Murkowski votes against reinstating paying firefighters’ back pay after they were fired for refusing Covid shots

By
Suzanne Downing
-
90

The attempt to restore jobs and back pay for firefighters who were terminated for refusing or criticizing the Covid-19 vaccine failed, due to the “no” votes of four Republicans and all Democrats, including Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

The “Support the Reinstatement of Trained and Effective Firefighters” amendment proposed by U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was defeated 54-45 in the Senate.

The amendment sought to provide funding to fire departments that fired firefighters for their refusal to take the vaccine or their opposition to Covid-19 mandates, only if they reinstated those firefighters and offered them back pay.

Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Mitt Romney of Utah, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, and Murkowski voted against the amendment. Dianne Feinstein did not vote, as she has been sidelined by age-related illness, including dementia.

“It seems bizarre and contradictory to provide financial support to increase fire department staffing when decisions were made to terminate trained and effective firefighters for no good reason. Firefighters tend to be young and fit, the very people who had the least to worry about COVID-19,” said Paul, before the vote.

“These people were never a threat to their communities. On the contrary, they served their communities bravely and made their neighbors safer. What was done to them, what was done to police, what was done to first responders was shameful and we should stand together to make sure it never happens again,” said Paul.

90 COMMENTS

  1. I may be magnificently wrong, but I refuse to believe the people of Alaska actually voted to have this Republican turncoat and overall disgrace to another term. Anyone who supports her latest anti Alaskan, and frankly anti American thumb in the eye gesture, should be ashamed. Further proof Murkowski hates America and Alaska.

    • She had the unions, the left, the natives, the Democrats, the never Trumpers, and the mindless low information voters who saw the letter and not the candidate.

      Of course she won.

      We are a left of center state, she’s a left of center politician. The voting trends speak for themselves.

      • Well she sure helped support her union friends. I hope they remember this and help us get rid of this cancer.

      • Alaska is NOT a left of center state. Although I understand how there is an illusion of this that many people are buying into just like they bought into the Subject Matter Experts that insisted it was safe and effective to take the shot and mask themselves and their children. Some leaders actually believed they were following real science but many other leaders knowingly and purposefully deceived people. There will be and is coming an accountability for that.

        The power of agreement is important, so I do agree she is a left of center politician. At this point, we do not know if she was actually one of the fairly and rightfully elected politicians or merely one of the selected individuals. I also agree she had your list of voters and that more conservative voters need to rise up and choose to make a difference in the United States of America, in Alaska, and in our local communities by exercising their right to vote.

        As always, thanks for sharing.

        • Voting trends are not illusions. They are documented trends in how people vote.

          Your insistence on claiming something which does not exist is real is a delusion. It’s time to face reality.

          • While I understand your logic, consider this. What if the voting trends we are presented with are completely fabricated to help coverup the massive voting fraud that may be taking place? Something to ponder….

          • TMA, you keep talking about “voting trends”, but when we have both local and national elections that are not only unfair but obviously corrupted, no real conclusions can be drawn about how people overall really feel and believe politically. Our overlords are good at one thing, and that is obtaining and exercising power by ANY means necessary. To deny the corruption of elections today is the real refusal to face reality.

          • AK76 and AKLady,

            Where is any proof that there is massive voter fraud on all levels of elections from dog catcher in Skokie IL to Anchorage Assembly to US Senate and Presidential elections?

            There are a couple more reasons that I, and most other grounded individuals on the left and right of the political spectrum, believe are much more plausible than the massive voter fraud that you seem to subscribe to.

            Could it be that more younger people, who tend to vote more liberal, are voting than those older, more conservative voters? The young people who see extremists on both sides of the political spectrum and vote for a more centrist type politician. Remember, Lisa Murkowski voted with republicans and President Trump just about 75% of the time.

            Could it be that conservatives didn’t come out in force for these last few elections because the candidates put forth by the republican party catered to the extreme wing of the party or were just bad candidates period?

            Could it possibly be that what seems to be the dominate opinion in your household/social circle isn’t the dominate opinion across the city, state or country?

