When Rep. Don Young (R-AK) dishes out pork, it sticks.

After Lee County twice tried to return a mysterious $10 million earmark for an unwanted Coconut Road Interchange, Rep. Don Young (R-AK) warned the Florida county that it was jeopardizing receiving federal funds in the future. Lee County faces a similar fate again, after voting to return the $10 million to Congress in hopes of getting it reauthorized for a broader (and wanted) project.

The News Press reports that the Florida Department of Transportation will not approve the county's budget through 2012 unless it overturns the reauthorization vote and allows more time for public comment on the issue.

Locals who want the county to forge on with the $10 million extra-Constitutional project, like, say, those married to developers who pushed for the deal, should have a fair shake at voicing their opinion.

It's hard to keep track of all of Rep. Don Young's (R-AK) scandals. But we're here to help. Here's a snapshot of what we know about all the ways Young has managed to get into trouble.

Coconut Road
McClatchy reported last week that investigators have begun scrutinizing Young's now famous $10 million earmark for a Florida interchange. Whether the earmark was a quid pro quo for a big time contributor is only half the story. Young also appears to have changed the bill's language after it passed Congress in order to make sure that the money went where (or to who) he wished.

Dennis Troha
As we noted in our post on Young's remarkable fundraising record in the run-up to the 2005 transportation bill, Wisconsin businessman Dennis Troha is reportedly cooperating with investigators regarding his contributions to Young and other lawmakers. Troha allegedly gave his support in exchange for a measure that was inserted into the bill.

Veco
The FBI is also scrutinizing Young's dealings with Alaska oil services company Veco Corp. At issue is whether he accepted bribes in exchange for political favors over the course of his long friendship with former Veco CEO Bill Allen. In January, Young tried to make amends by returning $38,000 to Allen for the decade-worth of pig roast fundraisers the executive held in Young's honor each year in Anchorage. From 1996 to 2006, when Allen played host to the pork gala, Veco and its employees gave Young at least $157,000. Young was chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for six of those years.

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To be fair in our coverage of Rep. Don Young's (R-AK) controversial $10 million Coconut Road interchange earmark, we should point out that there are locals who want to keep the extra-Constitutional language change. One of the more vocal advocates also appears to have a financial stake in the decision.

Last week when county authorities voted to ask Congress to use the money to widen Interstate 75, rather than for the pet project, there was some opposition. Heather Mazurkiewicz, who belongs to the citizens advisory board, which advises the Metropolitan Planning Organization, supported keeping the changed wording. According to theNews Press she was appalled that the county ignored her advice:

"I should be able to discuss the merits of this without a bias from you," she said. "We make recommendations to you. You don't make them to us."

As it turns out, Mazurkiewicz is married to a consultant who pushed for the project and attended the fundraiser that netted Young $40,000 right before the earmark appeared. Joe Mazurkiewicz spoke with the New York Times and CNN about the fundraiser and the funding. In his initial interview with the Times, Mazurkiewicz was a bit more candid about the fundraiser, saying he and other developers were looking for "a lot of money" and Young delivered. According to Young's contribution records, the Mazurkiewiczs gave Young's campaign $1,000 a few weeks after the February 2005 fundraiser.

When developer Daniel Aronoff wanted an interchange built in Florida, Rep. Don Young (R-AK) came through -- after Aronoff arranged a $40,000 fundraiser for him. But Florida wasn't the only remote state where the Alaskan congressman proved popular in 2005. A massive transportation bill was making its way through Congress, and Young, as the chairman of the transportation committee, was in a powerful position.

In addition to Aronoff's $40,000 in Florida, Young raised tens of thousands of dollars in Wisconsin, Arkansas, and New Jersey during the spring and summer of 2005 from residents and special interests eager to curry favor with the man who would preside over a $280 billion authorization bill.

In fact, Young proved much more popular with those outside his state during that time than with Alaskans. Young raised only $37,862 from Alaskans for his campaign and political action committees in the first six months of 2005 -- that's compared to $90,000 from Floridians, $22,000 from Wisconsinites, $174,000 from Arkansans, and $30,000 from New Jerseyans.

Below is our rundown of Young's special tour of our great nation, and how the locals fared.

Florida
First and foremost, of course, is Young's infamous $10 million Coconut Road earmark, one which Young inserted (changing the language after the bill passed Congress) against the wishes of local officials.

