Your Republican legislators at work for you . . .

I see nothing improper here. They were only trying to "create jobs™"

Truly, America has become a "banana republic," a "politburo," a "gulag," a "dictatorship," a "monarchy" and "inquisitors" - all at the same time. What we are NOT is a democratic republic. I am proud of our American principles, but I am ashamed of our country and what it has become under George W. Bush and his corrupt cronies.

"Oh, the blah blah blah, I know what I'll do: I'll go in and rob everyone blind and go to Argentina cause nobody ever thought of this before."

- Moss, from David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross, explains the Republican Code of Ethics.

What makes this all the more rich is that these people claim there's no quid pro quo. They claim they're helping their constituents, but the little guy never talks to the politician. The guys who write those checks and provide those jobs and the like -- they're the ones who get the politician on the line when they call.

And the politicians -- both parties -- really believe that the electorate believes them when they claim there's no quid pro quo.

I'd laugh, if I wasn't so peeved.

wow, sounds like someone has tapes.

Five minutes to 3 pm - Alaska time. VECO just admitted involvement and that its CEO Bill Allen and Govt Affairs VP Rick Smith are involved, as folks are guessing.

And word is that at 3 pm, three more indictments will be served - as the Legislature is in session - on sitting state Senator Donald Olsen (D-Nome, district T) and John J. Cowdery (R-District O Anchorage) and state Representative Vic Kohring (R-Wasilla. All were subject of the August 2006 FBI raids.

We call this method of knowing "THE TUNDRA TELEGRAPH" - and if you ever lived in Alaska, you know how fast it travels across thousands of miles.

Can you hear the tsunami yet?... it is arriving in just a few minutes...

Groundswell Fisheries Movement

"THE TUNDRA TELEGRAPH" sounds eerily similar to our own "coconut wireless". I've never really experienced it anywhere else in the country.

The Anchorage Daily News >"...The company’s chief executive responded, “I own your ass,”..."

That may be so but "We the people..." own your ass Mr Chief Executive so sit back and watch the show.

"Eventually, the truth will emerge. And when it does, this house of cards, built of deceit, will fall." - Robert C. Byrd

My mistake. Veco it is.

In the words of Tony Soprano, "Waste manajement is a diffrent coreprate culcha."

"Oh, the blah blah blah, I know what I'll do: I'll go in and rob everyone blind and go to Argentina cause nobody ever thought of this before."

- Moss, from David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross, explains the Republican Code of Ethics.

Posted by: VictorLaszlo

I'm shocked, SHOCKED that VictorLaszlo would post something like this when it clearly doesn't apply. Our Republican crook said he was going to Barbados, not Argentina. HA!

Isn't that what Mitchel Wade from MZM told Cunningham?

"I own your ass";and how exactly is that ANY different from a lawfully bundled campaign contribution?!

The company’s chief executive responded, “I own your ass,” the indictment says.

Gosh, I hope he kept his receipt.

Oil company CEO to corrupt pol: "I own your ass."

I thought you were talking about Exxon/Mobil and Bush/Cheney!

I thought it was going to be about BP, but I'm not sure how many people will get the reference.

A sitting legislator just went down. Turned himself in to feds this afternoon. Rumors around the Capitol are that two more may be in the works. Stay tuned.

This is how it works in the big leagues.

Come to think of it, it's how it works in the minors, too.

Code = pocket, as in "Your pecker is in my pocket".

Move over Sopranos. There's a new drama in town. Now, all we need is murder, uh nevermind...

I was lucky enough to be a bartender in HI for years and had several Alaskans that came down every year. They were just great and I'm really sorry I never got to Kenai to visit them. There is no doubt in my mind that I would have had a memorable time.

This shakeup in the government will be a good thing for Alaska, and hopefully will lead to a cleaner government. But we all know it can happen anywhere.

It looks like it's time to fire that US Attorney and replace him with a "loyal Bushie"--STAT!

And yet the refineries keep being mismanaged. Gasoline per gallon keeps going up and politicians keep doing nothing. I wonder why?

Latest news this evening: Weyrauch & Kott did the perp walk on their way to arraignment at the Juneau Federal Courthouse in time for evening statewide news at 6, and pled not guilty. They were released on $20k appearance bond and told not to leave Alaska.

Kohring was arraigned in Anchorage this afternoon & pled not guilty.

I strolled through the State Capitol on the way home tonight, and the legislators & staff I spoke with are just waiting for the final shoe to drop on "Senator A", aka former Senate President Ben Stevens, son of US Senator Ted Stevens.

From what folks said, not much work got done around the Capitol today once the indictments went online (see http://www.adn.com/news/politics/story/8853688p-8754302c.html ). The Weyrauch/Kott indictment reads like a really bad TV script.

Interesting note on the indictment documents:

The lead attorney on the Kott/Weyrauch indictment is William L. Welch III, Chief, Public Integrity Section at main Justice, NOT the White House-appointed current US Attorney in Anchorage.

Security code bucket, as in buckets of sand on the beaches of Barbados that Pete Kott will never see.

Ah, the rich irony there. I can just hear some big old hairy cellmate's echo of that sentiment, as the bars slam shut on that first night in jail. (On both the politicals and their owners.)

