Saturday, December 09, 2006
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
FBI targets corruption in 2006 politics
FBI targets corruption in 2006 politics
A TOP PRIORITY: A new director wouldn't balk at sting operations.
By GREG GORDON
McClatchy Newspapers
Published: November 6, 2006
Last Modified: November 6, 2006 at 03:10 AM
WASHINGTON -- The new chief of the FBI's Criminal Division, which is swamped with public-corruption cases, says the bureau is ramping up its ability to catch crooked politicians and might run an undercover sting on Congress.
Assistant FBI Director James Burrus called the bureau's public-corruption program "a sleeping giant that we've awoken" and predicted that the nation will see continued emphasis in that area "for many, many, many years to come."
So much evidence of wrongdoing is surfacing in the nation's capital that Burrus recently committed to adding a fourth 15- to 20-member public- corruption squad to the FBI's Washington field office.
In the past year, former Republican Reps. Duke Cunningham and Bob Ney have pleaded guilty to corruption charges. FBI agents are investigating about a dozen other members of Congress, including up to three senators. Dozens of agents are actively engaged in a massive investigation of illegal influence in the Alaska Legislature.
If conditions warrant, Burrus said, he wouldn't balk at urging an undercover sting like the famed Abscam operation in the late 1970s in which a U.S. senator and six House members agreed on camera to take bribes from FBI agents posing as Arab sheikhs.
"We look for those opportunities a lot," Burrus said, using words rarely heard at the bureau over the last quarter-century. "I would do it on Capitol Hill. I would do it in any state legislature. ... If we could do an undercover operation, and it would get me better evidence, I'd do it in a second."
Philip Heymann, who oversaw the Abscam investigation as chief of the Justice Department's Criminal Division during the Carter administration, expressed surprise to learn of the FBI's willingness to attempt another congressional sting after the outcry from Capitol Hill over Abscam.
"It shows courage at the FBI," said Heymann, now a criminal law professor at Harvard University. He said he concluded, after watching a recent public television documentary and listening to experts, that "there is more corruption (on Capitol Hill) than I ever thought imaginable" and that a single FBI sting "might result in very large numbers of prosecutions."
But even without an undercover operation, Heymann and other observers say they have been pleased with the GOP-controlled Justice Department's willingness to pursue old-fashioned investigations, even if they hurt congressional Republicans in Tuesday's elections.
Nationally over the last year, 600 agents worked 2,200 public- corruption cases, resulting in 650 arrests, 1,000 indictments and 800 convictions, Burrus said.
FBI Director Robert Mueller, who listed public corruption as his top criminal investigative priority when he shifted the FBI's focus to terrorism in 2002, said last month that the surge in convictions "sends the message that public corruption will not be tolerated." Despite the realignment, the number of agents working on public corruption has remained constant.
Burrus argued that the FBI is "uniquely qualified" to handle such cases, pointing to the bureau's political independence, exemplified by Mueller's 10-year term. Burrus said that Alice Fisher, the politically appointed chief of the Justice Department's Criminal Division with whom he confers weekly, also has "an aggressive attitude" about pursuing public officials.
"Operation Rainmaker," the FBI's broad investigation of a Washington lobbying ring, has already led to a handful of convictions, including Ney's guilty plea last month. The inquiry was one reason for the resignation last year of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, who also faces state campaign finance charges. Other investigations seem to be sprouting everywhere.
But Reid Weingarten, a former Abscam prosecutor who now is a high-profile Washington criminal defense lawyer, said he would bet that the flurry of congressional cases has resulted from evidence "falling in their (investigators') laps" rather than a programmed FBI hunt for corruption.
The FBI does appear to be stepping up its use of electronic surveillance and has conducted stings of state politicians. Bureau agents secretly taped Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., before finding $90,000 in his freezer during a raid last May. Cell phones were wiretapped for four months in an investigation of Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., government sources say.
In "Operation Tennessee Waltz," 10 Tennessee state officials, including five current and former legislators, have been prosecuted in a scheme in which hidden cameras whirred as FBI undercover agents offered payoffs in return for help for a dummy company. Burrus said some targeted Tennessee legislators were moving so quickly that "we were actually having to discuss how we were going to slow it down" so that bills aiding the phony firm didn't become law.
A separate undercover inquiry led to the indictment of three members of San Diego's city council.
In Alaska, the FBI has more than doubled its manpower in a massive investigation of illegal influence in the Alaska Legislature by the international oil-field service company Veco and other businesses. On Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, the FBI conducted two dozen raids and searched the office of state Sen. Ben Stevens, son of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. No charges have been filed, but the FBI has said the investigation continues.