Following the typical Young-earmark pattern, a fundraiser arranged by part-time Naples resident and real estate developer Daniel Aronoff triggered the earmark, after netting $40,000 for Young's campaign.

The project is unpopular in the area and local authorities have asked for permission to use the money for what was outlined by the original earmark before it was changed.

Wisconsin
In late May of 2005, businessman Dennis Troha, his family, and associates gave $22,000 to Young.

He had his reasons. Daniel Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has reported that Troha was angling to have truck hauling legislation included in the transportation bill that would benefit Troha's trucking conglomerate. Troha got what he wanted (thanks also to Reps. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Jim Oberstar (D-MN)), but has since been indicted. Earlier this summer, he pleaded guilty to making illegal contributions to Democrats and Republicans alike. He's yet to be sentenced and faces a maximum of two years in prison.

Bice reports that Troha is currently cooperating with federal prosecutors as they probe the trucking deal. Young says that he's never met Troha and didn't know the rule change would benefit him.

Around the same time the US attorney's office began looking into the contributions, Young retained Akin Gump for $25,000.

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Last night, CNN took a look at Rep. Don Young's (R-AK) extra-Constitutional methods, airing a segment on Young's $10 million Coconut Road earmark.

Remember that someone, apparently at Young's behest, changed the language in the massive 2005 transportation bill after a vote in both the House and Senate.

Young's office has stayed quiet about the Constitutional issue at hand. Notably, he isn't even talking to CNN.

CNN did talk to a businessman, Joe Mazurkiewicz, who attended the Young fundraiser in 2005. That fundraiser, organized by Daniel Aronoff, netted Young $40,000 in contributions.

Mazurkiewicz told CNN there's nothing nefarious here -- it's just "really proper planning." That's at odds with the blunt description he gave to The New York Times in June:

'We were looking for a lot of money,'' said the consultant, Joe Mazurkiewicz. ''We evidently made a very good impression on Congressman Young, and thanks to a lot of great work from Congressman Young, we got $81 million to expand Interstate 75 and $10 million for the Coconut Road interchange.''

Blitzer wraps up the piece saying this can't possibly be the only example of an altered earmark in the 800-page highway bill. But according to our review, it certainly is 1 in 6, 371.

Rep. Don Young (R-AK) has developed a bit of an M.O. (No, he hasn't threatened to bite anyone else like an Alaskan mink.)

In the last year, Young thrice doled out reimbursements for fundraisers in what appear to be last ditch efforts to redeem himself. Perhaps the lawyers he retained in March -- and has since paid at least $262,000 -- had something to do with the decisions:

-- In June, the congressman reimbursed the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa $2,602 for "lodging and reception" costs from a fundraiser in February 2005. The event, arranged by businessman Daniel Aronoff, raised $40,000 for Young and appears to be the impetus for the contentious $10 million Coconut Road earmark. The arrangement is now part of an FBI inquiry into shifty earmarks. The Anchorage Daily News noted the tardy payback last week.

(Young's campaign lists the Hyatt payment as a June 2007 expenditure, which is a bizarre way to handle a reimbursement for 2005. In any case, Young's chief of staff Mike Anderson told me definitively that Young has not visited Florida at all this year and there was no reception. Young's campaign contributions also confirm no fundraiser took place.)

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On July 29, 2005, after both houses of Congress had passed a massive transportation bill, someone changed the language of a $10 million authorization for Florida to read just how Rep. Don Young (R-AK) wanted it. Who? How? It's not clear, and Don Young's not talking. But we do know one thing for sure: it was a unique case.

The 800-page, $286.4 billion bill included $24.2 billion for 6,371 special earmarks, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense.

Out of those 6,371 earmarks, only one underwent a substantive change after it passed Congress. How do we know? We checked. Our, rather, our tireless (and by now nearly blind) researchers Will Thomas and Tanvir Vahora checked. Every single one. Lawmakers tucked 6,371 projects into the bill, and sure, there were minor differences between the conference report that passed Congress and the bill that the President signed, such as an extra word here or there, different punctuation, etc. But the only earmark that underwent a substantive change was Young's pet Coconut Road project:

As Keith Ashdown of Taxpayers for Common Sense explained to us, Young had a motive for making the change. Local authorities had signaled that they didn't want to spend the money on the I-75 Coconut Road Interchange and would rather have it for a more general highway widening project. But Young's rainmaker, businessman Daniel Aronoff, wanted the interchange. And so Young made sure that the money was targeted to that project.

