Peltola says she missed Strategic Petroleum Reserve vote because she used the bathroom and then left early

By
Suzanne Downing
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35

Alaska’s only representative in Congress missed a critical vote on Friday because, as she later explained to the Anchorage Daily News, she had to use the bathroom.

The record shows that Peltola was present to vote over the course of two days on multiple amendments on a bill that is key to America’s national security and energy independence.

Rep. Mary Peltola was present in the chambers on Friday at least until the final 17 seconds before the end of voting on Amendment 77, as seen on CSPAN. It was after this image was captured and before the main vote started — about a two-minute timeframe — when she would have walked out of the chambers and not voted on the bill.

Amendment 77 was the final amendment to House Bill 21, the Strategic Production Response Act, before the main vote on the bill would be taken. After Peltola voted no on that final amendment, she sat chatting with a colleague until the vote was finished and the main vote was pending.

Votes on amendments were taking about 2 minutes and there were short procedural moments between votes when representatives could take care of private business. But instead of waiting for the final vote to start, Peltola slipped out.

The bathrooms outside the House Chambers are right outside the doors in an area sometimes called “the bubble,” and the vote on the final version of the bill went on for six minutes.

Later, when asked by the ADN reporter about why she missed the vote, Peltola brushed off the importance of her bathroom run, saying that because the Senate is controlled by Democrats and because the Democrat president has already said he will veto the bill, it has no chance of passing.

That may or may not be the case in the Senate. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has signed on as an early co-sponsor of the legislation and she may have the ability to call in some favors from the Democrats in the Senate, such as Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who is an energy-friendly colleague, and Sen. Kyrsten Lea Sinema, an independent from Arizona.

Also last week, Peltola had to explain to reporters why her college attendance is overstated on her official biographies. She overstated her attendance by over a year at one university, and ended up admitting to the reporters that she left college without finishing and could not explain how the mistake was made. She said it was a mistake she made long ago on her bio and she never changed it.

Rep. Peltola skips out on vote to protect Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Peltola serves on the House Natural Resources Committee, and Alaska’s energy-based economy depends on her and Alaska’s two senators to make the right calls for the state’s jobs and for the nation’s energy security. It’s likely her predecessor Congressman Don Young would have voted yes. Peltola later told a reporter that she would have voted yes, had she been present.

But her husband, Gene Peltola, is involved in carbon trading, which is a relatively new and lucrative industry in the energy sector.

There is a way for Rep. Peltola to put that on the record now. Although she ducked out of being on the vote sheet, the House provides “missed votes” forms for lawmakers to fill out. Those “missed votes” don’t go into the official tally, but allow lawmakers to state on the record how they would have voted, if they had shown up. Peltola’s chief of staff, who was chief of staff for the late Congressman Young, would be familiar with the process.

That missed vote form is available at this link.

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35 COMMENTS

  3. I cannot recall a single instance of Congressman Don Young doing a duck and run of this sort, nor of any sort. Don Young stood up on his hind legs and forthrightly said why he did whatever he did.

    No doubt the woke crowd will say this duplicitous behavior is out of Congresswoman Peltola’s character but many more balanced people will recall how State Representative Peltola voted and why State Representative Peltola voted how she did to push over the top conversion of the Alaska public employee retirement systems – PERS and TRS – to defined contribution. She was the vital swing vote to approve defined contribution. All the other Yea votes were to save the state money, which defined contribution does, but Mary’s vote was entirely in return for capital projects she was demanding for the Bush, superfluous and wasteful projects every one. However, the teachers’ and public employees’ unions still back her because she is a Democrat.

    All the same, an estimated 5 fellows still working in the Capitol Building today remember her as nothing short of magnificent. This Mary isn’t contrary, and she has never had to settle for Miss Congeniality. There is much to say for that.

  8. Isn’t voting on bills part of her job?

    When she runs for re election and asks for your vote, just tell her ‘sorry, I have to pee’.

  9. Don Young missed a lot of votes also, but voted when it mattered, I believe Mary Peltola will be there when it matters and is doiung a great job for Alaska. McCarthy obviously sees her as a swing vote allowing her to be on the Transportation Committee

    • Frank — You say that Mary “is doing a great job for Alaska”. I am telling you and everybody else that she is not. Mary cannot “do a great job for Alaska” and Alaskans if she has no office here, doesn’t make herself available here, AND when she decides to skip out on important votes. Mary Peltola has shown several times already that she is “ethically challenged” AND is not up to the work she is expected to do.

      Answer this question: After all these months, why has Mary failed to establish an office in Anchorage? Her DC staff does not have an answer to this question. Is she afraid to face us? Maybe you know you know something we don’t know.

        • Since you insist on banging this incipit drum, lead by example.

          Post undeniable proof you are actually “Frank”. Pic, SSN, driver’s license, where you work, your last 5 tax returns. All the good stuff. Even your email, address, and phone number.

          If personal transparency is the hill you want others to die on, lead the way. Show us all how “Frank”
          does it.

          While I’m open to being surprised, I won’t wait up or sit by the phone to see this happen.

    • I call BS on various assertions Mary Peltola made on her “professional” resume.

  13. Steve-O and Mark, kindly refrain from taunting Billy Boy Yankee,. Such behavior reminds me of a certain Red Fox I knew who would walk between rows of chained sleeping Huskies and begin yipping. Often it took an hour or more to quiet the mayhem.

  22. She’s lying.
    She doesn’t want her Republican, pro oil vote on record.
    Lisa is training her well; we now know she is a typical DC liar.

  23. Having to pee right before an important vote says she is already playing the dem game. Send this over to Kevin McCarthy so he can get her off this important committee she’s on.

  24. Peltola is a democrat? One could never have inferred this from her (excuse me, “their”) campaign materials.

Comments are closed.