Burrus declined to discuss any investigation but said the FBI will focus on more state capitals over the next year "because we have seen a trend in cases that leads us to believe there's more out there."
When he arrived as deputy chief of the criminal division in 2004, he said, field offices frequently told him they had "no idea" how to pursue public- corruption leads. Since then, he said, agents in about 30 of the bureau's 56 field offices have been trained. FBI agents in Washington have studied congressional activities that might invite bribes, such as hard-to-trace "earmarks," in which members appropriate money for pet projects and often keep their involvement off the public record.
"Public-corruption cases have to be fished out," he said, noting that crooked politicians tend to do secret deals with one other person and often try to disguise their actions as "for the public's good."
Controversial new legal theories are also helping prosecutors bring cases in which they can't prove outright briberies. A vaguely written, 28-word 1988 law, for example, makes it a fraud for a politician to deprive taxpayers of his "honest services." It was among the charges lodged against Cunningham, Ney, former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the San Diego councilmen.
Burrus said the FBI has to prove "that this person engaged in the activities specifically to receive this stream of benefits and knew that stream of benefits would stop if he did not support these particular projects."
A TOP PRIORITY: A new director wouldn't balk at sting operations.
By GREG GORDON
McClatchy Newspapers
Published: November 6, 2006
Last Modified: November 6, 2006 at 03:10 AM
WASHINGTON -- The new chief of the FBI's Criminal Division, which is swamped with public-corruption cases, says the bureau is ramping up its ability to catch crooked politicians and might run an undercover sting on Congress.
Assistant FBI Director James Burrus called the bureau's public-corruption program "a sleeping giant that we've awoken" and predicted that the nation will see continued emphasis in that area "for many, many, many years to come."
So much evidence of wrongdoing is surfacing in the nation's capital that Burrus recently committed to adding a fourth 15- to 20-member public- corruption squad to the FBI's Washington field office.
In the past year, former Republican Reps. Duke Cunningham and Bob Ney have pleaded guilty to corruption charges. FBI agents are investigating about a dozen other members of Congress, including up to three senators. Dozens of agents are actively engaged in a massive investigation of illegal influence in the Alaska Legislature.
If conditions warrant, Burrus said, he wouldn't balk at urging an undercover sting like the famed Abscam operation in the late 1970s in which a U.S. senator and six House members agreed on camera to take bribes from FBI agents posing as Arab sheikhs.
"We look for those opportunities a lot," Burrus said, using words rarely heard at the bureau over the last quarter-century. "I would do it on Capitol Hill. I would do it in any state legislature. ... If we could do an undercover operation, and it would get me better evidence, I'd do it in a second."
Philip Heymann, who oversaw the Abscam investigation as chief of the Justice Department's Criminal Division during the Carter administration, expressed surprise to learn of the FBI's willingness to attempt another congressional sting after the outcry from Capitol Hill over Abscam.
"It shows courage at the FBI," said Heymann, now a criminal law professor at Harvard University. He said he concluded, after watching a recent public television documentary and listening to experts, that "there is more corruption (on Capitol Hill) than I ever thought imaginable" and that a single FBI sting "might result in very large numbers of prosecutions."
But even without an undercover operation, Heymann and other observers say they have been pleased with the GOP-controlled Justice Department's willingness to pursue old-fashioned investigations, even if they hurt congressional Republicans in Tuesday's elections.
Nationally over the last year, 600 agents worked 2,200 public- corruption cases, resulting in 650 arrests, 1,000 indictments and 800 convictions, Burrus said.
FBI Director Robert Mueller, who listed public corruption as his top criminal investigative priority when he shifted the FBI's focus to terrorism in 2002, said last month that the surge in convictions "sends the message that public corruption will not be tolerated." Despite the realignment, the number of agents working on public corruption has remained constant.
Burrus argued that the FBI is "uniquely qualified" to handle such cases, pointing to the bureau's political independence, exemplified by Mueller's 10-year term. Burrus said that Alice Fisher, the politically appointed chief of the Justice Department's Criminal Division with whom he confers weekly, also has "an aggressive attitude" about pursuing public officials.
"Operation Rainmaker," the FBI's broad investigation of a Washington lobbying ring, has already led to a handful of convictions, including Ney's guilty plea last month. The inquiry was one reason for the resignation last year of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, who also faces state campaign finance charges. Other investigations seem to be sprouting everywhere.
But Reid Weingarten, a former Abscam prosecutor who now is a high-profile Washington criminal defense lawyer, said he would bet that the flurry of congressional cases has resulted from evidence "falling in their (investigators') laps" rather than a programmed FBI hunt for corruption.
