The Mudflats

Lisa Murkowski used to be my favorite senator. Granted, that’s only because Ted Stevens was my other one. Even Ted Stevens used to be my favorite senator. Granted that’s only because the other one was Frank Murkowski. It was all a matter of perspective.

But those were the old days. Now, Frank Murkowski is relegated to the dust bin of political history after hoppng from DC to Alaska as governor. He got routed going for a second term by some Wasilla mayor who got tired of the job a couple years in and is now moving her mouth for Fox News and blogging on weekends. Ted Stevens is gone – voted out after seven felony convictions that were overturned only due to prosecutorial incompetence. And Lisa Murkowski put in place by her father when he left DC, has cast off any allegiance to moderation or integrity by becoming a pro-climate change, pro-pollution shill for big oil – the very thing that got her father voted out of office and replaced by whats-her-name. Ah, the tangled web of Alaskan politics

But now, I actually like my favorite senator. I no longer have to choose the less reprehensible Republican for the slot. Don’t get me wrong – there are many issues upon which we disagree, but that’s OK. He’s here to serve the state, which is a complicated and polarized blend of people. Especially in terms of resource development, Alaskan Democrats feel differently than Democrats in other parts of the country. I get that. So for right now, I’m going to tiptoe past outer continental shelf (OCS) drilling, and ANWR and beluga whales, and get right to the part of Senator Begich that I really like.

When he first came back from D.C. and spoke at the annual Jefferson Jackson dinner to a room full of Democrats, I knew I was hooked. It was like a friend had been sent to some far off exotic land, and instead of coming back a changed person, or dropping names and customs like everyone knew what he was talking about, he decided to teach. He came back and told us all what it was like for him, and how things actually worked. He didn’t assume we knew, and he brought along his constituents on a journey of discovery. He was a freshman senator learning the ropes and wanted us to learn too.

That’s why I particularly enjoyed this segment on KTVA Channel 11. Every week Matt Felling hosts “A View from the Hill” and talks with one of our senators about what’s going on in our nation’s capital. This week he addressed a variety of topics, but the one that interested me the most was the part of the discussion on Democratic majority, senatorial procedure and the filibuster.

On the loss of 60 Democratic votes in the senate:

The part that’s more frustrating is … it doesn’t matter if you have 59, 57, whatever it is – that we are somewhat held hostage by parliamentary procedure, the old games, the politics of Washington D.C., that are not helping us move forward, especially on helping American families and Alaskan families get the jobs they need, and the economy moving forward.

Last week, we had the agenda consumed by a simple appointment to the GSA (the General Services Administration) an office that’s basically the leasing agent for the federal government, but because of the parilamentary procedures that the minority did, it held up all action on the Senate floor for four or five days which means we’re not working on the jobs issue, or helping to build this economy. So I think in some ways – again 59, 57, whatever it is – we’ve got to work to move this economy forward. And I would hope that the minority would just give up on these parliamentary procedures and focus on helping American families – Alaskan families – build a better economy and create jobs.

Felling: I think when a lot of people hear the word “filibuster,” they go back to Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and they think about a Republican senator reading from the dictionary or the phone book, but that’s not the way it goes any longer. How exactly do they do it then?

Begich: It’s just kind of a parlor game, it’s a parlor trick and what they do is they claim a “cloture vote” which is a vote that requires 60 votes instead of a real filibuster where you actually have to sit on the floor and talk about why you’re doing this. You just go home! And they get 30 hours to do nothing and the senate really just stands in stall. If people turn on C-Span they’ll see people presiding and the room empty, because they just get to burn up 30 hours of time and that’s it. In days gone by you’d actually have to come down and debate the reason why you’re holding up the legislation that might be in front. But the reason they don’t do that now, especially the minority, is because they’d be embarrassed. Because all they’re doing is coming down and delaying for the sake of delaying and costing this economy, costing American jobs, costing Alaskan jobs. It’s really a shame. So I hope in a lot of ways we can get beyond that a lot of the freshmen on both Democrat and Republican are somewhat fed up with that process and want to move forward and doing the business that this country, that my state, sent me here to do.