The question remains, of course, how this happened.

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It seems like everyone down in Florida is teaming up to undo what Rep. Don Young (R-AK) has done.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Rep. Connie Mack (R-FL) have taken up the cause of Lee County officials who want to use Young's infamous $10 million Coconut Road earmark for a broader project.

Mack, congressman for the district where the projects sit, sent a letter to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure asking the committee to allow Lee County "flexibility" in how it may use the money. Lee County officials voted last week to send back the money to Congress in hopes of having it reauthorized for I-75.

The county wants the money to widen I-75, as was originally described in the bill approved by the House and Senate. But as Mack writes, "at some point after the conference report passed Congress but before the bill was signed by President George W. Bush, this language was changed." Despite Mack's tactful employment of the past tense, all signs are that Young or someone on his staff was behind the change.

The Coconut Road interchange would benefit a real estate developer who helped raise Young $40,000 a few days before he slipped the earmark into a 2005 highway bill.

It looks like Rep. Don Young's (R-AK) $10 million Coconut Road earmark has roped him into another FBI investigation, McClatchy reports.

Young slipped the money into a 2005 transportation bill just days after a real estate developer, Daniel Aronoff held a fundraiser in Florida that fetched Young $40,000 in campaign contributions. The earmark raised our eyebrows higher when a report commissioned by the local government in Lee County, Florida exposed how Young rewrote the bill's language after the House and Senate had voted, but right before the legislation landed on the President's desk, targeting the money specifically for a Coconut Road-I-75 interchange, rather than a larger project. The Coconut Road interchange is unpopular in the community, but a boon for Aronoff.

Already entangled in the widening, criminal Veco-Alaska corruption investigation, this scrutiny appears to be entirely separate, according to McClatchy:

Young's action is among a number of congressional "earmarks" for specific pet projects drawing scrutiny from the Justice Department and an FBI team investigating alleged influence peddling on Capitol Hill, said the source, who insisted on anonymity.

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A county body in Florida voted today to send back Rep. Don Young's (R-AK) $10 million earmark. Young rewrote the language in the bill while it was on its way to the President's desk -- after passing both Houses of Congress.

Originally, the $10 million was allocated for an I-75 expansion project in Lee and Collier Counties. But after Young's fast one, the money could only be used for an interchange to Coconut Road. That project is unpopular in the area, but a boon to real estate developer Daniel Aronoff, who held a fundraiser that brought in $40,000 for Young right before the earmark appeared.

This morning, the Lee County Metropolitan Planning Organization voted 10-3 to return the money and ask that it be reallocated for the broader project. It's not clear if that will work. Some experts told me the signed legislation carries the force of law. But, this situation is unprecedented. We'll keep following the saga as it unfolds.

The Naples Daily News first broke that Young was behind the Coconut Road earmark and then how he changed the language. They are blogging the MPO meeting live, here.

The AP teamed up with Taxpayers for Common Sense to take a hard look at how Alaska has benefited from earmarks:

More than 2,000 projects worth $7.5 billion have gone to Alaska since 2000, says Taxpayers for Common Sense. Alaska received a little over $1 billion in the 2005 highway bill.

A 2005-2007 study of earmarks by the group showed that Alaska _ ranked 47th in population _ has done far better than other states, when spending is calculated per person. Spending over the three-year period came to $4,311 per person in earmarked projects for Alaskans, while Hawaii was a distant second at $1,812. At the low end were the populous states of Texas, at $98 per person, and New York, $95 per person.

Part of the difference can be explained by Alaska's special needs, with its remote geography, rough terrain and extreme weather. But the clout of Stevens and Young also has played a huge role.

Here are a few of the more, ahem, interesting projects.

Rep. Don Young's (R-AK) ethically and legally questionable $10 million Coconut Road earmark doesn't smell right to the editorial board at the Naples Daily News, the paper that originally broke the story.

From the earmark's mysterious appearance in the 2005 transportation bill for the narrowly tailored project, to the revelation that the allocation came from a far-flung congressman, the editorial board didn't like what it saw.

Now comes the worst smell test failure. A study compiled by a retired veteran of congressional funding practices shows the earmark was changed to specify Coconut Road between the time an overall transportation bill was passed by Congress and later signed by President Bush. Editing solely for style rather than substance is supposed to take place at that stage.