The FBI does appear to be stepping up its use of electronic surveillance and has conducted stings of state politicians. Bureau agents secretly taped Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., before finding $90,000 in his freezer during a raid last May. Cell phones were wiretapped for four months in an investigation of Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., government sources say.
In "Operation Tennessee Waltz," 10 Tennessee state officials, including five current and former legislators, have been prosecuted in a scheme in which hidden cameras whirred as FBI undercover agents offered payoffs in return for help for a dummy company. Burrus said some targeted Tennessee legislators were moving so quickly that "we were actually having to discuss how we were going to slow it down" so that bills aiding the phony firm didn't become law.
A separate undercover inquiry led to the indictment of three members of San Diego's city council.
In Alaska, the FBI has more than doubled its manpower in a massive investigation of illegal influence in the Alaska Legislature by the international oil-field service company Veco and other businesses. On Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, the FBI conducted two dozen raids and searched the office of state Sen. Ben Stevens, son of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. No charges have been filed, but the FBI has said the investigation continues.
Burrus declined to discuss any investigation but said the FBI will focus on more state capitals over the next year "because we have seen a trend in cases that leads us to believe there's more out there."
When he arrived as deputy chief of the criminal division in 2004, he said, field offices frequently told him they had "no idea" how to pursue public- corruption leads. Since then, he said, agents in about 30 of the bureau's 56 field offices have been trained. FBI agents in Washington have studied congressional activities that might invite bribes, such as hard-to-trace "earmarks," in which members appropriate money for pet projects and often keep their involvement off the public record.
"Public-corruption cases have to be fished out," he said, noting that crooked politicians tend to do secret deals with one other person and often try to disguise their actions as "for the public's good."
Controversial new legal theories are also helping prosecutors bring cases in which they can't prove outright briberies. A vaguely written, 28-word 1988 law, for example, makes it a fraud for a politician to deprive taxpayers of his "honest services." It was among the charges lodged against Cunningham, Ney, former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the San Diego councilmen.
Burrus said the FBI has to prove "that this person engaged in the activities specifically to receive this stream of benefits and knew that stream of benefits would stop if he did not support these particular projects."
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Which candidates have VECO's backing. What does VECO want from them.
The Biggest Permanent Fund Raid Ever Attempted Was attempted at VECO's direction.
I went after Ben Stevens when Ben, at VECOƒ'’s request, introduced legislation to end Alaska'’s tradition of distributing half of the Permanent Fund'’s earnings as dividends.
However, the biggest raid ever attempted on the Permanent Fund was orchestrated, also at VECO’s request, by Governor Tony Knowles in 1999. That'’s what that vote was all about.
Tony attempted to get voter permission to raid the Permanent Funds profits and principle. Tony'’s proposal would have abandoned the "Principles of Prudent Management" (Legally binding investment principles defined in common law that world class investment funds, like the Permanent Fund, are held to.)
Alaska'’s constitution bars our Legislators from spending principle but they can spend profits. And, by tradition, we have always appropriated half to dividends and put the other half back into the principle of the Fund. Tony'’s scam was to make over $4 Billion available for spending, by converting principle to profit.
Rather than selling stocks based on lackluster expectations for future earnings, Tony proposed selling stocks based on their appreciation since purchase. Conceptually, a share of stock purchased for $1, and now worth $1000, could be sold to yield spendable profit.
Tony asked his Attorney General to issue an opinion saying it was legal and got our Republican Legislature to put his proposal on the ballot. VECO then raised hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to get you to vote yes. Had they gotten their way, the rest of the Fund would have soon vanished and our tradition of dividends would be history.
Ben Stevens, Tony Knowles and VECO all conspired to trick Alaskans into patching potholes and paying teachers with Permanent Fund money. Had they succeeded, our legislators would have less pressure to get our fair share from oil. If the oil companies get their way, BP will be sucking our last barrel of oil out of the ground just about the time we spend our last dime out of the Permanent fund and Alaska would become one of the poorest places on the Planet soon there after.
A vote for any candidate that took VECO money is a vote for someone VECO is counting on to do their dirty work. The overwhelming majority of candidates taking VECO money are Republicans running for the House or Senate. But don'’t be fooled. Tony Knowles has taken more VECO money than any of them. For me, ending VECO'’s corrupting influence on our government trumps all other issues. If you vote Palin for Governor and Vote Democrat for your representatives in the House and Senate, you will be voting against VECO'’s wishes.
Ray Metcalfe:
I can be reached at RayinAK@aol.com
I went after Ben Stevens when Ben, at VECOƒ'’s request, introduced legislation to end Alaska'’s tradition of distributing half of the Permanent Fund'’s earnings as dividends.