Rachel Maddow had a great discussion on just this topic, and how the filibuster as it is being used now by the Republicans is grinding the gears of our nation to a halt, and what the Democrats might do about it. Remember the “nuclear option?”

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

My favorite senator is back in the state for the weekend. I got to catch up with him in his Anchorage office on Friday. He talked about his plans for the visit home, and chuckled at the “interesting snow removal techniques” employed in our nation’s capital, which included lots of salt and waiting for the weather to warm up!

Mark Begich in his Anchorage office

The focus of the senate right now is on jobs, and they will be looking at various components of a jobs bill which will include small business lending, energy efficiency, infrastructure development, and getting more cops, firefighters, teachers and youth working.

He gave a quick update on the stimulus bill (the one that our other senator voted against) and said about soon about 60% of that money will start moving forward to help Alaskans. A big hospital project in Nome is part of that. Also there will be about $100 million designated to bring broadband internet service to Western Alaska in more than 100 villages. It will not only employ people to set it up, but it will have long-term impact. There will now be capacity for connections that can be used for medical care and in hospitals, tele-education, and commerce. Businesses will benefit, and it will no longer take an hour and a half to submit forms online. (So, rural Alaska, remember who voted for that stimulus money)

The senator tells us there is lots of momentum around energy and an energy bill. The bill will have multiple components including renewable energy projects to create what Begich described as a “holistic view of energy.” He was pleased that the president mentioned OCS drilling, and that there are positive steps being taken in that direction. The president mentioned OCS drilling again when he did a recent “pop in” at a press conference.

The senator as a member of the Armed Services Committee is very involved and committed to veteran’s issues which was clear as he spoke. He mentioned the fact that one in ten Alaskans is a veteran, a higher per capita concentration than any other state in the nation. Alaska also presents certain unique challenges to veterans particularly those who live in very rural locations. Access to healthcare in remote areas will rely more and more on telemedicine which will be helped by the broadband capabilities that are on the way.
The senator is working with Indian Health Services to try to develop a strong partnership to facilitate better delivery of essential services for Alaska’s vets.

One of the first things the Obama administration did was increase the amount of money going to veterans, the largest increase ever. Recently a quarter million veterans who were never in the system have been added. There are still 1.6 million who are not.

If you are a veteran or know any, Senator Begich wants to hear from you and understand your concerns and needs. Hearings are coming up and your input is wanted.

He’ll be heading to Fairbanks and Kotzebue before returning to D.C. to tackle the snow and the obstructionists, and try to get work done on jobs, energy, education, veterans issues and health care.  We wish him luck, and look forward to more reports from inside the beltway.

Why? (thunk) Why? (thunk) Why? (thunk)
That was my head hitting the desk.

You know…. Alaska used to be pristine wilderness, the Last Frontier, North to the Future, land of opportunity, giant cabbages, panning for gold, dogs mushing, eagles soaring, salmon leaping, bears frolicking, and when people thought of Alaska they thought “I’d like to take a cruise there some day.”

Well, now forget it. First was the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Then the Corrupt Bastards Club. The Bridge to Nowhere. Ted Stevens. Killing wolves from helicopters. And the big one – Sarah Palin. We started traveling outside and instead of people asking “Is it true that it’s dark for half the year and then light for half the year?” they started saying, “Ahh. You’re from ‘Palin Country.’” It’s been a bitter pill.

And you’d think that would be the worst. “Palin country” is pretty twitch-inducing. But occasionally there will be news that will just kick us while we’re already down. Like the day the country was celebrating the incredible victory in the Kentucky Derby of the horse called “Mine That Bird.” It was a Cinderella story that normally would have me cheering and thinking of Black Beauty or Seattle Slew and celebrating the triumph of a magnificent underdog who stunned the world to win the day. >>>Screechy brake noise<<< And then I found out that this horse was owned in part by none other than Mark Allen, son of the King of the Corrupt Bastards himself, Bill Allen – former Veco CEO who bribed Alaska Legislators and is now in the clink. Mind That Jail Bird. Talk about a mood killer.

