Young Spends Big on Lawyers, Keeps Mum

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We know that Rep. Don Young (R-AK) is under federal investigation for his ties to the corrupt oil company Veco. But that’s about all we know.

It’s clear, however, that Young has a variety of heavy-hitting lawyers working overtime. Just in the last quarter of 2007, according to his disclosures, he dropped approximately $331,000 for lawyers at Akin Gump and $75,000 for lawyers at the Anchorage-based firm Tobin O’Connor. And then there’s $20,000 for a Seattle based attorney named John Wolfe (The Anchorage Daily News points out that Wolfe has also represented Sen. Ted Stevens’ (R-AK) son Ben in an ongoing probe into corruption in state politics.) That brings Young’s campaign spending on the lawyers to approximately $872,000 in the last year. He’s started up a legal defense fund, apparently to accommodate a number of donors who’d like to help out even more.

Is this all related to the same investigation? Certainly with Young, there are plenty of scandals to choose from.

Young, in classic Don Young style, isn’t saying anything.

Andrew Berger contributed research to this post.

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