of greenhouse gases that major industries can produce. In a statement, Murkowski said, "We cannot turn a blind eye to the EPA's efforts to impose back-door climate regulations with no input from Congress."
In the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill(BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico), Murkowski opposed a bill that would have raised the liability cap for oil spills from $75 million to $10 billion. She said that such a large cap would jeopardize various businesses, and that exposing companies to greater risk would make it impossible for smaller companies to compete.
arriage
Marriage
In 2004, Senator Murkowski voted in favor of a federal constitutional amendment to define marriage as one man and one woman. She said that would also support an Alaska state law defining marriage as between a man and a woman and that each state should have the right to establish its definition of marriage.[ Murkowski voted for a federal constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in 2006. According to her spokesman, she wanted to protect the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman that Alaskans added to their state constitution in 1998.
On March 27, 2013, Murkowski said that her opinion on same-sex marriage was "evolving". She said she noticed that the country's views on marriage are changing, noting conversations with her children and their friends as an example. She said the country had more important issues to focus on than same-sex marriage.On June 19, 2013, Murkowski announced her support of same-sex marriage, citing the encouragement of family values and Alaskans' favor of limiting government's power. She became the third sitting Republican United States Senator to do so after Senators Rob Portman of Ohio and Mark Kirk of Illinois.
Political campaigns
Murkowski, while a member of the state House, was appointed by her father, Governor Frank Murkowski, to his own unexpired Senate seat in December 2002, which he had vacated after being elected governor. The appointment caused a controversy in the state, and eventually resulted in a referendum that stripped the governor of his power to directly appoint replacement Senators.2004
Murkowski was elected to a full six-year term against former Democratic Governor Tony Knowles in the 2004 election, after winning a primary challenge by a large margin. The two were in a dead heat in polls. The centrist Republican Main Street Partnership, which wanted to run TV ads for Murkowski, was told no air time was left to buy.]Near the end of the general campaign, senior senator Ted Stevens shot campaign ads for Murkowski and warned the public that if a Democrat replaced Murkowski, they were likely to receive fewer federal dollars.2010
Murkowski faced the most difficult election of her career in the August 24, 2010, Republican Party primary election against Joe Miller, a former U.S. magistrate judge supported by former Governor Sarah Palin.[47][48] The initial ballot count for the primary showed her trailing Miller by a margin of 51–49%, with absentee ballots yet to be tallied. After the first round of absentee ballots were counted on August 31, Murkowski conceded the race, stating that she did not believe that Miller's lead would be overcome in the next round of absentee vote count.Following the outcome of the primary election, the Murkowski campaign floated the idea of her running as a Libertarian in the general election. But on August 29, 2010, the executive board of the state Libertarian Party voted not to consider allowing Murkowski on its ticket for the U.S. Senate race.[53]
On September 17, 2010, Murkowski said that she would mount a write-in campaign for the Senate seat.Her write-in campaign was aided in large part with substantial monetary aid and assistance from the Native corporations and PACs, as well as support from state teachers' and firefighters' unions.
On November 17, 2010, the Associated Press reported that Murkowski became the first Senate candidate in more than 50 years to win a write-in campaign, thereby retaining her seat. Murkowski emerged victorious after a two-week count of write-in ballots showed she had overtaken Miller. Miller did not concede defeat[U.S. Federal District Judge Ralph Beistline granted an injunction to stop the certification of the election due to "serious" legal issues and irregularities raised by Miller as to the hand count of absentee ballots. On December 10, 2010, an Alaskan judge dismissed Miller's case, clearing the way for Murkowski's win; however, Miller appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court, and the results were not certified. On December 13, Miller appealed the Alaska Superior Court decision of the prior week to the Alaska Supreme Court. Miller's appeal was rejected by the state Supreme Court on December 22, 2010. On Dec. 28, 2010, U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline dismissed Miller's lawsuit. Murkowski was certified as the winner on December 30 by Gov. Sean Parnell.
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