Lisa Murkowski’s Chemical Attraction
Has anyone else noticed the glut of TV ads for Lisa Murkowski? “But she’s not running in 2012,” you say. And, after noting that you are an astute observer of Alaska’s political landscape, I tell you that they are not actually campaign ads. “But they sure look and sound like campaign ads,” you say. “True,” I say.
But in this case, if it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s an independent expenditure issue ad.
Check it out.
Coincidentally, the ad space was bought on the very day an interview was printed in the Anchorage Daily News. In it, Lisa Murkowski, who was visiting Anchorage from DC, told columnist Julia O’Malley that she regretted her vote for the Blunt amendment (allowing any employer to opt out of any medical coverage which they found morally objectionable – most notably contraception). She explained that she’d spent her time in Alaska having her backside handed to her. Constituents who only voted for her in the hotly contested three-way race for senate because she’d promised to be a sane, moderate vote were not amused. Excoriation in the Anchorage Daily News, and the Huffington Post, did nothing but make things worse for Murkowski. The “too little, too late” sentiment continues to run rampant despite her penitence.
But now, with these new ads that plaster KTUU around the clock, Lisa appears to have friends again. That’s right, an entire phalanx of … chemists on white horses is galloping in to save her from the army of torch and pitchfork wielding women. This unlikely group says, “Don’t look at the Blunt Amendment, ladies! Look over there! What’s that shiny object over there, glimmering in the sun, right next to the pipeline?”
(squint)
Why, it’s a massive advertising campaign from the American Chemistry Council. Lisa is good after all! She does have friends – like the people who tout the environmental virtues of plastic bags, and the ones who make pesticides, and chemicals for drilling mud for oil extraction.
The American Chemistry Council is involved in shaping public policy discussions when necessary to defend its members’ special needs from the effects of legislation. This has proven particularly true when the public interest points to changes in industry practice that might be detrimental to the relative financial success of members. By combining funds from the collective chemical industry as a whole and then using this money to steer public debate, the American Chemistry Council has repeatedly demonstrated its efficiency at obtaining outcomes favorable for the special interests of the chemical industry.
I think for Christmas next year, I’d like someone to defend my special needs from the effects of legislation.
How much do they love her? Let them count the ways…
$1, $2, $3, $4… (time passes) …$111,875!
That’s how much the American Chemistry Council will drop in 20 days on their ad placement on KTUU in Anchorage. That’s more than some Alaska state legislators will spend in an entire campaign. It’s almost as much as Murkowski’s $154,310 last reported cash on hand. But apparently it’s pocket change to an organization who has nothing better to do than scratch a senator behind the ear four and a half years before her next election.
The fact is, that this kind of thing is just the way of the world these days, with our current campaign finance laws. But we don’t have to like it. And we can engage our brains and see it for what it is. The sad reality is that money has always bought influence, and will continue to do so. The good news is that we get to peek into the smoke filled room, that is cleverly hiding in plain sight.
Rolling Stone has a great article on fracking in latest issue.Lisa M. is a very conflicted woman.I bought into her political rhetoric during her last election, but I was def. so anti-joe miller I was easily swayed.shame on you Lisa.
Happy St/.Pat’s Day. beth.
“Danny Boy” (YouTube — Muppets) – http://tinyurl.com/2e7apw9
Here’s an interestng idea:
Both Houses of Congress are currently considering a bill which, in my humble estimation, would be wildly popular with the public — if they knew about it, that is. This is a truly non-partisan issue, one that pits every taxpayer in the country against the 535 members of Congress themselves — regardless of their party affiliation. The idea is a simple one, as evidenced by the bill’s official title: the “No Budget, No Pay Act.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-weigant/the-no-budget-no-pay-act_b_1346206.html
Some morning coffee reading:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Chemistry_Council
And those four other states being “graced” by these ads are Wyoming, Illinois, Louisiana and Nebraska. Fracking, anyone?
The fracking bandwagon is in Illinois, and how! We are being told a bushel of lies and dreck.
Same here in NY. Lots of ads during the news and Sunday morning political talk shows from energy companies about the “millions of jobs” that will supposedly be created by fracking and tar sands development.
They neglect to mention that lots of those jobs may be in the industries cleaning up the environmental disasters those two processes will create as well as medical professionals needed to treat the health problems that will occur.
Sorry, but I don’t really WANT tap water that explodes coming into my house!
