Murkowski plays strange bipartisan card

In a strange exchange of letters and comments last week, Senator Lisa Murkowski and former Governor Tony Knowles held a public discussion about the need to increase congressional support for development of Alaska's oil resources.

Murkowski, in what she touted as an effort at bipartisan cooperation, offered Knowles the use of her office so he could help win over the hearts and minds of the men and women on Capitol Hill.

Knowles declined the senator's offer, saying he hadn't planned on using the office until he occupied it himself after the next election. A Knowles spokesperson later suggested that if Senator Murkowski wasn't confident in her own ability to persuade her colleagues in Washington, perhaps she should step aside and make room for someone who is confident.

It was an interesting dialogue, and it raises some questions. With Knowles obviously contending for the seat Murkowski filled when her father appointed her, this gesture seems an unlikely extension of the olive branch of cooperation. Certainly, the desire to improve Alaska's economic outlook is a bipartisan one. Most Democrats and Republicans can agree that some level of resource development will be required to realize that goal. How the parties approach that topic, and their long-range plans for resource development are different.

Did the senator make the offer content in the belief that Knowles not only wouldn't, but realistically couldn't accept? Was it an effort to gain points for being a team player, or to embarrass the leading contender for her seat? In either case, one has to wonder if Murkowski now regrets having made the gesture. The Knowles response was swift and cutting, and it can't be sitting well in the Murkowski camp.

The problem with an offer like the one Murkowski made is that it's hard to do it without at least giving the impression of being disingenuous. We can't help but ask what motivated the senator. The use of the catch-phrase "bipartisan" was a nice sound bite for a while, but it's become a bit tired now. We've become used the notion that we'll hear it a lot during campaigns and when one party wishes to blame the other for stagnation, but as a practical concept, we don't see a lot of it. In this case, if Knowles decides to lobby congressmen or senators in favor of opening further oil development in Alaska, he probably won't have any trouble finding office space.

Perhaps it's a bit skeptical, but we wouldn't be surprised if, during the campaign, Murkowski accuses Knowles of being too partisan. After all, he turned down an opportunity to share her desk for the good of the state. Maybe he's just being true to his word, though, and he'd prefer to have the desk all to himself.