And now, the seediest most talked about ’scandal du jour,’ which is turning into the ’scandal de la semaine,’ and perhaps even a ’scandal du mois,’ has an Alaskan connection. (Those other two references mean ’scandal of the week’ and ’scandal of the month’ by the way. Every once in a while I have to gain back a few seconds from the years I spent in French class. See? It was all worth it.)

The scandal, of course, is Tiger Woods. The All-American clean-livin’ golf legend, husband and dad, beloved by the nation, turns out to be a philandering jackass. Sad? Yes. But what does this seedy tale have to do with our fine state? One of his gaggle of suspected mistresses is a woman named Rachel Uchitel from … wait for it … Anchorage, Alaska. She and high-powered celebrity attorney Gloria Allred were supposed to have a press conference today, presumably to discuss all the seediness out loud in front of the press. But then, at the last minute they suddenly cancelled. As we speculate what sort of thing (*cough cough bankdeposit cough cough*)might make her suddenly cancel her appearance, we can amuse ourselves with the fact that the press conference-calling mistress has been complaining bitterly about the press, stating that they are making life unbearable.

And how does the pair choose to butter up the waiting photographers and gossip columnists that they shun one minute and summon the next? Cookies! A big tray of cookies.

Despite what may seem to you a strange sense of familiarity, I want to assure you, gentle reader, that all Alaskan women are not media-manipulating money-seekers who lawyer up and think that a plate of cookies will solve everything.

(Looking at the sky) Oh, Gods of Scandal and Embarrassment! What have my people done to offend you?

It was quite the Who’s Who of media yesterday, both traditional and new media. Reporters and bloggers sat side by side in the packed courtroom waiting for the sentencing of Bill Allen, the former CEO of the oil services company Veco. The ringleader of Alaska’s corruption scandal drama, with players known as “The Corrupt Bastards Club,” Allen has been busy dishing the dirt on the rest of the corrupt bastards to lighten his own sentence.

Two of those that fell before him, Rep. Vic Kohring (R) and Rep. Pete Kott (R) opted for a different strategy. They fought it every step of the way, refused to cooperate, maintained their innocence in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary and ended up paying for it.

But Bill Allen sang. He sang like a canary! He sang like Pavarotti! And he did it to save his butt, and keep his children from going to jail right along with him, where they deserved to be. He cooperated with the FBI, lost his long-time friendship with former U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, testified on three occasions, submitted himself to 71 interviews, consented to have conversations audio taped and allowed a CCTV camera to be installed in his home. And his song reverberated throughout the land. And the corrupt bastards fell like the corrupt bastards they are.

And so today, Judge John Sedwick sat on the bench and decided his fate. But first, he had to listen to all the reasons why he should go light on Allen, and apparently there were a lot of them, at least if you listen to his lawyers. Even the government lawyer agreed that Allen’s sentence needed to be reduced from the 78-97 months that he would have been facing if he’d adopted the failed “middle finger strategy” of Kott and Kohring.

So how do you defend a guy who handed out cash to state legislators to further his own agenda and line the pockets of the oil companies? A bombastic, drunken, lout with entitlement issues the size of Alaska? And all this doesn’t touch on Allen’s sexual proclivities, which ranged from prostitutes to underage girls, including one particular case in which the girl, Bambi Tyree, a 14-15 year old child, when Allen would have been in his 50s. How do you defend this guy? Here’s how.

