Alaska Politics Blog : Nelson rejected for Senate

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This is the place to talk about Alaska politics, state, local, national. Public life in the Last Frontier has rarely been more interesting -- a full slate of federal and state elections, the influence of former Gov. Sarah Palin, the usual hardball Alaska politics. Come here for news, tidbits and information, and join the discussion. We encourage lively debate, but please keep it civil and stay on point. Don't use profanity, make crude comments or attack other posters. Posts that violate the Terms of Use will be deleted. Repeat offenders will lose their ability to post comments.

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Sean Cockerham

Sean Cockerham writes about Alaska state politics. He's worked for the ADN in Anchorage and Juneau, covered the legislature for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, and covered Washington state politics for the Tacoma News Tribune. E-mail Sean at scockerham@adn.com

Kyle Hopkins

Kyle Hopkins covers rural affairs, general assignments and politics for the ADN. He covered the 2006 campaign for governor, has blogged extensively about Alaska politics, covered Anchorage city government and was a reporter based in the Mat-Su. He grew up in Southeast Alaska and previously wrote for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and Anchorage Press. E-mail Kyle at khopkins@adn.com and also find him on our rural Alaska blog, The Village.

David Hulen

David Hulen, the ADN's state and local news editor, is responsible for political coverage. He has been an editor and reporter at the ADN for more than 20 years. E-mail David at dhulen@adn.com

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Nelson rejected for Senate

Posted by Alaska_Politics

Anchorage Daily News

Posted: April 10, 2009 - 10:32 am

From Sean Cockerham in Juneau --

The state Senate Democrats have voted to reject Gov. Sarah Palin's latest pick for the open Juneau senate seat, Joe Nelson.

The nine Senate Democrats met behind closed doors to reject Nelson, just as they did last week with the governor's previous appointee to the seat, Tim Grussendorf.

The senators refuse to give a vote count or say how they each voted on it.

Juneau Democratic Party officials opposed both Nelson (they said he wasn't active in the party and lacked political experience) and Grussendorf getting the seat that opened when Juneau Democratic Sen. Kim Elton resigned for a job in the Obama administration.

The Juneau Democrats really want House Minority Leader Beth Kerttula to get the seat but suggested four candidates to Palin.

The names other than Kerttula submitted by the Juneau Democrats are Jeff Bush (a member of the local Juneau city Assembly), Mike Miller (a Juneau legislator until 1985) and Sally Smith (a Fairbanks legislator until 1982 and former mayor of Juneau.)

The Senate Democrats have now asked Palin to pick another appointee by April 20. That's after the legislative session is scheduled to adjourn for the year, so it looks like Juneau will finish the session without a senator.