However, the biggest raid ever attempted on the Permanent Fund was orchestrated, also at VECO’s request, by Governor Tony Knowles in 1999. That'’s what that vote was all about.
Tony attempted to get voter permission to raid the Permanent Funds profits and principle. Tony'’s proposal would have abandoned the "Principles of Prudent Management" (Legally binding investment principles defined in common law that world class investment funds, like the Permanent Fund, are held to.)
Alaska'’s constitution bars our Legislators from spending principle but they can spend profits. And, by tradition, we have always appropriated half to dividends and put the other half back into the principle of the Fund. Tony'’s scam was to make over $4 Billion available for spending, by converting principle to profit.
Rather than selling stocks based on lackluster expectations for future earnings, Tony proposed selling stocks based on their appreciation since purchase. Conceptually, a share of stock purchased for $1, and now worth $1000, could be sold to yield spendable profit.
Tony asked his Attorney General to issue an opinion saying it was legal and got our Republican Legislature to put his proposal on the ballot. VECO then raised hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to get you to vote yes. Had they gotten their way, the rest of the Fund would have soon vanished and our tradition of dividends would be history.
Ben Stevens, Tony Knowles and VECO all conspired to trick Alaskans into patching potholes and paying teachers with Permanent Fund money. Had they succeeded, our legislators would have less pressure to get our fair share from oil. If the oil companies get their way, BP will be sucking our last barrel of oil out of the ground just about the time we spend our last dime out of the Permanent fund and Alaska would become one of the poorest places on the Planet soon there after.
A vote for any candidate that took VECO money is a vote for someone VECO is counting on to do their dirty work. The overwhelming majority of candidates taking VECO money are Republicans running for the House or Senate. But don'’t be fooled. Tony Knowles has taken more VECO money than any of them. For me, ending VECO'’s corrupting influence on our government trumps all other issues. If you vote Palin for Governor and Vote Democrat for your representatives in the House and Senate, you will be voting against VECO'’s wishes.
Ray Metcalfe:
I can be reached at RayinAK@aol.com
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Corruption comes in two flavors… Democrat and Republican.
While Governor Knowles gave BP a free, $200 million oil lease, VECO and friends laundered $400 thousand through a Washington DC bank account, known as "“the Governor'’s Fund",” created for Knowles’ personal use. They evaded Alaska'’s contribution limits doing about the same thing that got Congressman Tom Delay indicted in Texas.
When BP attempted to takeover ARCO and monopolize Alaska'’s oil industry, Knowles sided with BP by ordering his Attorney General to oppose the Federal Trade Commission'’s lawsuit to stop BP'’s takeover What good is Knowles'’ negotiating experience if he'’s negotiating for the wrong team?
VECO's more recent cash for Ben Stevens’ favors wasn't even a little bit subtle. It took the cooperation of every Republican in the State Legislature for Ben to preside as Senate President while taking bribes from VECO. Any legislator who says they didn't know is either lying, or way too stupid to represent you.
Over the years, the VECO owned "“Voice of The Times"” has published numerous articles advocating the end of Alaska'’s PFD program. If VECO can get us to patch our potholes and pay our teachers with Permanent Fund money, there will be less pressure for our legislators to get what we should from VECO'’s oil company clients who produce our oil.
In 2005, when Ben Stevens introduced legislation to initiate VECO'’s plan, I began a campaign to expose the money Ben was taking from VECO.
Long before that, it was Tony Knowles I was writing about for doing the same thing. ThatÂ’s what that special election in 1999 was all about. Tony was trying to persuade you to give him permission to raid the Permanent Fund and spend it on capital projects. VECO'’s owners raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for a campaign to get you to vote yes.
Any Alaskan willing to put Democrat Tony Knowles back in the Governor'’s chair or vote to send any former Republican member of the House or Senate back to Juneau should just save VECO the trouble and hand deliver their last PFD to VECO. Then move to North Dakota. That would raise the average IQ in both states.
If you doubt the content of this article, just follow the money. VECO'’s friends, who have given tens of thousands to re-elect House and Senate Republicans, have abandoned the Republican nominee for Governor. She'’s not for sale! They are backing their old friend Tony.
If you agree that ending the corruption is the most important issue facing Alaska, and trust that my campaign to end corruption is on the right track, please vote Democrat for House and Senate and vote Sarah Palin, Republican for Governor.
Ray Metcalfe
When BP attempted to takeover ARCO and monopolize Alaska'’s oil industry, Knowles sided with BP by ordering his Attorney General to oppose the Federal Trade Commission'’s lawsuit to stop BP'’s takeover What good is Knowles'’ negotiating experience if he'’s negotiating for the wrong team?
