by Thomas M. Daniel, Perkins Coie LLP
Alaska voters appear to have rejected Tea Party favorite and Sarah Palin-endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller in favor of write-in candidate Senator Lisa Murkowski. The write-in votes have yet to be counted, but they seem to be sufficient for Murkowski to claim victory.
Miller, a West Point and Yale Law graduate, dropped significantly in the polls after (1) his security detail arrested a reporter at one of his campaign events and (2) it was revealed that he was almost fired from his former job as an assistant borough attorney in Fairbanks because he surreptitiously went on his co-attorneys’ computers during their lunch hour to vote in a Republican Party poll and then lied about it when caught.
Thomas M. Daniel is editor of Alaska Employment Law Letter and a partner with Perkins Coie LLP in the firm’s Anchorage office. He can be reached at (907) 279-6950.