No Harm, No Foul? Young Refunds Costs for Suspect FundraisersRep. Don Young (R-AK) has developed a bit of an M.O. (No, he hasn’t threatened to bite anyone else like an Alaskan mink.)
In the last year, Young thrice doled out reimbursements for fundraisers in what appear to be last ditch efforts to redeem himself. Perhaps the lawyers he retained in March — and has since paid at least $262,000 — had something to do with the decisions:
— In June, the congressman reimbursed the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa $2,602 for “lodging and reception” costs from a fundraiser in February 2005. The event, arranged by businessman Daniel Aronoff, raised $40,000 for Young and appears to be the impetus for the contentious $10 million Coconut Road earmark. The arrangement is now part of an FBI inquiry into shifty earmarks. The Anchorage Daily News noted the tardy payback last week.
(Young’s campaign lists the Hyatt payment as a June 2007 expenditure, which is a bizarre way to handle a reimbursement for 2005. In any case, Young’s chief of staff Mike Anderson told me definitively that Young has not visited Florida at all this year and there was no reception. Young’s campaign contributions also confirm no fundraiser took place.)
— Earlier this month, Young went for another do-over. He returned $5,500 to cover the cost of crab the Pacific Seafood Processors Association spent to provide the shellfish at his annual crab feed fundraiser. Initially, he told the Federal Elections Commission he would only pony up $2,400 because the statute of limitations had expired on the rest. It wasn’t a great PR move.
— Young’s most substantial refund was spotted by The Wall Street Journal in July. Back in January, his campaign listed $38,000 payments to former Veco CEO Bill Allen for fundraising costs, despite not holding any fundraisers that month. Allen, though, did host Young’s annual pig roast for a decade, which was a major money-maker for the Young campaign. Presumably, the money was meant to cover those ten years of parties. The Journal reported that Young is under federal investigation for his ties to Veco.