VECO's more recent cash for Ben Stevens’ favors wasn't even a little bit subtle. It took the cooperation of every Republican in the State Legislature for Ben to preside as Senate President while taking bribes from VECO. Any legislator who says they didn't know is either lying, or way too stupid to represent you.
Over the years, the VECO owned "“Voice of The Times"” has published numerous articles advocating the end of Alaska'’s PFD program. If VECO can get us to patch our potholes and pay our teachers with Permanent Fund money, there will be less pressure for our legislators to get what we should from VECO'’s oil company clients who produce our oil.
In 2005, when Ben Stevens introduced legislation to initiate VECO'’s plan, I began a campaign to expose the money Ben was taking from VECO.
Long before that, it was Tony Knowles I was writing about for doing the same thing. ThatÂ’s what that special election in 1999 was all about. Tony was trying to persuade you to give him permission to raid the Permanent Fund and spend it on capital projects. VECO'’s owners raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for a campaign to get you to vote yes.
Any Alaskan willing to put Democrat Tony Knowles back in the Governor'’s chair or vote to send any former Republican member of the House or Senate back to Juneau should just save VECO the trouble and hand deliver their last PFD to VECO. Then move to North Dakota. That would raise the average IQ in both states.
If you doubt the content of this article, just follow the money. VECO'’s friends, who have given tens of thousands to re-elect House and Senate Republicans, have abandoned the Republican nominee for Governor. She'’s not for sale! They are backing their old friend Tony.
If you agree that ending the corruption is the most important issue facing Alaska, and trust that my campaign to end corruption is on the right track, please vote Democrat for House and Senate and vote Sarah Palin, Republican for Governor.
Ray Metcalfe
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Alaskans, not Exxon, own the resources
Let's stop living in fear of the day when Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young retire from Congress. They are serving Alaska admirably, but the day will come for them to leave. When it does, we must face up to the promise we made at statehood.
The Alaska people struck a deal in 1958. Our Statehood Compact granted us 103 million acres and the subsurface resources beneath those lands. In return, we pledged to use those resources to pay for the governmental services the federal government had been providing.
Gov. Bill Egan wisely selected the lands at the North Slope. Several years later, I demanded that Atlantic Richfield drill at Prudhoe Bay when Exxon, BP and others had pulled out. "You drill, or I will," I threatened.
They drilled that historic well and discovered our young state owned an ocean of oil and a vast supply of natural gas. This is just the beginning. We have only begun to explore Alaska's sedimentary basins, and if used wisely, these riches will fill the gap that Ted and Don will leave behind, unless someone sells us out.
In spite of oil company pronouncements, they do not own the oil and gas on the Slope. It's ours. They have the right to produce what they find as long as they honor their lease agreements. But Article VIII, Section 8 in our constitution, requires that "Leases and permits shall provide ... for forfeiture in the event of breach of conditions."
Exxon holds the leases for the Point Thomson field, east of Prudhoe. Point Thomson is our second-largest field and one of the 20 largest undeveloped fields worldwide. It contains several hundred million barrels of oil and eight trillion cubic feet of gas and is the key to the prompt construction of a gas line.
Since Exxon discovered these resources, it has warehoused them to fit its corporate timetable. It has filed 21 successive development plans, none of which has been implemented, although the trans-Alaska pipeline is only half full and natural gas is urgently needed by both Alaskans and Americans from coast to coast.
When elected governor in 1990, I called Exxon CEO Larry Rawl to Juneau and told him, "Larry, I want Point Thomson back." My goal was a billion-dollar Exxon Valdez oil spill settlement, and I wanted to get his attention. Rawl replied, "Governor, could you give us a little time?" I replied, "Sure, I'll give you time, but you know the terms of the lease."
For oil spill damages, he estimated they owed us about $300 million. I replied that we wanted at least $1.2 billion. Sixty days later in Washington, D.C., we settled for $1.1 billion. But Exxon has failed since to develop a single barrel of oil or a cubic foot of gas from Point Thomson.
Last October Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Irwin and Mark Myers, director of oil and gas, found them in default and announced the state was taking Point Thomson back. This is not new in the oil and gas business. It's done around the world whenever companies violate their leases for their own benefit at the expense of the host countries.
Instead of commending Irwin, Gov. Frank Murkowski accepted his resignation. Six of Irwin's top departmental staff members, including Myers, resigned in protest, and the Alaska people were outraged.
The governor replaced Irwin with long-time aide Mike Menge, who immediately reversed Irwin's action. Now Menge has scheduled hearings in November so that Exxon can plead its case while the lame duck Murkowski administration is still in office.
