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'Lisa Ann Murkowski' (born May 22, 1957) is an American politician. She is currently the junior United States Senator from Alaska. She is the first U.S. Senator who was born in Alaska. She is the first woman ever elected to either chamber of Congress from Alaska.

Contents

Early life, family, and career

U.S. Senate

Policy & issues

Environmental record

Electoral history

See also

Footnotes

External links

Early life, family, and career

Murkowski was born in Ketchikan, Alaska to Nancy R. Gore and Frank Murkowski; her paternal grandfather was of Polish descent.^[1] As a child, she and her family moved all over the state due to her father's job. Lisa earned a B.A. in economics from Georgetown University in 1980, and a J.D. from Willamette University College of Law in 1985.
She became a member of the Alaska Bar Association in 1987. She was an attorney in Anchorage, Alaska from 1985 to 1998. She also served, from 1990 to 1991, on the mayor's task force on the homeless.
In 1998, she was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives and had been elected the House Majority Leader for the 2003–2004 session. 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. She resigned from the House in December 2002, when she was appointed by her father, Governor Frank Murkowski, to his own unexpired senate seat, which he had vacated after being elected governor.
Murkowski is married to Verne Martell. She has two children, Nic and Matt. Her father, Frank Murkowski, was Governor of Alaska from 2002 to 2006 in addition to being her immediate predecessor in the Senate.

U.S. Senate

She was elected to a full six-year term against former Governor Tony Knowles in the 2004 election, after winning a primary challenge by a large margin. 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.
Murkowski is a member of The Republican Main Street Partnership and supports stem cell research. She is also 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 the Ranking Minority Member of the Subcommittee on Water and Power and the Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs. She is a member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, The Committee on Environment and Public Works, The Committee on Indian Affairs, and the Committee on Foreign Relations
In July 2007 Murkowski stated she would sell back a home she bought a day after a Washington watchdog group filed an Senate ethics complaint against her, alleging that Penney sold the property well below market value.^[2] The ''Anchorage Daily News'' noted, "The transaction amounted to an illegal gift worth between $70,000 and $170,000, depending on how the property was valued, according to the complaint by the National Legal and Policy Center."^[2] According to the Associated Press, Murkowski bought the home from two developers tied to the Ted Stevens probe.^[4]

Policy & issues

Murkowski is known to be fairly moderate, and is one of ten Republican Senators who refused to commit to Bill Frist's "nuclear option" to end judicial filibusters. Even though her voting record on abortion is mixed, Murkowski is one of a number of pro-choice Senate Republicans. She supports oil exploration in ANWR, whereas some other moderate Republicans do not. She has claimed that recent technological developments have reduced the environmental risks of drilling in ANWR.
She supports health care reforms, largely because health care costs for Alaskans are up to 70% higher than costs in the continental United States.
She supported H.R. 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. This bill would have permitted the Secretary of Health and Human Services to support taxpayer-funded research on stem cells. She also supports the Fetus Farming Prohibition Act of 2006, which would prohibit fetuses from being grown for research purposes.

Environmental record

For 2003, the nonpartisan watchdog group League of Conservation Voters rated Murkowski at 11% on environmental issues: "During her short time in the Senate," Murkowski, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power, "has thrown her support behind efforts to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.^[5] For the 109th Congress, Republicans for Environmental Protection, a conservative group dedicated to environmental causes, issued Murkowski a rating of 2%, noting that in 2006 she voted:^[6]

★ against S.C. Resolution 83, intended to bolster energy security and lower energy-related environmental impacts

★ against an amendment to S. 728 which would make the Army Corps of Engineers more accountable for the environmental and economic impacts of their projects

★ for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

★ for offshore oil and gas drilling.

Electoral history

See also

★ Women in the United States Senate

Footnotes

1. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~battle/senators/murkowski.htm
2. Murkowski to sell back Kenai property
3. Murkowski to sell back Kenai property
4. Stevens' aide said to testify in probe
5. League of Conservation Voters
6. Republicans for Environmental Protection 2006 Scorecard

External links

★ United States Senator Lisa Murkowski, Senate site

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★ Federal Election Commission — Lisa Murkowski campaign finance reports and data

★ On the Issues — Lisa Murkowski issue positions and quotes

★ OpenSecrets.org — Lisa Murkowski campaign contributions

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★ SourceWatch Congresspedia — Lisa Murkowski profile

★ Lisa Murkowski Exposed In Kenai River Land Scam