If there is one thing Alaskans have learned in the past few years, it’s patience.  We know that despite the lack of obvious activity, often there is lots of duck paddling going on below the surface in Alaska’s many corruption investigations.  And at long last,  it looks like the grand-daddy of the Corrupt Bastards Club [...]

I Want My Corrupt Bastard Fix! Time was, they were dropping like flies.  It seemed like hardly a month went by when a legislator wasn’t indicted for something.  After the fiasco that was the botched Ted Stevens trial, Alaskans have begun thinking that maybe that’s the end for our favorite past-time of watching the deserving [...]

What do Ted Stevens and Sarah Palin have in common? Popular high-level Alaska politicians?  Check. Republican?  Check. Like to go fishing?  Check. Used to like each other?  Check. Intense dislike of the media?  Check. Included in the deck of Alaskan Outlaws playing cards?  Check. Legal defense fund?  Check. Book deal?   Looks like another check. “Curmudgeonly [...]

Well, don’t that beat all.  In another stunning display of “you can’t make this stuff up,” yesterday’s Kentucky Derby winner, a 50:1 longshot named Mine That Bird belongs in part to Mark Allen, son of former CEO of Veco Corp. Bill Allen. Yes, THAT Bill Allen.  The Bill Allen that copped a plea deal with the [...]

I thank you very much for letting me join you. I just want to make one comment. When the judge dismissed the case against me, and he said in nearly 25 years on the bench he had never seen anything approaching the mishandling and misconduct it had seen in my case. Judge Sullivan appointed a [...]

Wow.  I didn’t expect this one. ANCHORAGE, Alaska — In a poll conducted by Channel 2 News, Thursday, April 23, 2009, respondents were asked if they were more or less likely to vote for Dan Sullivan with Ted Stevens’ endorsement of Sullivan. Here is the official question and results: Are you more or less likely [...]

OK, before you get all excited, and make big a growly noise and head butt your monitor, you’ll need to read all the way through. We’re #1! Anyone operating a motor vehicle on the Last Frontier won’t be shocked by this one.  Anchorage was rated the number one city for most expensive gas prices in [...]

A smiling Ted Stevens surrounded by his equally smiling daughters graces the front page of the Anchorage Daily News online today.  What a long, strange trip it’s been. A federal judge today set aside a jury’s guilty verdict and the indictment against former Sen. Ted Stevens, then announced he was appointing a special prosecutor to [...]

The Justice Department has dropped the charges against Ted Stevens, and my jaw drops with them. The decision by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder comes after a new prosecution team discovered a previously undocumented interview with the star witness in the case that sharply contradicted the most dramatic testimony in the four-week trial. The information [...]

There are certain milestones in a professional career that mark an ascension, an achievement, a distinction….they are a clear message that you have “arrived.”  Depending what the career is, it might be the corner office, the primo parking spot, your name on the letterhead, or the ever-popular six weeks of vacation. For Alaska politicians, there [...]

  Anyone who thought the love-fest between Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, and former Alaska Republican Senator Ted Stevens was over, think again. I have to admit, it just made me queasy to watch Murkowski and Stevens waltzing together at Ted’s “Welcome Home” rally after his seven felony convictions. And when she told those in [...]

Well, looky here.  Isn’t this interesting… If the collective raising of eyebrows made a sound, you’d be hearing it. Alaska’s new senior Senator (R) Lisa Murkowski, has landed the big one, and slipped into the vacuum left by convicTed Stevens on the coveted Senate Appropriations Committee.  Stevens, the longest-serving Republican in Senate history, was a longtime [...]

Hmmmm. (strokes chin) It seems as though former Senator ConvicTed Stevens may not get his pardon after all. “We don’t expect any more,” said Stuart Siciliano, a White House spokesman, referring to pardons and commutations. We learned yesterday that the new Senior Senator, (R) Lisa Murkowski had asked our allllmost ex-president George Bush to pardon [...]

Is anyone surprised? I’m not. Murkowski’s spokesperson, Mike Brumas spoke to CBS News’ Ryan Corsaro by phone, saying that Sen. Murkowski had made the request to President Bush, but would not give details. “It’s a sensitive time right now,” said Brumas after confirming the pardon had been requested. Murkowski does not have an announcement scheduled [...]

A country of laws or a country of men? I found this excerpt of an interview given by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to be quite fascinating. When asked about Ted Stevens and whether he ought to go to jail, here’s what he had to say: “My personal feeling, you guys, I don’t know what [...]