Just saw on TV news in Anchorage that a celebration was held for women in Alaskan’s government and it doesn’t appear that Sarah Palin was a part of it. They showed Katie Hurley who is an outstanding woman in our history and many others that have served throughout.
You might want to do a segment on this, Jeanne, but I suspect you are already a step ahead of me.
Millie – I noticed that also too – that Paylin was conspicuous in her absence at the celebration honoring Alaska women in gov’t. Ha! I hope that story makes it to the L48 media – that $arah is totally shunned by ‘rill’ Alaskan women in our state’s governing history.
There also was a story in the same newscast about Lisa Murkowski and the chemical council ads. Turns out they are running the exact same ads in five other states, with just the names changed.
She’s as much as full of ca-ca as is Sarah Palin! Don’t have a clue why people voted for her in Alaska!
plastic bags have been banned here,(Santa Cruz County) starting next week- in most stores.. exceptions for wrapping up meat and veggies. recycle bags will become the norm; 10 cents for each paper bag , next year it goes to a 25 cents… my wife thinks her stash of paper bags will last forever — 🙂 I just love her optimisim !!
Good. They’re not banned in NY (our legislature considered charging for them, but got pressured not to pass the bill), but I don’t use them. I bring my own reusable canvas tote and a couple of fold-into-a-pocket bags, one nylon (the company wants them back for recycling when they’re no longer usable), and one recycled polyester, made of soda bottles. I check myself out at the supermarket so I can do my own packing in my own bags. On occasion, I do grab a handful for garbage bags, and I do accept the clear plastic bags at my health food store, and use them to recycle bottles and cans.
My grocery store (Wegmans) has been offering cloth bags for several years now and that’s what I use most of the time. The biggest problem I have with them is that their bags are so strong and just the right size to use for school so sometimes they’ll be at work or filled with school stuff when I need to run to the store. I’m trying realllly hard to be better about keeping them empty and in my car so I always have them around when I need them!
Wegmans has also been recycling plastic bags for years and will accept bags other than their own, so I gather whatever bags I have received from various places and drop them off on my way into the store.
This would be a great “Compass Piece” in the Anchorage Daily News. Wonder if it would be published….. Thanks for the info.
Yup, even my parents who were visiting after having recently moved Outside noticed them and asked…
Hey, Boys! Hey, Girls!
Superstar Senator!
Here we go!
So… I happened to watch Murkowski questioning the head of the Forest Service on the lack of timber sales in the Tongass.
In it she claims to have spent “most of her time in the Tongass” in Southeast the week she was here, “Yakutat, Ketchikan and Juneau.”
But in her interview with Julia O’Malley she claims to have encountered disgruntled constituents during Iditarod week which of course takes place in Anchorage and Willow.
http://vimeo.com/38037255
Maybe she just doesn’t know where the Tongass is vis a vis the Iditarod Trail.
Who pays for her birth control pills/devices/etc?
You do, Mike. US senators have gold plated health coverage, paid for by the American taxpayers.
Thank you AKM.
I’m thinking information like you have provided here is more and more necessary with the amount of money which can be and is being thrown around to “steer public debate”.
I’m thinking “when the public interest points to changes in industry practice that might be detrimental to the relative financial success of members.” the members may well have to just deal with a slip in their financial success if they aren’t savvy enough to change what, how, and all of what they do, just like real people do.
This kind of advocacy is another form of the pressure to maintain corporate privilege over public interest , Ms Murkowski. Where is your condemnation of these people using your name to advance an agenda which many of your constituents question?
yuck…
no surprise.
she is a nepotistic appointment by a corrupt good ole boy.
she is doing exactly what she is supposed to do.
P.S. that statement got me banned from commenting on the Anchorage daily news comments boards.
It will not get you banned here.
thanks , its the truth.
What is scary is that this statement got you banned but it is mild compared to the dreck that ADN allows others to post without repercussion. The ADN lost its ethical compass a few years ago.
Written by:
Cal Dooley
President and CEO
American Chemistry Council
Posted online August 21, 2009
“Dear Friends and Colleagues:
As we at ACC prepare to update the Board of Directors at our Annual Meeting in a few weeks, advocacy activity continued on Capitol Hill and in the states. A few of the highlights include:
…
POLITICAL AFFAIRS
This year, AmeriChem PAC has raised $118,000 from our member company employees and ACC staff. This total represents a $30,000 increase over our revenue at this time last year. If you have not already done so, I urge you to grant your prior approval to solicit you and your selected employees for contributions to AmeriChem PAC. With these funds, ACC is able to host events for influential policymakers and present the industry’s point of view on the wide range of issues affecting your companies.