            I think these are much more plausible scenarios than full fledged voter fraud that is coordinated across every election in this country with absolutely zero proof

    • Senator Murkowski is a true Alaskan, born in Alaska and did not did not migrate here, easily won re-election by widest margin ever, not voting in favor of backpay for people who only feared having their arm poked is a law and order conservative value.
      We are thankful for all the federal money she brings to Alaska, infrastructure bill, broadband, F-22 squadron, two F-35 squadrons, new icebreaker being built, highway construction, new bridges on Seward Hwy, more money per capita than any other state for Alaska the nations greatest state, and on and on and on 😉

      • Let me guess, you initially voted for her the first time around. Wait a second, how’d she wind up there?

        • Ralph; Did not like the appointing her to senator by her Pop, but as things turned out, she just absolutely bloomed into the best senator along side uncle Ted who was also pro-choice 😉

        • Jim; Lisa is a host native Alaskan, you know, born here, so you are the intrusive, but you can stay a little longer if you’d like 😉

          • Just because you’re born here doesn’t somehow give you a super power or clout. Where your mother decided to have sex or her body went into labor 9 months later and you were spat on to the earth in Alaska, It has ZERO to do with you, not sure if anyone ever told you that.

            The amount of logical fallacies every time someone says “I was born here so ….” or “Their an outsider because they moved here…” it stunning. The delusion that because you or Lisa Murkowski were born here somehow gives you clout ? Lots of people born here are trash and work to actively lock up the states resources, and lots of people who moved here have worked to make Alaska a better place, and some have not….Use logic

      • 3Gen AK:
        What an ignorant fool you are. Lisa Murkowski just waved that little wand of hers and the F-35s, broadband, F-22s, icebreakers, etc.. etc…all came to Alaska?
        I did all that from behind the scenes. Lisa couldn’t get a damn thing done without me arranging for it beforehand…….including becoming US Senator and staying in office. Grow up, idiot.

      • Exactly right, let’s ignore individual constitutional rights all because I get more taxpayer money.

      • I am a fourth generation Alaskan and was born here. So what. It is a difficult thing to grasp but a continuous flow of federal money actually distorts the Alaskan economy and prevents the development of a resilient, productive, and sustainable economy. It is very similar to the effect of a sugar water diet for a diabetic. It feels good in the short term but will cause massive health problems over the middle and long terms. Bringing home the candy is basically all Senator Murkowski does these days. Support for resource development is illusory when coupled with voting to confirm Secretary Haaland. Senator Murkowski’s journey toward the Dark Side is almost complete.

        • That money would have been spent on other states regardless.

          The state could have never come up with the money being spent on all those bridges, and new construction along Kenai lake and much much more to list.
          Summarize, Alaska has not seceded from the union as of yet 😉

          • In Iowa, they build farms and grow corn and soybeans. In Alaska we build cheap office buildings for people to chase free federal money. When the free money runs out, we have empty offices and unemployed people with few skills. Iowa has corn, soybeans and cash flow. The analysis isn’t perfect but it illustrates the distortion of the economy. We have some resource development – not enough – and fish. States that have more resilient economies have less federal spending. We would be better off to quit chasing federal dollars. My kids – both fifth generation Alaskans – left Alaska for employment opportunities. elsewhere.

    • You all may be forgetting that the geniuses of the State GOP tried to defeat her with a faulty candidate whose demonstrated lack of integrity and propensity for fraud were highlighted in a report from the Inspector General of the National Reconnaissance Office.

  2. Of course. That is the sort of person she is now. Elected persons have a contract to have empathy for the constituents and advocate for a region. She is no longer empathetic. Something else has taken the place of that trait. More loss for Alaska.

  3. Dear Lisa. As an official that would have been exempt, were you willing to take the Satan Sauce, AKA The C19 genome therapy? Or any of the boosters? And will you take #5? Asking for, well, nevermind

    • What a disgusting human being – Kenai Land Deal Lisa.
      Never forget what the Covid Nazis did our children’s education, our livelihoods, our bodily autonomy.
      Shame on all the sheeple who went along with the mandates – without resisting at all.
      Ak PureBlood 4 Life

  5. It’s because she bought into the mania and can’t muster the courage to admit her lack of wisdom. Lisa Murkowski is the worst senator Alaska has ever had. If there’s any justice in this world, she will end up resigning so we can replace her with a person who might choose good over evil.

