Wave Goodbye To The Alaskan Republican Party

Between losing my job and trying to find a new one, as well as raising my 10 month old, I have not had time to update on the investigation of corruption in the Alaskan Republican Party.

A list of past diaries for informative purposes:

The Corrupt Bastards Club is what was known as Sept 2.

What You Need To Know About The Alaska FBI Raids is a compilation of information about the warrants and politicians/companies involved.

What Else You Need To Know... tells the story of past Steven's corruption involving fisheries and special interest projects that may be a part of the current investigation.





The FBI served search warrants at homes, offices and businesses across the state three weeks ago, including the offices of Bill Allen and other Veco executives, as well as six state legislators. Ben Stevens, son of Ted Stevens had his office raided and 12 boxes of documents labeled as 'evidence' removed.

Those warrants are currently under seal. One was divulged and among other things, it focused on items that could prove ties between Veco and state legislation. Information about the investigation indicated that it is broad in scope and may tie into hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of special interest earmarks being directed to Ben Stevens by his father. The IRS are doing audits of all involved, so time will tell. Adding more interest is that sources say:

*For months a staffer in one of the offices raided has been providing information to federal authorities. This may explain why documents were taken off the back of a picture on the wall.

Sounds like a lot of corruption eh? 6 legislators, oil companies, fisheries. How big?

The federal influence-buying case that erupted with fury 10 days ago with searches of a half-dozen Alaska legislative offices is being managed independently of the Alaska U.S. Attorney's office, a U.S. Justice Department official said Monday.

"The whole office is recused," Justice Department spokesman Bryan Sierra said.

Instead, the wide-ranging investigation is being overseen by attorneys from the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section in Washington, Sierra said.

Public Integrity Section? "What the hell is that?" you may ask. Well I happen to have a blockquote with just the answer:

The Public Integrity Section has about 25 attorneys, a team that often lives out of suitcases in pursuit of corruption cases as far away as Guam. They've prosecuted petty thefts by sheriff's deputies, the massive frauds of Enron and the high-profile corruption case of Jack Abramoff.

In one of my past diaries linked above I said:

Throw into the mix that VECO was a one-time owner of the now defunct Anchorage Times, and that VECO continues to pay for the production and publication of Voice of the Times, a half-page editorial section that runs in the Daily News, and you have quite the interesting read.

Well I was right. The AnchoragePress has this to say:

On Sunday, September 10, the Anchorage Daily News published a column by former ADN editorial page editor Michael Carey in which Carey predicted the demise of Veco, the oil field services company, and of the Alaska Republican Party, as both are currently structured.

"Everybody in the capitol building knew Veco's money bought the company exceptional access to lawmakers," Carey wrote. "Everybody in the building knew many lawmakers, mostly Republicans, were inordinately dependent on Veco dollars for their campaigns."

VECO bought Republicans, and possibly even a Democrat, The whole Alaska Attorneys office and the newspapers.

There has been much speculation in this paper and others about how much Veco pays the ADN for its space. The ADN historically has refused to comment. Recently, however, ADN editor Pat Dougherty told the Press that the paper does not charge Veco for the space other than the costs of production, and that the paper gains nothing financially by publishing VOT.

They have all the bases covered. That has to be all the wrong they've done right?! Its not like they would try to write laws, too:

Alaska Attorney General David Marquez was once a Veco lobbyist, and was fined by the Alaska Public Offices Commission for failing to register as a lobbyist - a fact recently highlighted on reporter RA Dillon's blog "An Alaskan Abroad."

In 2002, Marquez lobbied the Alaska legislature for a bill that would have revived the Stranded Gas Act to give energy producers a tax break during the construction of a gas pipeline and the first two years in which gas flowed down the line. Marquez was paid $43,500 in fees plus more than $11,000 for travel expenses to write and lobby for HB 519, which ultimately failed to become law. He was initially fined $580 for not disclosing his lobbying. The fine was later reduced to $90.

In a statement prepared by Marquez in order to reduce the APOC fine, he said he was paid by Veco to "draft the legislation" that would become HB 519. He then delivered "the draft to the staff of the legislator picked by Veco and its lobbyists," Marquez wrote.

Theres alot to say WTF! about. But a 90 dollar fine? Thats alot like Stevens getting a $150 fine for his corruption that netted hundreds of thousands of dollars. No wonder the Justice Department stepped in.