Posted on 09/01/2006 5:03:17 PM PDT by skeptoid
JUNEAU - Among the items federal agents were searching for in Alaska legislative offices this week are hats or garments labeled “Corrupt Bastards Club” or “Corrupt Bastards Caucus,” according to the search warrant.
That’s the nickname given to 11 lawmakers after a guest opinion piece published in March listed the contributions those legislators received from VECO Corp. executives, said House Speaker John Harris, R-Valdez.
“I’ve heard it a few times,” Harris said Friday. “These legislators nicknamed themselves or somebody else did.”
In the article, published last March in the state’s largest newspapers, All Alaska Alliance Executive Director Lori Backes questioned whether the financial linkages between VECO and lawmakers created “undue influence” over the state’s political process. Backes’ group supports a North Slope natural gas pipeline proposal different from the project favored by Gov. Frank Murkowski and supported by VECO, a giant oil field services company and a heavy hitter in Alaska politics.
After that story ran, the Corrupt Bastards Club was born.
“They were making fun of it,” Harris said of lawmakers named in the article.
(Excerpt) Read more at adn.com ...
Muk-Yuk, Muk-Yuk, Muk-Yuk ????
Ooga-ooga muushka!
I want a CBC hat!
Well the FBI deals with hat-crimes
?
Thailand?
.. ...I guess that should be "Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk"
But they're not too concerned with Bridge Crimes.
Photo by MICHAEL PENN / Juneau Empire
Unidentified FBI agents remove files from the office of Rep. Vic Koring, R-Wasillia, Aug. 31, 2006, at the state Capitol in Juneau, Alaska.
That agent is walking past what looks like a model of the 'Bridge to Nowhere' in Ketchikan, although the bridge itself is just out of frame to our right.
Will you settle for one that says "Police" on it in English and Arabic? I've got a few hats for ya!
And I'm almost home. Step 1: Complete.
Tomorrow - outta Baghdad!
Lawmakers targeted and/or searched:
Sen. Ben Stevens, R-Anchorage
Sen. John Cowdery, R-Anchorage
Sen. Donald Olson, D-Nome
Rep. Vic Kohring, R-Wasilla
Rep. Bruce Weyhrauch, R-Juneau
Rep. Pete Kott, R-Eagle River Legislators' offices searched
Here's an article linked from InstaPundit today: Catalog of Ted Stevens' Actions That Have Benefitted Clients of Ben Stevens
Here's a roundup from TOPIX.net: FBI Probes Office of Sen. Stevens' Son
Here are other links on FreeRepublic:
FBI raids (Alaska) legislative offices
Have a safe trip and Godspeed! and thanks for all the first-hand accounts over there!
I'm coming back over here...but not until the end of this month or the first of October - taking a break from it all.
I can't wait to be home! :-)
Giant oil field services company ping.
COMPASS: Points of view from the community
By LORI BACKES
Published: September 2, 2006
Last Modified: September 2, 2006 at 04:38 PM
Editor's note: This column originally ran in the Anchorage Daily News March 03, 2006. It is being credited as the article that launched the name of the 'Corrupt Bastards Club.'
http://www.adn.com/news/government/veco/story/8149379p-8042343c.html
Water bomber gained fame in '80s legislative scandal
By Martha Bellisle
Anchorage Daily News
(Published April 6, 2001)
Juneau -- The only case of an Alaska legislator convicted on bribery charges involved a senator on a finance committee and two Canadair CL-215 water-scooper firefighting planes. These are same type of aircraft now in dispute between some Senate Finance Committee members who want the planes and state fire managers who do not.
It's a coincidence and nothing more, said Sen. Loren Leman, chairman of the subcommittee that recommended that the division use the CL-215 air tanker. Leman said that, while discussing the planes this week, he remembered the old case.
Senator George Hohman
Sen. George Hohman, D-Bethel and Rep. Russ Meekins, D-Anchorage, were on a House-Senate budget committee in 1980. According to Dan Hickey, chief prosecutor on the case, Hohman offered to share up to $30,000 in exchange for Meekins' support of an appropriation to buy two of the aircraft.
Meekins reported the offer. In May that year, a state grand jury indicted Hohman on the charges that he offered to split $20,000 with Meekins, with the understanding that another $10,000 might be added later.
Hohman was convicted in 1982 of two felony counts of bribery, was expelled from the Senate and served a year in prison before his release in 1985.
No bribes have been offered this time, Leman said.
"No, no one has approached me with a brown paper bag," Leman, R-Anchorage, said Thursday. "In fact, nobody has ever, in the 13 years I've been here, approached me with any proposal like that."
"Crawford said he saw Rep. Tom Anderson, R-Anchorage, carry several notes from Allen to other legislators. Anderson has received Veco campaign contributions and has also reported $30,000 in consulting contracts with the company since 2003. Several other legislators say their staff observed similar goings-on.
"He was definitely directing traffic back there," Crawford said of Allen.
Democrats were frustrated as cell phones rang and legislators returned from at-ease breaks to reverse votes they'd just taken. House minority leader Ethan Berkowitz finally stood up and gave a speech blasting undue interference in the legislative process. He said later he was referring not just to Veco but to meddling during House floor sessions from all directions, including Murkowski administration officials."
I was watching Gavel to Gavel and could see this also. They weren't trying to hide it. I saw speaker Harris get a phone call then gavel the house back in session for a vote. I would like to see the phone log on that phone. The FBI should be looking.
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