One wonders who is pushing the governor's chief of staff, Jim Clark, and Menge to do this. Certainly not the people of Alaska. Who are they working for? Certainly not the people of Alaska.
Two weeks ago I wrote to Gov. Murkowski warning him against last-minute actions that will tie the hands of the next governor: "I strongly urge you to do nothing in the last days of your administration that would compromise the state's rightful access to the Point Thomson field. If you do, history will judge you very harshly."
Wally Hickel
former Governor of Alaska and Secretary of the Interior of the United States
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
The Entirety of Ben Stevens’ Reported Consulting Income From Fishing Interests
Ben’s Bribes Below The Booty Ben Delivered
At Sea Processors Association 2002/2001 = $16,000
At Sea Processors Association 2003/2002 = $38,000
T = $54,000
Adak Fisheries 2001/2000 = $25,000
Adak Fisheries 2002/2001 = $15,000
Adak Fisheries 2003/2002 = $80,000
Adak Fisheries 2004/2003 = $120,000
Adak Fisheries 2005/2004 = $80,000
Adak Fisheries 2006/2005 = $50,000
Adak Fisheries 2006/2005 = $32,307
T = $402,307
Bering Sea Crab Effort Reduction Fund
2001/2000 = $42,500 T = $42,500
Glacier Fish Company 2003/2002 = $4,200
Glacier Fish Company 2004/2003 = $21,000
Glacier Fish Company 2005/2004 = $21,000
Glacier Fish Company 2006/2005 = $16,800
T = $63,000
Highland Light Fisheries, Inc. 2003/2002 = $4,200
Highland Light Fisheries, Inc. 2004/2003 = $25,200
Highland Light Fisheries, Inc. 2005/2004 = $25,200
T = $54,600
North Pacific Crab Association 2003/2002 = $44,000
North Pacific Crab Association 2004/2003 = $44,000
North Pacific Crab Association 2005/2004 = $42,000
North Pacific Crab Association 2006/2005 = $24,000
T = $154,000
NorQuest Seafoods, Inc. 2001/2000 = $12,500
NorQuest Seafoods, Inc. 2002/2001 = $25,000
T = $37,500
Yardarm Knot, Inc 2006/2005 = $33,600
T = $33,600
Unreported and thus far concealed from APOC.
Payments from Southeast Seiners Association.
Paid to Ben between November. 03 and August 05.
Estimated T = $100,000
Salmon Allocation Comparison - AFMB Awards
Firm Allocation for FY 2004 Allocation for FY 2005 Total to Date
Ocean Beauty Seafoods $1.048.908.46 $1,259,625.59 $2,308,534.05
Icicle Seafoods $774,260.76 $904,016.58 $1,578,277.34
Peter Pan Seafoods $737,284.09 $829.217.50 $1,566,501.59
Trident Seafoods Corporation $577,210.61 $781,080.43 $1,358,291.04
Bear & Wolf LLC $471.761.37 $530,344.02 $1 ,002,105.39
NorOuest Seafoods, Inc. $496,351.14 $366,103.49 $802.454.63
North Pacific Processors, Inc. $346.228.51 $359,040.74 $705,269.25
Kanaway, Inc. dba Ak General Seafoods $223,202.94 $344.515.90 $567.718.84
Kodiak Salmon Packers, Inc. $74,105.66 $135.141.89 $209,247.55 $224 9.11.35
Snopac Products. Inc. $102,682.58 $122.228.77
Yardarm Knot Fisheries. LLC $123,963.56 5103.574.75 5227,538.31
Inlet Fish Producers. Inc. $65,834.84 $8I,585.24 $147,420.08
E.C. Phillips & Son, Inc. $63,649.95 $77,559.30 $141.209.25
Leader Creek Fisheries, LLC $54,648.00 $70,693.79 $125,341.79
Great Pacific Seafoods. Inc. $96,043.75 $63,507_00 $I59,550.75
Seafood Producers Cooperative $48,024.36 561,514.84 $109,539.20
Western Alaska Fisheries, Inc. $48,889.51 559,337.11 $108,226.62 $117,124.58
Copper River Fine Seafoods $65,692.49 $51,432.09
Nautilus Foods $44.628.00 $44,628.00 $70,931.57 $53,344.75
Snug Harbor Seafoods. Inc. $34,245.97 $36,685.60
Icy Strait Seafoods, Inc. $18,674.70 $34.670.05
Baywatch Seafoods. LLC $24,678.48 $28.249.17 $52,927.65
Coffee Point Seafood's $25,793.66 $25,793.66
Pacific Star Seafoods /Fishhawk, Inc. $19.686.84 $23,954.12 $43,640.96
Salamatof Seatoods, Inc. $25,514.75 $22,448.13 $47.962.88