As we reported last week, this is an extremely unusual case.

Rep. Don Young (R-AK) reached out to his constituents yesterday day via a salmon bake where hundreds of Anchorage residents lined up for free food. A few dozen protesters gathered at the event.

Thanks to reader Dennis Zaki of AlaskaReport.com for sending us some photos of the event.

All the while, a small but loud cluster of protesters chanted slogans at Young from a few feet away. Young, standing in front of watermelon slices and hamburger plates, ignored some of the taunts and danced along with others.

"FBI! FBI!" the protesters yelled.

Young smiled and did a little dance, shaking his hips and pumping his arms. "They'll never get the best of me," he said at one point to a supporter who was making his way through the line.

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Despite a boisterous crowd oinking and yelling outside his annual pig roast fundraiser last week, Rep. Don Young (R-AK) is holding a public event this afternoon in Anchorage. The same anti-Young crowd is expected to attend.

The state's only congressman will serve up baked salmon to anyone interested in stopping by, a move that made one local political strategist cringe, according to an AP story.

The cringing is pretty reasonable, seeing that John Farleigh, the Alaska native who organized the last Young protest, is rounding up the troops for another assembly at the salmon bake. Farleigh left me a message last night saying he has already spoken with local media and has high hopes that the added pre-protest publicity will work in his favor.

If you're planning to snap photos at the event this afternoon, please send some our way!

There are earmarks, and then there are earmarks.

Rep. Don Young (R-AK) has taken the political art form to an ethically questionable level that even some experts in the trenches have never seen. In 2005, Young waited until after the House and Senate passed a transportation bill, but before the president signed it into law, to rewrite a passage that would have granted $10 million for an interstate in Florida. His new wording targeted the money to a much smaller, more specific project to connect Coconut Road to that interstate. It's an unpopular project in the area, but a boon for real estate developer Daniel Aronoff, who held a $40,000 fundraiser for Young in Florida just before the earmark appeared.

Young has refused multiple requests for comment from different publications on these, and related allegations. Once he made an obscene gesture at a New York Times reporter who approached him about the earmark. His spokeswoman did not get back to us today.

I asked a few experts today for historical and ethical perspective on Young's move.

Former staff director of the House Appropriations Committee, Scott Lilly, said this is a very atypical procedure. Once the bill has been voted on by the House and Senate, only some very technical changes can be made by the clerk. Then it goes to the President.

"The committee chair really doesn't have any control over the bill at that point," Lilly said. "There are some really arcane things that you can do, but you would have to pass a resolution directing the enrolling clerk to make the change, but that would have to pass both Houses. There is very little the enrollment clerk can do. I don't know that they can change spelling mistakes."

The changes made by Young are far more substantive than spelling errors.

"To say it's unusual isn't enough," said Keith Ashdown of Taxpayers for Common Sense. "It is an anomaly that we have never seen before."

Normally, members of Congress who want to clarify how an earmark is to be spent, outline the details in an accompanying report. These reports are only advisory, but are often followed to avoid falling out of favor for the next time an appropriation rolls around. Ashdown pointed out that the 2005 legislation was Young's last chance to oversee a transportation bill, which only come up every six years, as a committee chair. Advice from a sitting duck committee chair wouldn't carry the same heft as language in the law.

"[Young] knew that because this was a controversial project in the area, the only way to make sure his benefactor got the money was if he wrote it in the statute," Ashdown said.

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The Anchorage Daily News made it out to Rep. Don Young's (R-AK) pig roast fund-raiser last night, where a boisterous crowd of 70 to 80 protesters shouted from the street.

Outside Don Young’s annual pig roast fundraiser on Wednesday night, a raucous crowd of all ages and political persuasions taunted the guests with shouts of “oink, oink,” waved signs against corruption and big money in politics, and generally protested anything Young was for.

Protesters also voiced their opposition to special guests Sens. Ted Stevens and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) who made an appearance.

It might seem from a national perspective that an assembly of 70 to 80 people is a low turnout, but the Daily News calls it "remarkable." When I spoke with protest-organizer John Farleigh yesterday he said he hoped a dozen people would join him, and if 15 showed up he'd consider it a success.

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They say that earmarking is a rigged system, a system of organized bribery (the "favor factory" as Jack Abramoff called it). But rarely has there been such startling evidence of a quid pro quo as Rep. Don Young's (R-AK) $10 million earmark for a highway interchange in Florida (the state farthest from Alaska). The earmark came only days after a real estate mogul raised $40,000 for Young at an event in Florida.

