http://www.adn.com/news/politics/fbi/young/story/379679.htmlCOCONUT ROAD: Circumstances of $10 million change questioned.
By ERIKA BOLSTAD
ebolstad@adn.com
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate on Thursday took the unusual step of asking the Justice Department to investigate Rep. Don Young's Coconut Road earmark.
The Senate's 64-28 vote calls on the Justice Department to look into the circumstances surrounding the 2005 earmark, which shifted $10 million from a road widening project in southwest Florida to a study of an interchange that promised to benefit one of Young's campaign donors.
Young has frequently made national news in his 35 years in office, but it is uncommon for any rank-and-file member of the House of Representatives to be the center of attention and discussion in the Senate. The Senate historian's office could recall no example Thursday of the Senate ever asking the Justice Department to look into possible criminal conduct by a House member.
But the 2005 earmark by an Alaska congressman for a southwest Florida road has, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said, spotlighted "the corruption that permeated the Congress in recent years."
"If violations of federal criminal law occurred, it is the province of the Justice Department and the FBI to investigate and prosecute them," Reid said on the Senate floor.
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The Coconut Road earmark was in the $286.4 billion highway bill that Young oversaw in 2005 as the influential Republican chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. An aide made the change to the legislation after the House and Senate had already voted on the bill, a secret move that has angered other members of Congress and that, ultimately, led to Thursday's call for an investigation.
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