Alaska Nepotism Flap Fuels Senate Election Move
Wed January 7, 2004 06:24 PM ET
By Yereth Rosen
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - When Frank Murkowski selected his own daughter last year to fill the U.S. Senate seat he had just vacated to become Alaska's governor, voters of all political stripes howled in protest.
Now Alaska activists are on the verge of getting approval for a ballot initiative that would ensure that all U.S. Senate vacancies in Alaska are filled by special election.
"It's a quaint belief we have in this country of electing the people to represent us," said state Rep. Eric Croft, an Anchorage Democrat who helped organize the group sponsoring the initiative.
Critics say the proposed ballot measure is merely a thinly veiled attack on Republican Lisa Murkowski, headed for what is expected to be a tight race against former Democratic Gov. Tony Knowles for the Senate seat.
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http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=4090093