The Anchorage Daily News is reporting that Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) plans to sell the Kenai River lot she purchased from politically connected developer Bob Penney back to Penney. The purchase was originally reported by TPMmuckraker’s Laura McGann last week.
The Anchorage paper reports:
Murkowski announced the give back a day after a Washington watchdog group filed a 15-page Senate ethics complaint against her, alleging that Penney sold the property well below market value. The transaction amounted to an illegal gift worth between $70,000 and $170,000, depending on how the property was valued, according to the complaint by the National Legal and Policy Center.
Murkowski told reporters in her Capitol office this morning that Penney, a real estate developer who does business in Alaska and Outside, has agreed to buy back the property for the $179,400 purchase price she and husband Verne Martell paid Dec. 22, 2006.
We have the full rundown on the Murkowski deal at TPMtv and a compilation of Laura McGann’s reporting at TPMmuckraker.
