WASHINGTON -- In the escalating war in the Senate over the confirmation process for judicial nominees, Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski has found herself in the middle of the fray.
Murkowski has not publicly stated how she plans to vote on a rule change that would allow Senate Republicans to block filibusters on President Bush's judicial nominees. Democrats, referring to the rule change as the "nuclear option" and who have used filibusters to block nominees, have threatened to bring the Senate to a halt if such a rule change is made. Republicans prefer to call the rule change the "constitutional option."
Murkowski's position was vague enough to prompt the lobbying arm of Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian organization in Colorado Springs, to launch radio ads in Alaska this week urging the senator to stop obstruction of judicial nominees. And the Washington, D.C., insider daily Roll Call named her in a news report Monday as one of seven senators whose votes on the rule change are unknown.
The rule change requires a simple majority in the Senate; two of the Senate's 55 Republicans have said they oppose it.
The liberal group Moveon.org targeted Republican Sen. Ted Stevens on the same issue with an e-mail April 8 to supporters in Alaska, asking them to call Stevens' office as part of a national one-day effort to make 25,000 calls to senators.
The e-mail said, "Democrats are standing united, but to win we must secure at least 6 votes from moderate Republicans. In the end, it will all probably come down to one final swing vote and that vote may well come from Senator Ted Stevens."
But Stevens has said he supports going back to the original practices of the Senate, in which filibusters of judicial nominees were unheard of, his spokeswoman Courtney Boone said.
"He believes (judicial nominees) should receive an up or down vote," she said.
But Stevens could play an important role in the rule change. He said he anticipates presiding over the Senate when the change in rules is made, Boone said.
Focus on the Family picked Murkowski for its commercials because the group could not pin down her position on the rule change, spokeswoman Amanda Banks said.
In the ad, a voice says: "Never in history has the majority party been denied the right to vote on judicial candidates. Lisa Murkowski is likely to cooperate with Democrat plans to continue blocking qualified judicial nominees. Tell her to stop the obstruction."
The commercials are airing on three stations. The organization also plans to run newspaper ads later this week in Anchorage and Kenai, Banks said.
"She's just a vote that, unfortunately, we can't count on," Banks said.
But Murkowski spokeswoman Kristin Pugh said Friday that the senator was "deeply offended" by the assertions in the radio campaign. She said Focus on the Family had not contacted her office for the senator's position on the issue.
"Sen. Murkowski supports an up-or-down vote on every judicial nominee" based on his or her qualifications, Pugh said. "She certainly is not cooperating with Democrats to filibuster judges."
But Murkowski has not made a decision on how she would vote on the rule change, and a vote could take place on it as early as next week, according to Roll Call.
"She is hoping it does not have to come to that," Pugh said. "She believes it's important for the Senate to figure out a way to work in a bipartisan manner."
Abortion rights played a large role in Murkowski's close election in November against Democrat Tony Knowles. She was under pressure from her party's conservative wing to abandon positions taken as a legislator who supported abortion. Murkowski told abortion opponents during the campaign that the best way to restrict abortions would be for the Senate to approve President Bush's judicial nominees.
Karen Vosburgh, executive director of Alaska Right to Life, said that she would like Murkowski to vote for the rule change but that the senator also is a "thoughtful" woman.
"This is a change that could affect the Senate well into the future, which is why she's being thoughtful about it," Vosburgh said. But "I hope she sides with us on this; we need moral judicial appointments to the Supreme Court."
There has been discussion of potential compromises to avoid a clash over the nominees, but the uncertainty has people worried about the side effects on other legislation, including key Alaska projects. Democrats say that if Republicans exercise the "nuclear option," they will do whatever they can to shut down the Senate.
The budget reconciliation bill, which includes a provision to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, has several remaining steps that will require cooperation from Democrats. And the House transportation bill, which includes $2.1 billion in funding for Alaska projects such as the Knik Arm crossing, needs a comparable bill to pass in the Senate.
John Katz, Gov. Frank Murkowski's representative in the nation's capital, said it's difficult to know precisely how legislation will be affected if the rule change is implemented and Democrats follow through on their threats.
"There are more questions at the moment than answers," he said.
