October 24, 2002
Thursday - 12:30 am

Anchorage - Alaska gubernatorial candidate Frank Murkowski on Wednesday called on Democrat candidate Fran Ulmer to denounce the Alaska Democrat Party for violating state campaign finance laws by running negative, misleading attack ads using "soft money" long after the deadline for such spending has passed.

Murkowski was referring to a Tuesday night announcement by Democratic Party of Alaska Executive Director Tammy Troyer, that the Democrat Party was now funding ads attacking Murkowski's Senate record. The ads feature a direct call for voters to support Ulmer, using money donated from unregulated sources.

"The state's revised campaign finance law is very clear that no 'soft money' ads are allowed within 30 days of an election," Murkowski said. "But it appears that Democrats are shameless about ignoring the law they profess to support whenever it suits them. This behavior is an outrageous violation of both the letter and the spirit of the state's campaign finance regulations. The Democrat Party's action makes a mockery of the state's political spending limitations.

"No one can expect a candidate to sit back while an opponent smears his record of 22 years with half-truths that border on outright lies. Alaskans should expect the lieutenant governor, who is responsible for overseeing elections, to prevail upon her own party to follow state campaign laws."

Murkowski pointed out that during his tenure in the U.S. Senate:

• On the minimum wage: Murkowski has voted five times to raise the minimum wage, most recently to hike the wage to $6.15 per hour. That is exactly the amount sought by Democrats in Congress. During Murkowski's tenure the federal minimum wage has risen by 55 percent, and he voted for every one of the increases. (Increases occurred on April 1, 1990; April 1, 1991; Oct. 6, 1996 and Sept. 1, 1997 and the last vote was on a Republican amendment in spring 2002, that did not pass.)
• On extending unemployment benefits: Murkowski has voted 12 times to extend unemployment benefits for individuals temporarily displaced by economic recessions. Just this year he voted twice to extend unemployment assistance and he has supported extending benefits for unemployed workers by up to six months.
  
  Murkowski this year won a commitment from the Bush Administration to fund $117 million in job training and aid for commercial fishermen, while he supported extending assistance to workers who lose their jobs because of competition from foreign firms for up to 2 1/2 years. (The votes are: RC# 291, 8/5/82; RC #158, 7/29/91; RC#201, 9/24/91; RC#202, 9/24/91; RC#254, 11/15/91; RC#16, 2/4/92; RC#17,2/4/92; RC#145, 7/2/92; RC#342, 10/28/93; RC#392, 11/20/93, RC#14, 2/6/02 and RC#44, 3/8/02)
• Concerning Congressional pay: It is true that Congress has raised its pay nine times in the past 22 years, but that is 13 times fewer than all other federal employees received pay increases
• Concerning private travel: It is true that Frank Murkowski has traveled at private expense. What the ads don't say is that last year he traveled at non-taxpayer expense, all for good public purposes.
• In 2001, he traveled: to attend a ceremony honoring New York City firefighters killed in the Sept. 11th attacks, to attend the Alaska Youth Summit in Talkeetna;, to attend an international conference on security and the global environment, to meet with supporters of an Alaska natural gas line; to tour a wind farm to see if renewable wind energy should gain subsidy support in the pending energy bill; to attend the christening of a new Alaska oil tanker and to speak on electricity deregulation now pending before Congress.
• In 2000, there was only one trip to address a financial conference in West Virginia where he pushed for ANWR oil development.
• In 1999, there were two such trips, one to address electricity deregulation as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and a second to speak at a conference on foreign affairs where he argued for ANWR oil development.
• In 1998, he spoke to a group about Alaska seafood sales.

"The charge that somehow Frank Murkowski has traveled improperly is an example of the worst in cynical negative campaigning," said Gregg Renkes, Murkowski's campaign coordinator. "It demeans the political process and is an example of a party that is so desperate to win an election it no longer cares about the truth, or even know what it is."

Source of News Release:

Frank Murkowski For Governor Campaign
Web Site

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