Alaska Peninsula Fishermans Coop $13,552.47 $22,142.52 $35.694.99
Island Fish Co, LLC dba Island Seafoods $21,575.87 $21.575.87 $18.179.59
Sea Level Seafoods $18.179.59
R&J Seafood $12,899.00 $13;117.95 $26.0.16.95
Alaska Salmon Purchasers, Inc. $9,773.00 $9.203.75 $18,976.75 $6,390.19
TKO Limited dba Signature Seafoods, Inc. $6.390.19
Deep Creek Custom Packing Inc $10,751 .56 $6.352.33 $17,103.89
Kwikpak Fisheries LLC $6,410.00 $5,178.86 $11,588.86
Grand Hale Marine Products Co Ltd.- $4,480.41 $4,017.25 $8,497.66
Boreal Fisheries. Inc. $2,314.96 $2.314.96
Prime Select Seafoods $3,279.10 $2,190.94 $5.470.04
Interior Alaska Fish Processors. Inc. $1,528.00 $1.528.00
Star Shadow Fisheries $1.528.00 $1.528.00
William Crump $980.00 $980.00
Maserculiq Fish Processors, Inc. $891.23 $891.23
Wind and Tide, Inc. $704.00 $704.00
Tim Berg's Alaskan Fishing Advent,ires $635.76 $635.76
Coastal Cold Storage, Inc. $519.00 $519.00
Wild By Nature LLC dba Wild Salmon Maxcy Fishing Company $441.00 $441.00
F/V Ilona-B $381.00 $381.00
Thorne Fisheries $379.00 $379.00
Tonka Seafoods, Inc. $338.00 $338.00
Kodiak Smoking & Processing $275.00 $275.00
F/V Willie Lee II $273.00 $273.00
FA/ Kaleva $254.00 $254.00
FlV Sea Comber $228.00 $228.00
FiV Myriad I Myriad Ent $190.00 $190.00
FIV Triad i Chris Chris Fisheries $181.00 $181.00
Horst's Seafood $170.00 $170.00
Smoky Bay Fisheries $152.00 $152.00
Alaska Flyin Fish Company $149.00 $149.00
Arctic Circle Seafood $76.00 $76.00
Alaska Wild Salmon Co I FA/ Dutch Master $71.00 $71.00
Seadance Seafoods $57.00 $57.00
Great Ruby Fish Company $55.00 $55.00
Pacman Fisheries I Bristol Gold -=-Ternium Sockeye Salmon $55.00 $55.00
Gateway Seafood and Smokehouse $43.00 $43.00
Bell's Seafood $38.00 $38.00
Lofoten Fish Company $36.00 $36.00
Pacific Pleasures $35.00 $35.00
Cross Sound Seafoods $35.00 $35.00
Wayne R. Beeson $18.00 $18.00
A&J Fisheries $11.00 $11.00
Totals $5,658,043.85 $6,482,983.99 $12,141,027.84
Salmon Allocation Comparison - AFMB Awards
Ben’s Bribes In A Nutshell.
Of the $12,141,027 that was as allocated to Ben’s friends that fish for Salmon, let me show you where three fourths of it went and what Ben got for it. To see for yourself, go to http://www.alaskafisheriesboard.org/, and click on “Allocations.”
See the names highlighted in blue: Ocean Beauty, Icicle, Peter Pan, Trident, NorQuest, North Pacific Processors, Western Alaska, Snopac, and Yardarm Knot. Collectively they received $9,040,000. These companies are also in the crabbing industry. Together, they make up the funding foundation for the 9-member North Pacific Crab Association. While Ben paid them $9,040,000 through the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board to market Salmon, and they paid Ben $154,000 through the North Pacific Crab Association.
The Bering Sea Crab effort reduction fund that paid Ben $42,500, in 2000, (See his APOC report.) is for the most part, the same group now known as the North Pacific Crab Association, highlighted in blue in the left column of the attached Salmon Allocation Comparison chart of the AFMB Awards
At Sea Processors is a lobbying organization funded by major factory trawler owner-processors including Trident Seafoods. At Sea paid Ben’s Business partner, Trevor McCabe, to be its executive director until he resigned in late-2003. Trevor is also helping dish out the money to Ben’s friends as the vice chair of Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board. At Sea has paid Ben Stevens a total of $54,000. We have no knowledge of how much they paid Trevor McCabe as a manager. Glacier Fish Company, a member of At Sea also paid Ben Stevens an additional $63,000.