It started off with Allen’s attorney Bob Bundy, talking about how Allen was known to be a generous person, so these bad bad legislators knew right who to go to for the money. His generosity and kind heartedness made him a…..”sitting duck.” Really. Those were his exact words. “When they came to him he responded,” the attorney tried to convince the judge. You see, it was because Bill Allen really believed that the petroleum profits tax that would benefit the oil companies was the best thing for Alaska that he did it. It was his love of this great state and the people in it that led to his downfall. He was vulnerable…he was weak. How could this good and noble man resist? His passion for the best interest of all people led to his downfall. The illegal activity only happened because of solicitation, you see. It was those others. They ASKED. What could he do, being so generous and selfless and all? Him with that big heart of gold. They played him like a fiddle. And, he explained, there was “no organization of the illegal activity.” Allen would never do that. And cash changing hands was “serendipitous as it occurred,” he explained. Serendipitous, indeed.

At this point, the people in my row were looking at each other incredulously. As soon as the words “sitting duck” came out of the attorney’s mouth, there was a rapid-fire clacking on the keyboards of the laptops in the room. It was kind of fun to listen to the level of sound from the keyboards. You always knew when something really quotable was being said by the increase in the tap tap tapping. Kind of like when the shutters of cameras go crazy.

Fortunately Judge Sedwick piped up at this point. It was the only time I saw him look irritated, and justly so. He basically said, “You expect me to believe THAT?” but in longer and more eloquent sounding words. He sided with the prosecution saying that it was obvious that Allen had taken a leadership role in all this. It was not because of his generous nature that Allen bribed the legislators, it was because he wanted to provide “hundreds of millions, if not billions to his clients.”

As you probably know, cameras are not allowed in the courtroom, so here is my incredibly professional and accurate artist’s rendering of that dramatic “sitting duck” moment.

“When you can say to someone, ‘I own your hind-quarters’ that implies a leadership role,” said prosecutor James Trusty referring to Allen’s famous audiotaped quote to Pete Kott in which the very same Bill Allen informs the legislator “I own your ass!” That was “reflective of the role he had of orchestrating payments, and promises across the board,” said Trusty.

Ah, yes… the corrupt CEO with the heart of gold. Not.

Then came still more testimony from Allen’s other attorney about how the court needs to have “balance and proportionality” in weighing the good he has done in his life vs. the bad, and how “he is 72, going on 73″ (as opposed to?) and how prison time will be difficult for him, and he has personal characteristics like being hard-working, dedicated and goal-oriented, and how he loves his “nookular” family, and how he has even engaged in acts of “disinterested generosity.” When he became so focused on the pipeline, he “allowed himself to turn generosity into an effort to increase his influence.”

Here’s the part where I really started to dislike this guy. He went on about how “pursuing legislative goals” is protected by the first amendment, and people who do this are engaged in “good citizenship.” He may have crossed the line, but he wasn’t the worst. If he had been the worst, the FBI would have been making deals with other people to bring him down, not making deals with him. We must beware of “runaway opinion,” he warned, and then proceeded to remind the judge that he shouldn’t let public opinion sway his decision making and that he needed to “strike a balance that recognizes that he has suffered so much already.” He was able to justify his corruption by thinking he was doing something good for the state.

I was in the back of the courthouse, which is good because I was staring at the back of that guy’s head so hard that if I’d have been in closer range, I’m sure I would have set his hair on fire. He was definitely not winning friends in the courtroom.

And this defense was startlingly similar to Assemblyman Dan Coffey’s defense of his friend Joseph Boehm, whose name came out when the aforementioned Bambi Tyree pleaded guilty in a “drugs for sex with underage girls” scandal that came to a head in 2003.  It was during her testimony in this case that she told of her association with Bill Allen.   Coffey pleaded for leniencey for Boehm in a letter to the court where he said:

“Look at those who are now blaming Joe for all the bad things that happened to them,” he told the judge in the letter. “If you do, I doubt you will find that any of them have made any contributions to our community. Joe has. He built a company which employs hundreds. These people who now point fingers at Joe, have never built anything. They are vultures who saw Joe’s addiction as a way to get to his wealth and they were all over him with their drugs and the other inducements.”