But it gets worse. It turns out that Young had to bend, if not break, Congressional rules to do it.

The Naples Daily News reports that he probably changed key language in the bill after it had been passed in the House and Senate. The language left zero ambiguity about where exactly all that cash was supposed to go:

The words "Coconut Road interchange" were not in the federal transportation bill approved by Congress in 2005.

Those words were attached to a $10 million earmark sometime after the House and Senate votes but before the president signed the bill into law.

Within that time, someone with access to the bill deleted the earmark’s original language that would have given $10 million more for widening and improvements to Interstate 75 and attached the phrase "Coconut Rd. interchange I-75/Lee County," according to a study by a former federal official who lives on Sanibel Island.

The wording must have changed during a process called "bill enrollment" when grammatical and technical -- not substantive -- changes are allowed to be made. As Keith Ashdown of Taxpayers for Common Sense tells the paper, "I’ve seen little gimmicks and little tricks used to make sure somebody’s friend or contributor is taken care of but this is by far one of the more underhanded, surreptitious examples I’ve seen — ever."

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Alas, it looks like my invitation to the annual pig roast held in honor of Rep. Don Young (R-AK) got lost in the mail. The pork gala, which is just a few hours away, is usually hosted by former Veco CEO Bill Allen, but he's bowed out since pleading guilty to federal bribery charges and agreeing to cooperate in the federal criminal investigation of Young and other lawmakers.

But no worry -- the pork, and the fundraising, go on. Former Alaska Gov. Bill Sheffield will play host instead, with special guests Sens. Ted Stevens and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) making appearances.

The event itself, which sent out colorful invitations in years past, has caught the eye of federal investigators, who are looking into Young's dealings with Allen and Veco. In the last ten years, Young has received at least $157,000 from VECO employees and its political-action committee. Guests at this year's pig party have been asked to contribute $250 to $1,000 (and $500-$5,000 if you're a PAC).

Even though I got the cold shoulder from Young's party planner, an email did show up today in my in-box about a protest planned for outside the roast.

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For the most part, here at TPMmuckraker we've only quoted Rep. Don Young (R-AK) threatening to bite a fellow congressman like an Alaskan mink. It turns out he has much more to say.

In an interview with the AP, he covers topics ranging from his hot temper to the campaign dollars former Veco CEO Bill Allen, who has pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges, has given him over the years. And now we know where Young stands on Machiavelli's question of whether it is better for a ruler to be feared than loved (feared). Unfortunately, Young said that he couldn't comment on the ongoing investigation. But he had plenty to say nonetheless. From the interview:

Q. Let me ask you your assessment of two things: the investigations and your short temper that is well-known there - is that ultimately hurting the state?

A. No, no. People don’t understand this, you know? I have found no weakness in the Congress at all. You will find no one who does not respect me in the Congress. You may find some that don’t like me. That doesn’t bother me.

...

Q. Bill Allen’s been in the news, and you’ve had some association with him. What can you tell us about that association? His employees have donated $150,000 over 10 years.

A. Figure it out. Ten years, $150,000. It’s what, $20,000 or less a year. That’s not very much money.

Q. Some state representatives have returned money to these people. Do you have any plans to do that?

A. No.

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We're worried about Rep. Don Young (R-AK) over here at TPMmuckraker. First, in an out-of-character move he apologized for threatening to bite a New Jersey congressman like an Alaskan mink -- and now he's giving back illegal campaign contributions -- even though he doesn't have to.

Last month Young said he would not give back the full $5,500 he illegally accepted from Pacific Seafood Processors Association since 2001. He told federal officials he would only return $2,400 because the rest fell outside of the statute of limitations on campaign finance regulations.

Young is under federal criminal investigation for his ties to oil services Veco Corp. Maybe that has something to do with his sudden impulse for good behavior?

Rep. Don Young (R-AK) cited his and his wife's health problems as reasons for his bizarre outburst on the House floor two weeks ago, where he threatened to bite Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) like an Alaskan mink "that kill their own." (Video here.)

Young lost his temper when Garrett tried to yank money Young wanted for native Alaskan students. He told the Republican Study Committee today that he regrets his aggressive response: “I come to you as a weakened man whose weaknesses are greater than my strengths at times,” he said.