Politico...
Lisa Murkowski shows
independent streak
By Manu Raju & Darren Goode
5/27/11
Dangling on Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s left arm is a gold-plated reminder of
why she’s continuing to ride her independent streak five months into
the congressional session.
“I still wear my write-in wristband,” the Alaska Republican said after
voting this week to reject the House GOP budget plan. “It used to be
plastic, but my husband turned it into gold.”
After her stunning reelection victory last fall as a write-in candidate
and departure from the GOP party leadership, Murkowski has irked
conservatives on a series of key message votes this year. Her newfound
independence puts her in the cross hairs of this summer’s battles over
raising the national debt ceiling and next year’s budget.
Knowing she holds a valuable vote, Republican leaders are giving
Murkowski space but watching her closely — unsure whether she will
eventually side with Democrats when the major fights come to a head.
In recent weeks, Murkowski was the lone Republican to oppose a GOP
filibuster, targeting President Barack Obama’s most controversial
judicial nominee, Goodwin Liu, for an appellate court seat — and was
among a handful of Republican defectors who helped break a filibuster
on Rhode Island attorney Jack McConnell’s nomination for a seat on a
district court. She also opposed Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget plan
and a Republican measure to cut funding for Planned Parenthood.
It’s a continuation of a path she blazed soon after she beat Republican
nominee Joe Miller as a write-in candidate in November. In last
winter’s lame-duck session, she voted with Democrats to ratify the New
START agreement with Russia, to repeal the military’s “don’t ask, don’t
tell” policy and to advance a controversial immigration measure known
as the DREAM Act.
She hasn’t sided with Democrats all of the time. Murkowski ultimately
voted in favor of a broader Republican budget bill in March, as well as
a budget bill floated by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) this week,
underscoring her unpredictable voting pattern.
Murkowski not only has the relative freedom afforded to someone just
embarking on another six-year term, but she is doing so without owing
her party leaders any sense of loyalty.
Her wristband — emblazoned with her name and the words “Fill it in.
Write it in” — is a gold-plated version of those that Murkowski’s
campaign handed out to voters when she defied the odds by becoming the
first incumbent and woman in U.S. history to win as a write-in Senate
candidate.
“I am not here as my party’s nominee. I am unique among the 100
senators in that regard,” she said. “And so, there is that distinction,
and I think it’s a very clear distinction.”
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