Wonder if they have the Fox channel in prison?

PS: See www.AlaskaReport.com and read the main article, especially the Blue hyperlinks from Metcalfe re BENS BRIBES...

As a former New Yorker in Alaska for the last three years...all I can say is good luck cleaning this place out. Alaskan politicians could teach Tony Soprano business tricks. Maybe not...these assholes sold themselves cheaper then an old Times Square hooker. What moron would ask for a 17k LOAN to pay off credit cards in exchange saving the oil company millions?

It's a beautiful state and everyone should see it at least once. Clean it up and it would be a great place to live.

In a state that 1/3 of the population is employed in someway by federal dollars and 250 million dollar bridges to no where on remote islands seem ok to the majority, it will take a lot of cleaning.

I had hope with the new Governor Sarah Palin. From the little dealings I have had with her office, I am not so sure she is the honorable virgin in white the voters had hoped for. Time will tell.

Nelson Cohen is a lost loser. He still thinks that Fredo has his back. I guess he didn't check out the Kyle Sampson September 16th letter to Monica Goodling with Harriet Miers in the loop listing Alaska as a state they have to find a permanent USA for. He was appointed Patriot Act US Attorney only three weeks before. Sucks for him.

I am a 5'4" disabled woman that was assaulted Feb 17th by a healthy over six foot tall US Army minion trying to assault my fiance' John Mitchell in a local store. The fact that I received bruises by blocking this ass with my right arm with a cane in my left in an effort to protect my 100% service connected disabled fiance' was dismissed by police LT Randy Carroll because "he can't help his size". You know, that Army Strong thing. Maybe tourists should stop in Newark and hire some protection on their way to the airport. Alaskan men think it's fair game to bruise women.

With police attitudes like this it is no wonder that we have some of the highest amount of rape attacks in the nation. Boys just wanna have fun and all.

Same attitude with the Patriot Act US Attorney. His Chief Gary Guarino called our attorney to say they weren't going to take a position on "the incident". This is despite the fact the on the tape at the scene I am telling the police officer Gum that the assault was in an effort to disrupt a federal lawsuit against the US Army for making John have the distinction of being made 100% disabled twice. Once in uniform and once as a civilian. A federal crime in itself. Anyone in Alaska read 18 USC 241? Well, as TPM has reported, the Civil Rights division under Bush was trashed.

John worked for years to overcome his first US Army caused disability. It took Ft Richardson less then two years to disable him a second time. Yesterday John fell down the stairs and had to be brought by ambulance to the hospital. Concussion. Thanks to his treatment by the US Army Alaska and Anchorage Police Department he thought every male medic, doctor, etc was the enemy. Way to go guys. John used to be one of your own. Too bad he was one of the honest ones and couldn't fit in. Kudo's to the Chugiak Volunteer Fire Dept and Providence Hospital. The women (and men) caregivers were tops. They understood and knew how to care for a combative, incoherent injured vet. Maybe Providence ER could hold a class for Lt Carroll and Officer Gum. You know, a little compassionate conservatism?

Oh...and the officer that "investigated" the assault in February, Dennis Gum, has big bad me with my cane and my fiance' assaulting the tough Army guy.

The tough Army guy happens to work for Bush's Afganistan torture cover-up general MG Charles Jacoby (Google Charles+Jacoby+torture for his resume'). The cop Gum claims to have graduated from West Point four years before Jacoby (West Point Protection Society?.) Someone by that name did in fact graduate in 1974 according to West Point website. Also claims to have been a Billy Bad Ass SF guy in Iraq.

How many brownie points with Robert Gates does assaulting a disabled vet get you?

The district attorney Michelle Tsumper "lost" the letter from our attorney claiming our side and offering to bring us in for statements and is overwelmed with "600 cases". Assaulting disabled people is low priority. Checking out the facts is evidently out of her league.

Anyone seeing a pattern here? With any luck the Democrats will take a small portion of that bridge money and establish an independent Civil Rights/Public Integrity division here in Alaska. They could be busy cleaning Alaska for years.

Just a quick clarification. Veco is not an oil company. They provide services to oil companies. And they have a looooong history of interesting interactions with the Alaska legislature.

Security code foot. As in mouth.

I`m here in Yukon Canada next to Alaska and our Premier ( Governer ), Mr. Fentie, did prison time before being elected. The offence, heroin traffiking. Go figure.It`s a different world here in the north. I believe this is one of the most corrupt areas in Canada per capita ( Whitehorse ). 800 + million dollar budget for 30,000 people.

This is indeed a sad day for Alaska. However, it is nontheless a victorious day, because finally, finally, the truth that so many have been unwilling to speak of, is out in the open.

While the legislators (some THANKFULLY former)are being called up by the court to explain their actions, which, if proven, are nothing short of traitorous, I have to ask - what is the possibility of retribution against the oil services company, Veco, that was so willing to bribe legislators to get their way?

We can castigate the elected officials who have been accused of selling out...but, what do we do to the company that bought them?

Should any member of the Alaska Legislature dare to accept an appointment for a meeting with the CEO or the VP of this company?

