Sen. Lisa Murkowski keeps trying to shake him off, but Sen. Mark Begich continues to insist they have a good working relationship.
His latest television ad mentions Murkowski by first name only. It features Margie Brown, former CEO of Cook Inlet Region Inc. Brown says Begich helped expand Alaska’s telecom industry.
“And I like how he works with Lisa,” Brown says.
Brown points out that Alaska is one of the few states with both senators on the Appropriations Committee.
“We can’t afford to lose that. I voted for Lisa. Now I’m voting for Mark,” she says at the end.
Last week, Murkowski very publicly endorsed Begich’s opponent, in a TV ad for Republican Dan Sullivan. This is the second Begich ad featuring an Alaska business person highlighting what they allege is a good relationship between the senators. Begich spokesman Max Croes says there’s nothing wrong with saying that.
“Well the response we had from the first ad was that Alaskans were pretty pleased with the fact that Sen. Murkowski and Sen. Begich work together in Washington,” Croes said.
Murkowski, though, sent a cease-and-desist letter to Begich last month demanding he quit using her name and image in his ads.  The latest ad again shows  a photo of the two senators smiling, standing in Murkowski’s Senate office.
While Murkowski is overtly trying to ditch Begich, Croes says the claim the two senators  make a good team is reflected in their Senate votes:  For the first half of this year, they voted together 80 percent of the time, a figure verified by the independent group Politifact.
Kevin Sweeney, a spokesman for Murkowski’s campaign, says they don’t intend to respond to the latest ad because Murkowski has already made her views known.
Liz Ruskin is the Washington, D.C., correspondent at Alaska Public Media. Reach her at lruskin@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Liz here.
