Alaska Politics Blog : Murkowski opens legal expense fund; Miller says "Bring it on!"

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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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Alaska political corruption

When the FBI raided state legislature offices in Aug. 2006, it publicly launched an investigation that ultimately reached the highest levels of Alaska politics, and continues to this day.

Murkowski opens legal expense fund; Miller says "Bring it on!"

Posted by Alaska_Politics

Anchorage Daily News

Posted: November 5, 2010 - 1:10 pm

From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C. --

The next round of ballot counting won’t officially start until next week in Juneau, but already there’s a fierce post-election legal battle heating up between U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowksi and Republican Joe Miller.

Murkowski announced Friday she has set up a separate campaign account to help pay for next week’s counting of absentee and write-in ballots. She'll be back in Washington on Monday to host a fundraiser for it. The account, known as the Alaska Voter Protection Fund, will operate under the same Federal Election Commission donor limits of regular campaign accounts, said her campaign manager, Kevin Sweeney. There's one exception: people who have already donated the maximum to Murkowski's election campaign also may donate to the legal expense fund.

Miller's campaign had this response to Murkowski's new fund, posted on the social networking site, Twitter: "Bring it on!"

The legal fight will shift next week to Juneau, where more than 83,000 write-in ballots – most, presumably for Murkowski -- must be counted by hand. The write-in candidate is ahead by 13,439 votes over Miller. More than 37,800 absentee, early and questioned ballots remain to be counted, as well, beginning next week. Write-in ballots will be opened in Juneau on Wednesday, Thursday and possibly Friday.

Friday, the National Republican Senatorial Committee sent out an e-mail encouraging donors to assist Miller. The NRSC's main aim is to elect and re-elect Republicans, and until today it was unclear whether it would fully back Miller's post-election fight with Murkowksi, another Republican.

In his e-mail, the chairman of the NRSC, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, warned that both sides "are beginning to lawyer up and prepare for any possible legal fights. Joe needs your help to make sure he has enough money to make it a fair contest."

"We need to get Joe the resources he needs to win the vote count," he wrote. "Because we need Joe to join our fight against Barack Obama. Help ensure that this vote count is conducted fairly."

Murkowski has former Stevens lawyer Tim McKeever heading her team. Also consulting is Ben Ginsberg, a national expert in election law who was involved in the 2000 recount in Florida. Miller is represented by Thomas Van Flein, who also is former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's attorney.