Should every potential bid by this company on a contract be suspect? It is now public knowlege how Veco likes to do business, should we tolerate that?

Legislators must be held to standards of ethics, but what about corporations?

As an Alaskan, I am saddened and a bit ashamed by the news of the indictments, because so many of us saw this behavior and couldn't stop it for the fact that it was so generally accepted as "the way things are done" in Juneau. News people wouldn't investigate or report on it and other legislators would purse their lips and look away.

My hope is that this heralds a new day in Alaska. One that has us, as a state, being represented by legislators who have the courage to withstand the bribes and threats of the oil companies and contractors like Veco, and do what's right for all of the people, even those who don't own stock in the companies.

Who'd ever have thought Alaskan politicians would get in bed with an oil company? What next? Evangelical TV preachers getting caught with their wee-wees in the wrong place.

JIMCLARKJIMCLARKJIMCLARKJIMCLARKJIMCLARKJIMCLARKJIMCLARKJIMCLARKJIMCLARKJIMCLARKJIMCLARKJIMCLARKJIMCLARKJIMCLARKJIMCLARKJIMCLARKJIMCLARK

Notes from Hazard County, Alaska

VECO wins no bid fat contracts from Big Oil companies on the North Slope. Then they funneled that money to Alaska politicians. The real source was BP, Conoco, Exxon, even Ted Steven's friends got some on the Appropriations Committee. The CEO of VECO owns property with Sen Ted Stevens. BFF. VECO funnels lots of money to son Ben Stevens. In fact, the local media would not do a story on a local "gadfly" Ray Metcalfe who documented it all. He has documented Stevens family corruption for over a decade. They finally did here:(http://www.adn.com/front/story/6984518p-6885437c.html)

Wherever Federal money showed up Ben Stevens were miraculously there to reap rewards! VECO is Alaska Big Oil network's private ATM machine

Local media? Totally absent. Largest advertiser in Alaska? Big Oil

Ben Stevens actually took $750,000 from Special Olympic's donations to run their winter games. Donors? VECO

The former Mayor of Fairbanks, AK just got indicted too for embezzling Ted Steven's pork project money. Wonder who worked on Ted Steven's staff in DC? The former Mayor of Fairbanks son!

Rep. Don Young aide just got indicted for Abramoff corruption. Young is under FBI investigation for money from mobster truckers and casino scammers

See a pattern?
Real bottom feeders

The recent events force all of us "old timers" to tussle a little over how to express ourselves on this one. We are saddened yet the same time feel a big weight is being lifted from off our shoulders. Many of us have felt the juggernaut of the influence racket in our Juneau Capitol was frankly, unstoppable. Perhaps it still is.

We have all choked on the rotten air that seems to pervade certain policy areas and particularly in those areas where huge $ are at stake. Makes sense. Big $ can provide incentive for underhanded dealings. The Veco and other Oil or interest group tradition of "adopting" certain legislators, senators etc as "one of the gang" is well established. We have all wondered about a few things over the years. These types of activities can only continue if the public or our government are not willing to step up to the plate and point them out. I am afraid the obscure or delayed quid pro quo (give me a job a few years down the road or hey why not this summer?) type of dealings are more common than we like to admit. Public interest in the who and how our State Capitol business is conducted may slackened once we gained oil wealth and we eliminated the State Income Tax. The no tax policy disables normal democratic feed-back mechanism to encourage citizen oversight.

So we are saddened but why was I walking on cloud nine all Saturday? Because I know that this been a long very long time coming. I got a little of my Alaska self respect back.

These are the same shenanigans that influenced state government allowing Alyeska and others to drop their guards before the Exxon Valdez (among other things).

I am truly grateful to the citizen civil servants of the FBI and other agencies that are able to stick to the basics and avoid the politicization that has become more prevalent in the Department of Justice.

THANKS FBI!

Oh by the way,, the money trails on our bridge projects should be looked at very closely. Many of the same personalities seem to hover around this big wad of cash.

Thank you FBI!

A bit of an update from adn.com

As everyone expected, Senator B is Ben Stevens, accused of receiving more than $200,000 in bribes

http://www.adn.com/news/politics/fbi/story/8863305p-8765669c.html

"Wanna get a laugh?
From the VECO website:

"Values are important at VECO. We are committed to a culture that promotes safety and protects the environment. Read our Value Statement."

http://www.veco.com/

Incidentally, VECO is not a public company. How about someone get all the inside scoop on officers, directors, etc. There's a lot of mining to do in this one."

I worked for VECO in Washington. The company has no integrity...as a direct result of the leadership at the management level (i.e. "President" or whatever his title is today - Ken Marzocco) level. The employees are hard working and dedicated. There really is a team spirit among the hourly employees. The management does not have "values" - the contractors are laid-off the minute a job is done, while other local competitors place some value on their employees by keeping them on as long as possible - in the hopes of having more work for them. I found the whole atmosphere to be sickening. I watched quality people clean out their desks while others wasted company time and client funds. It's about the money with VECO - that's always how it felt. I guess someone will get some justice. It won't mean much to VECO I don't think, but it's nice to know some of them will lie awake tonight.