Posted on 03/29/2009 2:17:30 PM PDT by SolidWood
Gov. Sarah Palin today announced Tim Grussendorf, a legislative aide from Juneau, is her a choice to replace Kim Elton in the Alaska Senate.
Grussendorf is chief of staff for Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel. Now he must be approved by a simple majority of the nine Senate Democrats currently seated.
In picking Grussendorf, Palin is rejecting Rep. Beth Kerttula, D-Juneau, the only name recommended to the governor by southeast Democratic leaders after Elton resigned to take an Interior Department position with the Obama administration in Washington, D.C.
Earlier this month, Palin invited other applicants to apply, saying she thought there were many qualified Alaskans.
Grussendorf is the son of former House Speaker Ben Grussendorf of Sitka, who now sits on the state Board of Game.
Look for a longer story later in the day. Here's the governor's full announcement:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 09-68
Governor Names Grussendorf to Senate Seat
March 29, 2009, Juneau, Alaska - Governor Sarah Palin today named Tim Grussendorf as her designee to replace Kim Elton as the state senator from District B, representing the City and Borough of Juneau.
(Excerpt) Read more at community.adn.com ...
It will be interesting to see how the dems react. I was hoping she’d pick Jackson, a Native, so that we could see the dems try to eliminate him. But, this sounds like a good solid, pro-development man who will be good for Alaska, which is precisely why the dems will react with horror.
Tim Grussendorf is a Democrat. Palin should appoint a Republican. You can’t expect a Democrat to appoint a Republican to a seat, so why should a Republican be held to a different standard?
Kim Elton’s (Democrat) seat was vacated, and Governor Palin had to pick a Democrat, which needs to be approved by Democrats. She did the best thing by dumping the Democrat recommendation of Kertulla.
LOL
The minute Beth’s name came up, I bought more popcorn.
If the sitting Dems reject Tim, the clock resets. All they are foing is giving up a Dem vote in the senate - a plus for saraH. She can slow roll them all session.
Still waiting to see all of the fallout on this one...
Unfortunately, the anti-Palin wing of FR will still foam at the mouth and type obsecenties and call Palin a RINO.
Alaskan law doesn’t allow the governor to tamper with the party balance chosen by the voters. She was by law obligated to select a Democrat.
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