By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer
August 14, 2007
WASHINGTON - When he was a keeper of the federal purse strings,
Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska told another Republican senator
who opposed the infamous "bridge to nowhere," "I
don't threaten people. I promise people."
His home-state GOP colleague, Rep. Don Young, was not to be
outdone. Last month he told a fellow House member who opposed
education money for native Alaskans: "There is always
another day when those who bite will be killed, too, and I
am very good at that. Those that bite me will be bitten back."
Stevens and Young may not be promising, threatening or biting
anymore, now that both are under federal investigation.
The investigations and a questionable land deal that entangled
the third member of Alaska's congressional delegation also
may have ended a modern-day gold rush that sent billions of
federal dollars to the state.
Alaska's entire delegation is under an ethical cloud, something
congressional historians say is unprecedented:
• Stevens is contending with an extraordinary FBI and
IRS raid on his Girdwood, Alaska, home and a probe into his
dealings with businessmen who oversaw remodeling of the house.
• Young is the subject of a federal investigation that
includes his campaign finance practices, and he has been chided
by the leaders of his own party for his threatening comments.
He was left off a House-Senate conference on an annual water
resources bill that he had handled as a committee chairman.
• Sen. Lisa Murkowski announced that she and her husband
will sell back an undeveloped piece of riverfront property
after a complaint to the Senate's ethics committee alleged
the purchase was a sweetheart deal.
Stevens, 83, is the longest-serving Republican in Senate history
having taken office in 1968. Young, 74, has been in office
since 1973. Both face election next year.
"They aren't as bulletproof as they once were," said
Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense,
a group that tracks pet projects known as earmarks or pork-barrel
spending. "The people are not going to be quite as afraid
of taking on The Hulk or Don Young." "The Hulk" is
a reference to Stevens, who occasionally sports a tie with
the image of the Incredible Hulk cartoon character.
No other delegation has delivered like Alaska's, using a combination
of intimidating tactics and powerful positions especially when
Republicans were in the majority through last year. Stevens
headed the Senate Appropriations Committee. Young led the House
Transportation Committee, making him the traffic cop for all
road and mass transit projects.
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.
"There was a time when these were the gods in some ways,
but it's a new world," said Bill Hoagland, a former Senate
Appropriations Committee staff director under Stevens. "There
are senators and congressmen who are new to the institution
and don't have reason to be as scared as previous members.
They don't have the same fear factor."
Still, Dr. Carl Shepro, a political science professor at the
University of Alaska, said the investigations have not yet
generated a public outcry against Stevens and Young in Alaska.
"They brought a lot of programs to the state. It will
take a conviction to get large numbers of people against them," Shepro
said.
"One of the things about Young that turns a lot of people
off in D.C., and some people here, is the fact that he'll get
in some people's faces." But most Alaskans appreciate
that, he said. "A lot of voters think he's expressing
individualism."
Federal authorities are scrutinizing Stevens' relationship
with oil field services contractor Bill Allen, who helped oversee
a renovation project that more than doubled the size of Stevens'
Alaska home in 2000. Allen's company, VECO Inc., won tens of
millions of dollars in federal contracts and officials were
major political donors. Allen has pleaded guilty to bribing
lawmakers in the state Legislature.
The Young probe, in part, involves his campaign finance practices,
according to a law enforcement official who commented only
on condition of anonymity. The investigation was first reported
by The Wall Street Journal.
Former VECO CEO Allen held fundraisers called "the Pig
Roast" for Young every August for 10 years.
Young's spokeswoman Meredith Kenny has declined to discuss
the investigation.
Stevens says the interests of justice will be best served
if he does not comment until after the investigation.
Murkowski says her land deal was "a judgment call that
I made that allowed me and my husband to undergo a level of
criticism that I believe is unfounded but has caused people
to question me. I'm not willing to compromise that trust for
any piece of property."
Murkowski had drawn criticism over her purchase located along
the scenic Kenai River southwest of Anchorage on the Kenai
Peninsula from a campaign contributor she called a lifelong
family friend.
Hoagland, the former appropriations committee staff director
under Stevens, said that even before the latest incidents, "the
winds had already started to shift" away from Stevens
and Young. It started, he said, with the defeat in late 2005
of the "bridge to nowhere" a $223 million project
connecting Alaska's lightly populated Gravina Island to Ketchikan.
Federal funding for the bridge was scaled back after it drew
scorn from the media and the public, but local officials still
want to go ahead with the project.
Then, both men were left in the minority by last November's
election results.
Hoagland added, "The congressional environment on earmarks,
the minority status, and on top of that the black cloud that
hangs over ... particularly Stevens will lessen the amount
of funding he and Young can channel back to state of Alaska."
"But he is a tough fighter. I never underestimate Ted
Stevens."
(This version CORRECTS that federal funding for the so-called
'bridge to nowhere' in Alaska was scaled back, but the project
has not been shelved.)
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