2010 AK Senate Debates: on Budget & Economy

Joe Miller: Murkowski owned TARP recipients' stock while voting for TARP

Murkowski shouldn't have voted for the bill, said a Miller campaign spokesman, since she and her family had investments in several of the more than 800 financial institutions that accepted bailout money. The Miller campaign drew attention to the family's holdings at the time in Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo [totaling under $100,000]. Both companies took bailout money; both paid the government back in 2009, plus returned $3.3 billion in profit.

A Miller campaign spokesman said, "There was a conflict of interest there." So I asked: "Does that apply to any senator who happened to own stock in any of 800 banks?" The Miller spokesman wouldn't address other senators, but said Murkowski should have recused herself.

Lisa Murkowski: Regrets voting for TARP; would vote against it now

Murkowski shouldn't have voted for the bill, said a Miller campaign spokesman, since she and her family had investments in several of the more than 800 financial institutions that accepted bailout money. The Miller campaign drew attention to the family's holdings at the time in Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo [totaling under $100,000]. Both companies took bailout money.

A Miller campaign spokesman said, "There was a conflict of interest there," and that Murkowski should have recused herself.

Murkowski's spokesman said that like man Alaskans, Murkowski's family "invested money in mutual funds for both retirement and her kids' college education." Murkowski said during a debate before the primary that if she could do it over, she would not vote for the bank bailout.