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Donley Responds to
Incorrect Anchorage Daily News Story

(ANCHORAGE) - Sen. Dave Donley (R-Anchorage) issued the following statement today:

"In the October 23rd issue of the Anchorage Daily News a grievous error concerning an issue of fact was contained in the front page story, "Murkowski says he will run for governor next year," written by Daily News correspondent Liz Ruskin. The article makes reference to Senate Bill 166, sponsored by me, which passed the legislature this year and was subsequently vetoed by Gov. Knowles. The article erroneously stated that should the veto fail to be overturned Knowles would then be the one to appoint someone to Murkowski's senate seat.

Article III, section 4 of the Alaska constitution clearly defines when the term of governor begins and ends. If Sen. Murkowski were to be elected to the office of governor at this next election nothing would prevent him from simply waiting for Gov. Knowles' term of office to expire, which according to Article III, section 4, is precisely at noon on the first Monday in December following the election. Murkowski would simply wait until after noon before resigning his senate seat, thus giving him the power to chose his own successor with or without enactment of SB 166. Accordingly Ms. Ruskin's story, in regard to SB 166 is factually wrong. All SB 166 is designed to do is to temper the governor's power (whomever that might be) by requiring them to wait a minimum of 5 days before making such an appointment, thus giving the public an opportunity to be heard on the issue of who represents them in the U.S. senate.

I have notified the reporter, Ms. Ruskin as well as her editors at the Daily News of this misrepresentation. I sincerely regret to inform you that they have refused to correct their misstatements of fact, therefore I hope this clarifies the error."

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