PETERSBURG, AK One of the hot issues in this year’s race for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Lisa Murkowski is that of federal spending on local Alaskan projects. Republican nominee Joe Miller, who defeated Murkowski in the August primary, is promising to work to reduce federal government spending if he’s elected to the Senate. Miller has signed a pledge called the “No Pork Pledge” put forth by the lobbying group the council for Citizens Against Government Waste. In that pledge Miller says he will not request any pork barrel earmark not requested by the president, requested by only one chamber of Congress or serving a local or special interest. The group publishes an annual pork list, naming projects it considers pork. This year’s pork list includes 482-thousand dollars that Petersburg officials are hoping the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will receive to help dredge the North Harbor. It also names one and a quarter million dollars for the U.S. Forest Service to prepare timber sales on the Tongass National Forest. Joe Viechnicki spoke with Miller about the pork pledge and any specific actions he would take to help Petersburg if he’s elected to the Senate.