  6. I’ll tell you, if the government refused to send me my huge pension checks because I wouldn’t take the vaccine, and later, Lisa voted not to give me my hard-earned, back pension checks when it was determined that the vaccine caused old people to die, I would disown her. What a selfish, old woman she has become.

    • She threatens to cut me off everyday too, Pops. And she hasn’t even applied for her pension yet.

      • Frankie, are you sure you even own Lisa? Joe Biden thinks he’s the one. Let me check my old diaries. Meanwhile, she really shouldn’t be hugging and kissing Dirty Joe so passionately in public.

        • I’m OK with that, Nancy. In fact, I’m thinking about going full-on LGBTQ. Bought some nice heels and panty house over the weekend and going to a coming out party next week. If it turned out that Joe’s the one, then I guess Frankie really didn’t make history by appointing Lisa in 2002. “Who’s your daddy?” will be a moot question of parentage by those right-wingers. Next, they’ll be asking Princess, ” Who’s your momma?”

          • Maybe Princess was adopted through some twisted screw-up within the Catholic Church.
            That’s why she favors all abortion opportunities. A devilish reprisal.

  7. Of course she did. Did anyone expect anything less?

    Thanks again to the afternoon drive host who pumped the Incumbent Protection Act as “a way to get more conservatives elected”

    Didn’t pan out, did it?

  8. I expect that this ‘no’ vote will offend many, as it should, but maybe the real anger needs to be placed correctly at the feet of the folks who’ve voted her in office and/or those who didn’t vote. Look closely around, we’re surrounded by these careless people that continue their support for Daddy’s Little Princess and, maybe we should be challenging these voters and non-voters!?!?

    • Another person who really needs to be held to account for her reelection is one Donald J Trump.

      He made a huge stink about doing whatever to keep her from reelection. He threw some money at Kelly, came up here to do a “dig me” show, but otherwise sat it out.

  9. I can think of no stronger proof concerning the lack of moral decency in this woman than voting against this amendment. It’s a no vote against heroic first responders, safety of our communities, and acknowledging the lies the government told us about COVID. She has no shame.

    • She does have another 5 1/2 years as a Senator. She doesn’t have to have morals or ethics, or even pretend to.

  10. Nope. He was told, very clearly, by the Democrats to drop out or face reputational ruin.

    This is the Democrats. They play hardball while the useless GOP plays whiffleball.

    SD has (I think) seen the file but so has not shared what was in it.

    What I really want to know is who put it in Queen Sarah’s ear to run? If it turned out to be a Democrat I won’t be surprised.

  11. Lisa is bought and paid for by Democrat leadership. Uncle Joe is told what to do and it passes on down to her. I wonder if she gets part of the 10% for the big guy? I’m sure some trickles down.

  12. Can anyone remind me of the last time that Sockeye Lisa voted in a way that actually supported, rather than undermined, the interests of Alaskans and Americans, and that actually supported liberty? Has she EVER done so?
    .
    But what can be expected from a near-failed lawyer who allowed her father to hand her his senate seat through blatant and unconscionable nepotism? Her screaming lack of ethics was apparent from Day One.

  13. America now begins to see our own “AXIS OF EVIL”; it is fortified by these ‘BOLSHEVIST’S/MARXIST’S ACTIONS of Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Mitt Romney(Willard “THE RAT” Romney. This list of malcontents includes the 20+ Republican Senators and so many others who voted for the lame Omnibus Bills, Inflation Reduction Act, and the dissolution of our sovereign nation. Add in the FECKLESS “Romney McDaniel” and her bought and sold Republican National Committee of RINO’s, along with the rest who are bought and sold in Congress and Alaska Government today! This subversion of our FREEDOM AND LIBERTY is completed by the “trifecta” of the Alaska GOP, supporting “Lisa the Baby Killer” for her call to murder babies in the womb – Godless Wonder of the Evil World I think!