If it weren’t for all those other people who took advantage of these poor vulnerable  guys, they would have been just fine. (dabbing eyes with a hanky)  But, all that offering of underage sex and illegal drugs and pipeline votes and legislative favors… it just wasn’t fair.

Then Bill Allen took the stand himself and talked a long time. Most of it had nothing to do with anything, but was a biography of his life and times in Alaska, and how there used to be a balance in town when he owned the now defunct Anchorage Times. The Daily News published what “they” thought and the Times published what “conservative people think.” Then he went right on with a critique of our former governor. “I think Murkowski done a good job.” Yes, he talks like that.

More biography – He did wrong. But he quit drinking. He did a lot of drinking down in Juneau and that’s the stupidest thing you can do because it clouds your judgment. He apologized to the judge and to the people of Alaska. He thought he was helping them “but instead of helping, I pushed them down.” He went over the line. But, he’s worked with the government for 2 years, and “we probably done 5 to 7 days a week to get ready for the trials.” He harmed people who were his friends who are not now. (Ted Stevens presumably) And finally he left us with these words, “Try to remember that I done some good.”

All during this time, a cluster of media-types were sitting in the back corner. All of a sudden I felt a nudge from Dennis Zaki who was sitting next to me. He handed me his little pad that said “How long?” at the top and then a list of names of those who were sitting close by. I filled out “36″ and passed it to Shannyn Moore who was sitting on my left. The pad made the rounds.

And now, the time had come. Judge Sedwick reviewed everything and decided on three 3-year sentences for the three convictions, and that they could be served concurrently. That meant 36 months. I won the bet! I wondered what would have happened had I stood up and yelled “YESSSSS!” with a fist in the air. And he also levied the maximum fine – $250,000 for each offense for a total of $750,000. Unfortunately, this is a drop in the bucket for our friend Mr. Allen, but the point was made.

We followed him out to a waiting limo – one of three that were there to pick up family members. I had a camera malfunction of some kind and only managed to get a couple not very good shots. Private security guards blocked the way for Allen, and a very funny photographer told me that he anticipated that Allen would be doing a peanut commercial shortly, because he looked like he was also doing it with protection. Levi shouldn’t have all the fun.

~Dennis Zaki is on it, filming the Allen family after the trial.

Here is his video of the event.

Mark Allen (Kentucky Derby winner – Mine That Bird), and his daughter bribed multiple politicians including former senator Ted Stevens, his son Ben, and Congressman Don Young. Allen’s cooperation kept them from being prosecuted for crimes.

[clip from September, 2008]

Everyone knows about the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere.”  Former Senator Ted Stevens, and current Congressman Don Young were the bridge’s main advocates in Washington D.C.  The project would have connected the City of Ketchikan (population 8000) to Gravina Island, location of the city’s airport and home to 50 people.

In 2006, after State Senate Presiddent Ben Stevens (son of Senator Ted Stevens) made reference to residents of the Mat-Su Valley as “Valley Trash,” Sarah Palin traveled to Ketchikan saying, “”OK, you’ve got Valley trash standing here in the middle of ‘Nowhere.’ I think we’re going to make a good team as we progress that bridge project.”

Then in 2008, VP nominee Sarah Palin came out in her very first speech to the nation and claimed to have said “Thanks, but no thanks” to the project.   Alaskans scratched their heads, knowing in reality Palin  supported the $398 million bridge project, until it became obvious that it would cost the state too much money.  But, instead of returning the federal money, Palin kept all $223 million.

After the bridge was killed, plans for the road on Gravina Island that would connect to the now-defunct bridge somehow proceeded, to the tune of $26 million.  The result?  A spectacular, beautiful $26 million 3.2 mile paved road ending in a large cul-de-sac that goes nowhere and isn’t used for anything.

Until now.

A group of local runners is in the planning stages of a “Road to Nowhere Run” next weekend.  The length of the run will be up to the individual participants.  In other words, they can quit whenever they want.

Hats off to the intrepid runners of Ketchikan.  Let it never be said that that $26 million went to waste!