Trolling Alaska's Republican Political Cesspool: "Today's Must Read" on TPM

[L. Coyote]

Today's Must Read
By Laura McGann - September 6, 2007
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004083.php


Until now, real estate developer Bob Penney looked like maybe he just enjoys helping out Alaska politicians. (Like giving Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) half off on a prime piece of land. http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003725.php) But in today's edition of The Hill (http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/catching-fish-netting-earmarks-up-in-alaska-2007-09-06.html), it's starting to look more likely that at least his relationship with Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) fetched him more in return than he's admitted. And Stevens' help neatly coincided with his involvement in a highly profitable land deal orchestrated by Penney.

Reporter Manu Raju trolled through public documents and spoke with Alaska officials to confirm that Stevens quietly slipped Penney's group, the Kenai River Sportfishing Association, $4.5 million in earmarks between fiscal 2004 and 2006 to research salmon populations in the famed river and a connected stream.

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All of the fish-money funneling took place right around the time Penney brought Stevens in on a Utah land deal that turned a $15,000 investment into $125,000 in just one year. Penney told the Anchorage Daily News at the time (2004) that he and his fellow investors invited Stevens in "appreciation for all he's done for Alaska and the country. We respect him very, very much."

Stevens has strong ties to the Kenai River Sportsfishing Association. Every year he co-hosts a $1 million fundraiser with Penney called the Kenai River Classic. The Fourth of July event brings pols and CEOs together for a weekend of fishing, eating cigar smoking, and influence swapping.

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[L. Coyote]

1. THE HILL: Catching fish, netting earmarks up in Alaska

Catching fish, netting earmarks up in Alaska
By Manu Raju
September 06, 2007
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/catching-fish-netting-earmarks-up-in-alaska-2007-09-06.html


Sen. Ted Stevens has quietly steered millions of federal dollars to a sportfishing industry group founded by Bob Penney, a longtime friend who helped the Alaska Republican profit from a lucrative land deal, according to public records and officials from the state.

Critics say those earmarked federal dollars could be the first example of how Stevens rewarded Penney for a land deal in Utah that reportedly earned the senator more than $125,000. Penney’s group, for its part, rewarded Stevens with several expensive gifts at the time it was receiving the earmarked dollars.

Stevens and his aides would not comment this week, but supporters of the earmarks strongly defend the nature of the funding and dispute accusations that the money was used to reward Penney’s group. Supporters say the funding is desperately needed to help preserve and protect the salmon population along the pristine and popular Kenai River.

Penney, who earlier this year testified before a grand jury as part of a federal investigation into political corruption in Alaska, did not return telephone calls, and his Alaska-based attorney, Bruce Gagnon, declined to comment.

An ongoing federal corruption probe has implicated Stevens, whose house was raided by the FBI and IRS in July. ...............

[Bandit]

2. funding is desperately needed to help preserve and protect the salmon population

To a Sport Fishing Group???????Alaska Fish and Game is the one that does those studies and not some private interest that benefits by direct use of the resource.

[L. Coyote]

4. So people can fly on jets to Alaska to fish for a day or two. VERY GREEN!

[Balbus]

3. Is Alaska still a state?

"You have to touch a state to be state" should be the rule of law.

[L. Coyote]

5. A state with more FBI agents than before. The corruption required additional cops.

FBI had to send a contingent of outsiders to the hitherlands.

[L. Coyote]

6. "Mr. Stevens is one of most important figures in the history of Alaska" WAS!

House G.O.P.'s History Could Repeat in Senate
By CARL HULSE - September 7, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/07/us/politics/07web-hulse.html

.... Senate Republicans are in serious danger of getting themselves in the same predicament that their counterparts in the House did in the run-up to the 2006 voting – an election that did not turn out well for House Republicans......

The Senate is facing a whole new landscape now. .... Mr. Craig is the star of a Web video from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee featuring a lineup of recent Republican scandals being shown to the tune of the “Bad Boys” theme song from the television show “Cops.” ....

There was Senator David Vitter’s admission that he was guilty of a “very serious sin” ....

..... the one that might have the most political repercussions should it result in any criminal charges is the federal investigation of Senator Ted Stevens.....

Mr. Stevens is no semi-obscure lawmaker. He is a major player in the Senate, the former chairman of the Appropriations and Commerce committees. He is the longest serving Republican senator in history and, until Democrats won control of the Senate this year, he was third in line to the presidency as president pro tem of the Senate.

Mr. Stevens is one of most important figures in the history of Alaska .......

........ at the moment, bad boy behavior still looms as a potent campaign issue – one that could this time envelop the Senate as well as the House.