Murkowski speaking, not stumping

MAT-SU -- U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski will be speaking at Matanuska Electric Association's annual meeting, but don't expect any stumping, MEA officials say.

MEA is prohibited, because of its nonprofit status, from using its funding to promote a candidate or political party, MEA spokesman Mike Pauley said.

"It's prohibited under state law," Pauley said.

Pauley said Murkowski wasn't the only speaker who was invited to speak this year. He said MEA staff were discussing pending legislation, both at the state and congressional level, and realized they'd never invited Alaska's senators to speak at an MEA annual meeting. U.S. Rep. Don Young was invited several years ago, Pauley said, but was unable to attend at the last minute.

"We invited both of our senators to come talk to us," Pauley said, adding that Sen. Ted Stevens was not able attend, but Murkowski had room in her schedule for the meeting.

Pauley said Murkowski will be discussing the nation's energy bill, which has some valuable projects in it for MEA. She'll also discuss, he said, projects of import to the Valley, such as the recently secured funding for water and sewer service to the new hospital being built off Trunk Road.

"Lisa Murkowski is an incumbent senator and she's been working on several projects that have an impact on the Valley," Pauley said. "Certainly, she's not going to be talking about anything having to do with this year's campaign, which is quite a way off in the future. Certainly, there won't be anything partisan."

Pauley pointed out that MEA has had political speakers at the meeting in the past. Linda Chavez, a nominee for a cabinet post early in George W. Bush's administration spoke at the 2001 annual meeting, shortly after she was involved in a scandal over hiring illegal labor. People called her speaking engagement controversial, Pauley said. He said whether a speaker is controversial or not doesn't figure into the discussion of who should speak at an MEA annual meeting.

"Our criteria for getting speakers is, are they interesting?" Pauley said. "That's the only criteria for an annual meeting -- if we can't find one, if no one readily comes to mind as far as an interesting speaker, we may decide not to have one. That's what we did last year."

Scott Sterling, chair of the Alaska Democrats, said Murkowski's speaking engagement was only to be expected.

"Why would anyone be surprised? It's just a Republican clubhouse over there -- I think it's criminal what they do with member's money," Sterling said. "For most people, if the lights are on, they figure the co-op's doing their job. Most don't realize what they're up to. It ought to be illegal for a cooperative board to do that."

Matt McKenna, with the Knowles for U.S. Senate campaign office, said they haven't called or heard from MEA in reference to any speaking engagements, but Valley residents can expect to see an increased presence of Knowles' campaign in the Valley in the coming weeks.

Contact Rindi White at rindi.white@frontiersman.com.