Tshibaka continues to lie that Haaland is Interior Secretary only because of Murkowski

From the start of her campaign until the end, Kelly Tshibaka has been lying to Alaskans about how Deb Haaland became Interior Secretary under President Joe Biden.

“If not for Murkowski, Haaland never would have become Interior Secretary,” Tshibaka claimed in a press release the Anchorage Daily News printed last December as an opinion column, never calling out her false assertion.

The committee confirmation vote was 11-9 with Murkowski part of the majority. Had Murkowski voted against Haaland, the vote would have been 10-10 and the Haaland nomination would still have proceeded to the Senate floor.

Tshibaka’s lie that Murkowski cast the deciding vote has been spread by all major Alaska news organizations, without correction, except in one instance that I know of.

In a related issue, Alaska news organizations have swallowed the absurd Tshibaka claim that Murkowski’s committee vote for Haaland was the deciding factor that led Tshibaka to run against Murkowski.

It is part and parcel of the Tshibaka addiction to invention and embellishment, blending fact and fiction for effect.

It makes a better story to say that Haaland is Interior Secretary because of Murkowski, rather than telling the truth—which is that Haaland would be Interior Secretary even if Murkowski had opposed her.

It makes a better story to say Tshibaka decided to run against Murkowski because of Murkowski’s committee vote, rather than telling the truth—which is that Tshibaka had been preparing to run for Senate for a year or two when she allegedly screamed at her TV in anger.

The notion that Tshibaka became a candidate on an impulse following Murkowski’s March 4 committee vote is a fairy tale.

Tshibaka announced she was running 25 days later. She had a campaign video, website and a fund-raising organization and consultants from Trump world.

Tshibaka quit her state job with no advance warning in the middle of a legislative session on March 29. One event that may have triggered her timing is that one day before she announced Sen. Dan Sullivan was on national TV saying he would back Murkowski in 2022. Tshibaka wanted Sullivan’s support. (Sullivan, who is afraid of Trump, has “backed” Murkowski with total silence.)

Tshibaka has continued her lie about the Haaland vote without interruption throughout her campaign, aided by the failure of Alaska news organizations to call her out.

“Our Interior Secretary is the radical environmentalist Deb Haaland, and we have Sen. Lisa Murkowski to thank for that,” Tshibaka said in a press release printed by Alaska newspapers in May. “Murkowski cast the tiebreaking vote in committee to advance Haaland’s nomination to final approval.”

To its credit, the Anchorage Daily News added a clarification to that May press release after I raised the issue, saying “Haaland could still have proceeded to confirmation by the full Senate if Murkowski had voted against her nomination.”

There is no doubt Haaland would have been confirmed without Murkowski’s vote. Haaland was also backed by Sullivan, Rep. Don Young and popular with Alaska Natives, an important constituency for all Alaska members of Congress.

Murkowski’s and Sullivan’s votes for Haaland were all about supporting the first Native American to become a cabinet member in U.S. history, not about backing the Biden administration’s approach to oil and gas development.

When corrected on her false claims about the Haaland vote, Tshibaka has tried to change the subject and claim that what Murkowski should have done was to prevent a confirmation vote on Haaland from ever happening. Under Senate rules and tradition, it is very difficult to block a cabinet nominee.

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