In the next few weeks, AmeriChem PAC will co-host events for Science & Technology Chairman Bart Gordon, D-TN on June 2, House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-SC on June 3, freshman Congresswoman Debbie Halvorson, D-IL on June 4, and Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-VA on June 16. If you or your company PAC would like to participate in one or more of these events, please contact Shana Myers at shana_myers@americanchemistry.com.
MEMBER AND ADVOCACY COMMUNICATIONS
To continue to provide value to members, ACC is launching its new “Member Exchange” members-only website next week. A number of ACC members have tested the new site and provided feedback that it is greatly enhanced, more usable, and will be a useful tool. Next week ACC will be sending an email announcement to our member company contacts with a link to the site. I encourage you to pass along the email and link to your employees so that they may register for the site and stay apprised of important industry advocacy activity, news and information.
In addition, reflecting discussions at the most recent ACC Board meetings, the strategies and goals of the “essential2® campaign” are being refocused to a new communications initiative that will provide direct support to advocacy by taking a campaign-style approach to key swing states and Congressional districts. ACC has selected a new firm, “W2SKD”, to help conduct our paid advocacy communications. W2SKD is a partnership between the W2 Group (a public affairs and digital specialty firm), and Squier Knapp Dunn (a DC-based public affairs, advertising and political consulting firm). The group is based in Boston and Washington. We will keep you updated as enhanced plans are developed and implemented.”
Perhaps the Pro-Murkowski ads are the result of the enhanced plans finally being developed and implemented. Anyways, am waiting for a return call from the ACC in DC to discuss thier “essential2 campaign”. This was posted almost 2.5 years ago. The impact of the Citizens United ruling in our lives has just started.
It’s scary, isn’t it, how the corporate world thinks it controls everything. Sen. Murkowski didn’t vote on the Blunt amendment by accident. She did it by intent. She and the other female Republican senators, most of whom tout themselves as moderates somehow always vote shoulder to shoulder with all of their male Republican counterparts. Sen. Murkowski may have “scolded” her Republican colleagues in private but they know that, when voting time comes, they can always count on her.
A little back room lobbying going on in the meantime?
Yes, I’d noticed because hubby watches TV. It sounds like they just recycled her old campaign commercials which I thought was really weird. Now I know, thanks for that info!
Will be working my hardest to replace her with a real Senator next time around. She’s pandered and lied with the best of ’em – time to bring her home.
I think six years for the Senate is too long, and two years for the House is too short. We end up with terrible legislators, not just due to voting, but due to the system we have set up which supports “nose in the air” Senators who have lost all touch with reality and Congresspeople who spend most of their time campaigning for the next election and not getting anything done.
I would like to see more specific solutions proposed by the occupy movement (and others) to combat the corporate takeover of our country. We must acknowledge the fact that our politicians need to raise so much money for their next campaign that they don’t really work for us. They need to be banking reelection funds constantly while they only need us to vote for them every 2-6 years.
It is either the beauty of or the problem with the occupy movement that they don’t have specific solutions or a real agenda. The movement is highlighting the problem. We all need to come up with the solution.
Personally, I hate it when politicians say they are “fighting” for me. No, the Armed Forces “fight” for me, I want politicians to WORK, not fight. I do hear her ad say work now and then, before she was always “fighting”. Yes, we need someone to run against her, but we need to change the tone of the conversations LONG before that.
So….just who’s gonna run against her, if a Democrat couldn’t win even in a three-way write in with a nutcase for the other GOP candidate?
It depends who primaries her.
Hey, is Andrew Halcro gonna go for it?
I think I know who you are talking about. I pay attention. 😉
How does the old saying goes? We know what you are….. we’re just haggling over the price!
A better future? Didn’t happen that way for my dad. Admittedly, it was before OSHA. Dad was a color chemist in the plastics industry (among others). Among other things, he made our vinyl records (remember those?) black. He’d come home with resin dyes under his fingernails (he’d scrub them clean, but the damage was done), and say “This stuff’s going to kill me.” Combined with diabetes, that stuff did kill him, by shutting down his circulatory system. He died at age 51, but he was already an old man, a double amputee, and a victim of the chemicals by which he earned our livelihood.
Scott McAdams in 2016, Alaska.
I won’t forget her vote on the Blunt Amendment (and I haven’t forgotten her shaddy land dealings on the Kenai either). She’s two faced and deserves to be landslided out of office next election. She apologized only because ‘she was caught’.