  14. Isnt it amazing how low liars like her will bend to slash any hope of recovery from the villians who attacked our freedom to choose what Fauci’s mad scientists concocted to “save” our lives and then turn right around and vote in favor of a womans right to choose to abort a fetus? As my good friend used to characterize attorneys when responding to questions why he cant serve on a jury ” They rank lower than Whale S**t”! Our great Senator Sullivan just lost my families votes(8 of them) over her idiotic choices. This is a direct reflection on his integrity as he chose to endorse her over Kelly. He will be hearing from all of us as she is not even worth the time. And now Alaska has to endure 6 more years of her ignorance. What ever became of the stolen/embezzled FTX money donated to her campaign by her partners in crime? She must be related to the Biden crime family somehow. What a disgrace knowing MRAK is the only news source that even bothers to report her pathetic voting record.

  15. That money is needed elsewhere.
    Illegal border crossers need transportation to seed the conservative community’s across America….. or what’s left of it.

  16. My guess is that most departments that fired people for refusing to get a covid vaccine were from left leaning big government areas. If those areas do not want firefighters or police then let their homes and building burn and crime run amok until such time as the people come to their senses and cast off their destructive government.

    Take the covid nonsense out of it, should the Federal government be funding local police and fire departments and telling them who they should and shouldn’t hire and fire? As a small government conservative who believes in the constitutional republic form of government we have, I’d much prefer that the Federal Government stay out of such decision making and leave those decisions to me and my local community who actually fund these departments.

    • Regarding ” I’d much prefer that the Federal Government stay out of such decision making and leave those decisions to me and my local community who actually fund these departments.”
      AMEN on that statement. However, governments that poisons it’s people with the mindset of “stay home 2 weeks to flatten the curve”, turns to “give us your 2 weeks notice” – if you don’t submit to an experimental “gene-therapy” (not a vaccine!) forced many people to take the jab or be fired. Without an approach for “forgiveness for fear of the unknown” of the jab, good luck getting first responders when you need them!

  17. Alaska has a 90% uninformed voted population. Being a lazy voters and not knowing the issues is the problem. Others, like the Bush vote, just vote for who they are told too. We unfortunately see the results with Lisa and mary…

  18. A big heaping pile of blame must also go to the AK GOP for being beyond useless.

    Hell, they even took back their censure of Princess when she won.

    The party is pointless, directionless, weak, incapable of recruiting and growing actual conservatives, and fall all over each other to give power to the left.

    At the end of the day, it’s on us (all the voters) to take responsibility for the pathetic people we elect. But when we have a eunuch GOP, they don’t give us much to work with.

    • Masked Avenger, please hold us not in suspense for another minute, You the Sage, must surely be also the Oricle, tell us oh Masked one, lead us and guide us with your unbounded WISDOM. We thrist for the vision and plan as to whether we go hither or youn. We beseech thee oh wise one, please instruct us. Leave us not in the shadows but guide us into your glorious light!

      • Naw. You’re not worth it. GOP jock sniffers aren’t worth the effort.

        But try this. Show me where I’m wrong.

      • LOL!

        Its not that MA is wrong, its just that the nattering nabob of negativism is raging out of control on his identification of the problem without advancing potential solutions, At a certain point, this has a pollutive effect, and it becomes difficult to appreciate. Your comment is well placed reproof.

  19. Ask yourselves, how many conservatives do you know who don’t vote, don’t call their reps, dont attend public meetings, dont urge friends and family too stand up and fight? Almost everyone I know is like that, all they do is whine and cry. Too busy with football, snow machines, four wheelers, and whatever. They are children, lazy self centered children. LOSERS. Maybe Trump will save them for another four years, then they puff out their chests and strut around like the hero’s they’ll never be. I don’t know about you but I think we are doomed.

  20. This may be the conservative thing to do.
    If you work for the Gov, you follow orders …. especially in the military like ‘uniformed’ services (cops & fireman) that have a chain of command. I would never join gov at that level …. too controlling for me.
    These fired firemen made the decision to be free Americans (employees) & reject the gov order to get the vaccine.
    As free Americans, they should move on, not try to get their gov gig back (w/ back pay, no less)
    They refused to follow orders … left ….. and now what back pay for work they didn’t do?

    • I get the point, but consider this: the government overstepped its authority by telling a free (well, semi free) people they must take an unproven med to remain in the government house.

      Or else. And the or else was big.

