Watchdog Files Ethics Complaint against Murkowski

From the Anchorage Daily News:

A government watchdog group filed an ethics complaint Wednesday against U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, charging that her 2006 purchase of an exclusive Kenai riverfront lot was a “sweetheart deal” from Anchorage businessman Bob Penney.

The complaint, brought by Ken Boehm, chairman of the conservative-leaning National Law and Policy Center of Falls Church, Va., also charged that Murkowski filed false information about the land deal on her annual financial disclosure and obtained special treatment on a mortgage from the Ketchikan bank where her sister serves as a director….

Boehm said the difference between the price paid and the true value amounted to an illegal gift to Murkowski of between $70,000 and $170,000, based on the estimates of the real estate agents….

Boehm’s 15-page complaint says, “The facts in this case are so strong that it is hard to imagine a more compelling case for violation of the Senate Gift Rule.”