Senate Appointment Update; UPDATED: Governor Names Nelson to Seat

The ADN reports:

The standoff over Gov. Sarah Palin’s appointee to the state Senate continues. Senate Democrats sent a letter to Palin today saying they’ve rejected her choice of Tim Grussendorf and she’s required under the law to give them another name. “We hope this assists you by making our position clear,” it said.

Seven of the nine Senate Democrats signed the letter. Bethel Sen. Lyman Hoffman (Grussendorf is his chief of staff) and Nome Sen. Donny Olson didn't sign. The rest of them maintain Palin has until Friday to provide a new name, while Palin is sticking with Grussendorf.

Palin is backing down on her call for the entire Senate to vote on Grussendorf -- but still wants a public vote.

[...]

“My primary objective is to respectfully request the Senate to take this matter up and vote on it in public session,” Palin said in the press release. “The Alaska people and particularly the people of Juneau deserve a public vote on this. While the long-standing opinion of the Department of Law is that confirmation by a minority of the Senate potentially has constitutional problems, I recognize that the caucuses in the legislature prefer not to have a vote by the entire chamber. The Senate can decide for itself who participates in the vote. I am simply requesting that the vote be done in public.”

Previous C4P coverage of this issue can be found here.

UPDATE by Mel: Eddie Burke just announced that the governor has named Joe Nelson to the Senate seat. Nelson was not on the list of four names that the Democrats sent the governor last week. He applied for the seat through the governor's application process.


UPDATE II by Mel: The ADN has the story now:

Tim Grussendorf’s out. Gov. Sarah Palin just ended the standoff and submitted the name of Joe Nelson as her new appointee for the open seat representing Juneau in the state Senate.

[...]

Nelson is a board member of Sealaska, the Southeast Alaska Native Corp., and is a director of admissions at the University of Alaska Southeast. He is married to Mary Nelson, who used to represent Bethel as a Democrat in the state House. Here's his resume.

[...]

Palin had been sticking with legislative aide Grussendorf, saying the Senate Democrats’ vote to reject him last week wasn’t valid because it was done behind closed doors. Seven of the nine Senate Democrats sent Palin a letter today saying they were standing behind their actions, and Palin dropped the fight.

“I think that effort’s been exhausted,” said Palin’s spokeswoman, Sharon Leighow.

It’s far from a sure thing the Senate Democrats will now agree to give Nelson the job that opened when Juneau Democratic Sen. Kim Elton resigned to join the Obama administration. The Senate Democrats wanted Palin to work with Juneau Democratic Party officials, and Nelson’s wasn’t among the four names that the Juneau Democrats submitted to Palin last week.

The governor's letter naming Nelson to the seat can be found here. More about Mr. Nelson here:

[Nelson] has been a member of the Sealaska Board of Directors since 2003. He is chair of the Finance Committee, serves on the Shareholder Relations Committee and is a director of Sealaska Environmental Services, LLC.

[He] is currently director of admissions at the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) and is a former director of Preparing Indigenous Teachers and Administrators for Alaska Schools (PITAAS) program. As director of admissions, he is responsible for all of UAS's outreach and recruitment efforts.

Born in Mount Edgecumbe, AK, Joe was raised as a commercial fisherman in Yakutat. He is a member of the Teikweidí (Brown Bear) Clan, eagle moiety of the Yakutat Tlingit tribe. After graduating Yakutat High School, Joe attended college in Southern California. He received a Bachelor of Arts in political science from UCLA in 1996 and earned his Master of Arts in American Indian studies in 1998. In 2001, he received a Juris Doctorate from Loyola Law School.