      It’s one thing for the military. The defenders of democracy (such as it is) by nature must be exempt from it. The rest? I’m not so sure.

      The Imperial Federal Government has a long history of overstepping its mandates. If they can make non military take this shot, what will they try next?

  21. Lisa was a pain in the ass when she was a kid, and she remains so now. I believe the only word to describe that kind of idiocy, selfishness and cowardice is “scrunt.”

  23. Murkowski is the enemy of a free people in Alaska. The only reason she has a job in the Senate is due to the fraudulent RCV system. Alaska, Murkowski took us to the cleaners in the last election, and we will have to endure another 5 years of Murkowski’s madness before we can vote to correct this mess.

  25. The amount of denial and rationalization in this thread is a mix of amazing and sad.

    The stomping of feet, the refusal to accept the reality in front of you, and the insistence on clinging comforting political mythology will not change the direction of this state, or country.

    To fix a problem, you must accurately acknowledge the problem.

    These are realities:

    Since Wilson, the US has been on a steady leftwards turn.

    There are more people who vote left of center than conservative. I don’t care about any silent majority which doesn’t exist. I care about votes cast.

    Only once in this century has a Republican won the presidential popular vote.

    Since LBJ the family has disintegrated. Birth rates are down. Immigration (legal and illegal) are at all time levels. People are born, live, and die on social assistance. Gay marriage is legal. Our citizens are dumber than ever. Our educational system is in ruins. More people care about Kim Kardashian than POTUS.

    I could go on and on. It’s easy.

    Many of you cheerleader the GOP.
    This is the same group on a national level that capitulates to big business and the left (I repeat myself) all the time.

    Some of their most recent “hits”. And these happened when the GOP has held majorities.

    -Failure to overturn Obamacare
    -Massive imports of foreign workers taking American jobs.
    -Steady expansion of the nanny state
    -A debt expansion we can not pay
    -the inability to plan an effective exit strategy for a near endless war.
    -the failure to pass Kate’s law regarding violent illegal aliens.
    -the failure to bring some measure of solvency to social security.
    -a runaway IRS.

    Locally:

    -a governor who ran on standing tall and can count his actual successes on one hand.
    -a legislature that has cut the PFD every year since Walker.
    -the annual surrender of electoral power to the Democrats.
    -the complete lack of effort to bring down the cost of government, get their jobs done on time, to advance any meaningful legislation, while finding the time to name a state vegetable.
    -the capital still sits in Juneau.

    The failure list goes on and on and on.
    And will continue to do so until the electorate accepts reality as it is AND gets motivated to do more than complain about it.

    Facts, John Adams famously said, are stubborn things.

  26. RCV got her in office. If RCV gets back on the ballot top repeal it—everyone MUST VOTE! Please sign that petition going around. We must end Ranked Choice Voting!

  27. Remember, all members of the house, as well as other select groups, were exempted from the mandates. I seriously doubt that any large number of them submitted to the clot shot, we will never know. But the older ones who did are dropping like flys. Just like in our community. The smart ones who refused will have to consider their health the greatest reward for their decision.

  28. Speaking of Kelly there is another Alaskan woman with true grit, nice personality, great Mom, lovely education and professional skills, well motivated to assist all Alaskans any way ethically possible.

  29. Problem is that people are just lazy! Look at this last election cycle in Anchorage and the fact that people have the ballot mailed to their home, and they can’t even take the time to fill it out and mail it back, or drop it off.

  30. How about this….Queen Lisa, donate your pay to our firefighters, police and military that lost their income because of the Covid vaccine mandates! They put their lives on the line for us! What do you do for for we the people???

  32. Senator Feinstein has not been diagnosed with dementia. Senator Paul should stick to optometry

    • Then she has had a miraculous recovery! Good for her.

      ‘https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/04/report-dianne-feinstein-memory-rapidly-deteriorating

  33. When is the every voter in Alaska going to understand clearly that the woman is a democrat and that is how she will vote, just like Susan Collins in Maine. If you want the continued destruction of our country, keeping voting with the democrats.

  34. Perhaps firing the Firefighters was wrong, but since when has addressing societal fallout from past failures been a priority for Republicans? Never.

Comments are closed.