Contrary to Tshibaka's claims, Murkowski did not cast deciding vote for Biden's interior secretary

Kelly Tshibaka has made it a standard part of her campaign appearances, interviews and press releases to claim that the only reason Deb Haaland is interior secretary is because Sen. Lisa Murkowski voted for her in committee.

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

News stories in various outlets about Tshibaka, repeating the same false claim, continue to be published and have never been corrected.

Had Murkowski voted against Haaland in committee, the nomination would have still gone to the Senate floor for a vote. In the end, Sens. Murkowski and Dan Sullivan voted for Haaland, as did Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins and all the Democrats present last March. The Senate confirmed her 51-40.

Tshibaka never mentions Sullivan’s support for Haaland when she complains about the interior secretary, but always claims that Murkowski cast the deciding vote.

At the right-wing CPAC talkfest in Florida Friday, Tshibaka repeated her claim, saying Murkowski "cast the tie-breaking vote to confirm the radical environmentalist Deb Haaland to be Joe Biden's interior secretary."

The 11-9 committee vote that Tshibaka always brings up was not important in deciding the fate of Haaland’s nomination. CNN brought this up in a fact-checking piece on some of the bogus claims at CPAC.

“Murkowski's vote in favor of Haaland did prevent a potential tie in an Energy Committee vote on the nomination, making the committee outcome 11-9 in favor of Haaland rather than a 10-10 tie. However, this wasn't very consequential. Under the rules governing this 50-50 Senate, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer would have been able to schedule a final vote to confirm Haaland even if the committee vote had been a tie,” CNN said.

“Under Senate rules, a committee tie would have forced the full Senate to spend some extra time debating about Haaland. But it would not have killed her nomination,” CNN said.

Murkowski’s campaign manager, Nate Adams, told the news network that “Anyone that thinks that Senator Murkowski cast the 'tie-breaking vote' for Haaland's confirmation either has no idea how the Senate works, or is intentionally misconstruing the facts for their own political gain—both scenarios are equally concerning for someone who is seeking to represent Alaskans."

No matter how often Tshibaka says it, Murkowski did not cast the deciding vote for Haaland and it is a lie for the candidate to say, “If not for Murkowski, Haaland never would have become Interior Secretary.”

Your contributions help support independent analysis and political commentary by Alaska reporter and author Dermot Cole. Thank you for reading and for your support. Either click here to use PayPal or send checks to: Dermot Cole, Box 10673, Fairbanks, AK 99710-0673.