Alaskagate: While We Were Out

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Over the long weekend, more details emerged in the growing Alaska state legislature scandal, which has now involved more than two dozen search warrants and a growing posse of federal agents from around the country, and includes the IRS as well as the FBI.

The probe has put two names in the headlines: Ben Stevens, president of the Alaska State Senate and son of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), and VECO Corp., which has given generously not only to Alaska state legislators but to friendly U.S. lawmakers as well, including Stevens senior.

What are the feds investigating? Investigators appear to have a keen interest in legislation recently hammered out by Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski (R). Currently awaiting passage by the state legislature, the deal would pave the way to build a $21 billion natural gas pipeline to tap the state’s North Slope reserves. VECO has been a strong supporter of the deal.

However, the probe seems to have expanded — in scope and in size — past that one deal:

“They are after people paying for votes during the recent oil and gas special sessions. I think that was fairly transparent,” said political pollster Marc Hellenthal, who said he was interviewed Friday afternoon by two FBI agents from Sacramento, Calif. Agents also told him what they are looking for “goes back longer than that.”

The FBI has brought in agents from around the country for the investigation. The Internal Revenue Service and other federal agencies also are involved, Gonzalez said.

The investigation has stretched to past legislators, including former Sen. Robin Taylor, R-Wrangell, who was interviewed Thursday by FBI agents. Taylor is now a deputy commissioner in the state Department of Transportation.

“They interviewed him about his past as a lawmaker and his dealings with Veco,” said Will Vandergriff, deputy press security for Gov. Frank Murkowski. “He said they are just expanding their net.”

What’s the Corrupt Bastards Caucus? It was apparently an inside joke among a dozen legislators singled out in a March 2006 Anchorage Daily News op-ed for donations they received from Alaska petro-giant Veco Corp. The moniker didn’t appear in the article. Rather, “Somebody walked up and said, ‘You corrupt bastards,’ and that name stuck,” Alaska House Finance Co-Chairman Mike Chenault (R) told the Daily News:

Hats were even made with the initials “CBC” on them, but “that was the extent of the CBC deal,” Chenault said. . . .

House Speaker John Harris, R-Valdez, said he saw [State Reps.] Smith and Kott handing out hats in June during the first special session when lawmakers voted down the petroleum tax bill. But he did not see anything with the “Corrupt Bastards Club” on it.

“They were handing out hats down at the Baranoff (Hotel) at the bar down there. All they had was ‘VECO’ on them,” Harris said.

Chenault said he may still have a “CBC” hat, but he can’t recall.

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