Sen. Lisa Murkowski has broken her silence on the matter of Arne Fuglvog, a fisheries adviser in her office who pleaded guilty in a deal with authorities on charges he violated federal commercial fishing law by falsifying catch records. Fuglvog, serving the senator's office as a fisheries adviser, signed the plea deal on April 8, and the presiding judge has yet to accept it.
Sen. Murkowski speaking to the Anchorage Daily News, said she decided to comment on the issue Thursday because "there has been such interest that has been generated about what has gone on and the timing."
She said that her office had known of allegations against Fuglvog since December or January, and that Fuglvog told her on June 29 that he had been formally charged and would enter a plea deal on Aug. 1.
She also said that he didn't say he had signed the deal three months earlier and she and her staff learned about that on Monday with the rest of the public. Read much, much more, here.
In a Friday morning phone call with Alaska Dispatch, Murkowski Communications Director Matt Felling added to the senator's comments, "Sen. Murkowski and senior staff got a chance to huddle for the first time late Thursday since the story first broke. Given the fact that there was new information to us in the documents dropped by Justice on Monday -- namely that Arne Fuglvog had signed his plea deal back in April -- we wanted to provide the state more clarity."