Murkowski: "Alaska Republican Party was hijacked"

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Sen. Lisa Murkowski will announce her plans for the Senate race this Friday.

Murkowski sent out a letter to supporters Tuesday saying she won't run as a Libertarian, leaving a write-in campaign as her only way to continue on and while all this goes on, the Senate race continues.

At a Senior Center Tuesday, Democrat Scott McAdams talked social security, while, across town, the murkowski campaign sends out an email saying, “the Alaska Republican Party was hijacked by the Tea Party Express, an outside extremist group.”

“The fact they just disregarded, completely and wholly, the truth in this and lied to get their agenda and then they move on and they go push their nasty politics somewhere else,” said Steve Wackowski, who represents the Murkowski for Senate campaign.

“We don't feel the Tea Party Movement is extremists. It’s just made up of a lot of millions of concerned people throughout the United States,” said Joe Miller spokesperson Randy Desoto.

Word quickly spread at a recent Miller fundraiser about Murkowski’s plan to wait until Friday to announce her plans.

“I think, in her heart, she knows what she's going to do, but I don't know and so I can't comment on that. We'll wait until Friday for her to announce,” said Wackowski.

“I think that the Tea Party Express is so far to the right that it isn't even the Republican Party. I think that they've hijacked the Republican Party and I support whatever decision Sen. Murkowski decides to make,” said Democratic nominee Scott McAdams.

The Tea Party Express, who backed Miller, poured in more than half-a-million dollars into his primary run, but Miller's group reminds voters Murkowski also was backed by outside interests.

“That's not really fair to say the Tea Party Express shouldn't be coming in and spending money in Alaska when she was doing just that. We don't think that's a valid criticism,” said Desoto.

Republican leaders from Fairbanks sent a letter to the Senate minority leader Tuesday, requesting he issue a forceful statement regarding Murkowski's seniority privileges should she continue on in the race.

Contact Rebecca Palsha at rpalsha@ktuu.com