Murkowski to keep position on Energy, Resources panel

Senate Republicans defied expectations Wednesday and did not remove Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) as the senior Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. 



After debating her future during a closed-door meeting, the GOP conference voted to let Murkowski keep her committee position despite the write-in challenge she has mounted against Joe Miller, the winner of her state’s Republican primary.

{mosads}Republicans worry Murkowski’s candidacy could cost their party a safe seat by splitting the GOP vote with Miller, who upset Murkowski after receiving support from the Tea Party movement and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R).

But several of her colleagues argued Wednesday that Murkowski should get to keep her committee position as she fights to retain her seat in the Senate.

Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas) and George Voinovich (Ohio) were among several senators who spoke in her favor, according to Republican aides. They said the conference should not do anything to harm her following Murkowski’s resignation as vice chairwoman of the Senate GOP conference

“Most felt that she had stepped down from her leadership post and that [Sen. Richard] Burr [R-N.C.] would be ranking member on Energy next Congress if he wanted it,” one senior Senate GOP aide said.

Up until the meeting, Republicans had been expected to name Burr, who is also up for reelection this year, as the Energy panel’s senior Republican, at least in an acting capacity, for the remainder of the year. Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) had spoken to Republicans on the panel on Tuesday about removing Murkowski.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), a leading conservative in the upper chamber who has backed a number of Tea Party candidates this year, spoke in favor of stripping Murkowski of her committee leadership post. He argued that Republicans should be supporting their own candidates, according to several GOP aides.

Senate Republican leaders did not speak up one way or the other at the meeting, aides said.

The Energy Committee is not expected to take up any weighty issues between now and the end of the year. Burr, though, appeared visibly angry when he left the meeting and declined to speak with reporters.

Hutchison ended the discussion by moving to hold a vote on not doing anything, which passed. The vote was by secret ballot and the vote count was not announced, aides said.

When asked immediately after the meeting whether Republicans would convene on a later date to vote on stripping Murkowski of her committee leadership position, Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) said: “Well, there’s no other meeting of the conference scheduled right now.”

Separately at the meeting, the GOP unanimously voted to have Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) succeed Murkowski as vice chairman of the Republican Conference.

Alexander and other Republicans focused their comments on Barrasso after the meeting and downplayed any dissent within their conference.

Alexander praised Barrasso for his work ethic, conservative principles “and good mind,” and said he would be “a terrific addition” to the party’s leadership team.


Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) added, “I thought it was appropriate that we have new leadership. That’s John Barrasso’s job, and he’s been elected to do that.”

Alexander said replacing Murkowski with Barrasso in the leadership ranks should be a clear enough sign that Senate Republicans are standing behind Miller.

“That should make clear … the situation there,” Alexander said. He and “our entire conference, as far as I know, strongly support the Republican nominee, the winner of the Alaskan primary.”



Murkowski faces a difficult path to reelection as a write-in candidate, but retaining the position on the Energy panel could help her. It allows her to argue to constituents that she is still a leader on a committee that is perhaps second only to the Appropriations Committee in importance to energy-rich Alaska.

Murkowski’s campaign coffers are healthy, but some energy companies key to the Alaskan economy, which had given generously to Murkowski before she lost the primary, have been weighing whether to donate to Miller and help him raise funds.

“I honestly don’t think that’s going to mean much one way or another,” one energy industry official said of the decision to allow Murkowski to keep her committee leadership post. The real question would be how hard Senate Republican leaders push companies to help Miller, the official said. 



One Alaskan political consultant, however, noted that Murkowski’s argument that the state cannot afford to lose her clout in Washington could have been undermined if she had been booted from her position on the Energy panel.

“Miller’s been telling everyone that she’s lost all of her power in D.C.,” said Jean Craciun, an Alaska-based consultant. “Well, now that’s not true.”

J. Taylor Rushing and Shane D’Aprile contributed to this story.

This story was posted at 2:42 p.m. and last updated at 7:12 p.m.