Through AFMB, Ben also awarded the “Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers” another $3,000,000, through the “AFMB Grants Program” (Go to website and click on “allocations” then “appropriations”) The “Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers” another group formed and dominated by the same above named companies. When added to the $9,040,000 for “salmon allocations” to friends of AFMB Chairman Ben Stevens and Vice Chair Trevor McCabe, the additional $3,000,000 brings the total to $12,040,000 we can count. Who knows what else we would find if the Attorney General and the Alaska Public Offices weren’t sandbagging this investigation.
In addition, it was Icicle Seafoods who in December of 2001, bought 50% of Adak Fisheries LLC and provided the necessary injection of capital Adak Fisheries LLC required to bring its overdue lease payments to the Aleut Enterprise Corp current. Six months later, it was Icicle Seafoods who also signed the now infamous “secret contract” granting Ben Stevens his second “secret option” to purchase a 25% interest in Adak Fisheries LLC, for a nominal Fee. (See Exhibit G & H) Note that his first secret option agreement was granted in 2000. (See Exhibit I).
Icicle Seafoods simultaneously provided the capital that enabled Adak Fisheries to increase Ben Stevens’ “consulting fees” from $15,000 per year to $80,000 the next year, $120,000 the year after that, and $80,000 the following year. (See Exhibit G, H, and Ben Stevens Disclosure).
Effectively, at the same time that Icicle Seafoods was shoving $280,000 into Ben Stevens pocket through Adak Fisheries consulting income, Ben was shoving $1,678,000 into Icicle Seafoods other pocket, through the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board salmon marketing grants program.
There are terms for such acts: Money laundering, and bribery. Both are felonies - under state and federal law.
In addition to the above, NorQuest, (owned by Trident since April 2004), paid Ben $37,500. (See Ben’s 2001 & 2002 Disclosure.) Ben rewarded NorQuest handily (or maybe Trident,) with $862,454 from the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board. (See the $862,454 highlighted in yellow)
Ben began paying Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board money to Yardarm Knot in 2004 and Yardarm Knot (and related company Highland Light) began handing Ben consulting fees for the first time in 2005. Ben paid Yardarm $227,538 in AFMB funds and Yardarm has paid Ben $33,600. An additional $54,000 was paid to Ben through Highland Light Fisheries, which is a subsidiary of Yardarm Knot Inc. (See Yardarm Knot’s $227,538 grant highlighted in yellow)
Ben’s unreported income from the Southeast Seiners Association (SEAS): The Southeast Seiners are fast learners. When they saw how things were shaping up for the founders of the Bering Sea Crab Effort Reduction Fund followed by the North Pacific Crab Association, the Southeast Seiners agreed to begin paying pay Ben $5,000 per month and promised him a 1% commission on what he could get.
(Paying on commission is a violation of federal lobbying law.)
Southeast Seiners payments to Ben began in 2003, and continued through most of 2005. We can only guess the amount because Ben has never reported this income to The Alaska Public Office Commission, (APOC), and we do not know the exact number of months that Ben was paid. We estimate payments to Ben to be in excess of $100,000.
When $50,000,000 appeared in a draft of the federal budget that had been passed out of the US Senate’s Appropriations Committee, the Southeast Seiners met to discuss how they were going to pay Ben the $500,000 commission they expected to owe him for this vessel buyback guarantee fund (a federal Fleet Capacity Reduction Program). Southeast Seiners’ management obviously had some concerns about the appearance, ethics, and legality of what they were doing at there November 13, 2004 meeting; they were openly discussing how to keep their payments to Ben “Off the Books.” Their concerns are obviously shared by Ben Stevens as to this day, has concealed these reportable payments from the Seiners’ association from the eyes of the Alaska Political Office Commission. Three corroborating Southeast Seiner member affidavits, attesting to Bens payments, are available on request. Call Ray Metcalfe 907 344-3414.
Who are they?
Alyeska Seafoods Inc., Seattle [Wards Cove/Marubeni/Maruha]
Icicle Seafoods Inc., Seattle [owned by SE AK investors]
NorQuest Seafoods, Seattle [Trident owned as of 2005]
Peter Pan Seafoods Inc., Seattle [Nichiro of Japan 100%]
Royal Aleutian Seafoods Inc., Seattle [recently bought by UniSea, owned by NISSUI]
Snopac Products Inc., Seattle [Korean investment]
Trident Seafoods Corp., Seattle [owned by US partners, Chuck Bundrant, Kaare Ness, etc.]
UniSea Inc., Redmond [owned by NISSUI - Nippon Suisan of Japan 100%]
Westward Seafoods Inc., Seattle [owned by Maruha 100%, formerly known as Taiyo
Yardarm Knot Fisheries LLC, Seattle. An Alan Chaffee company, also owners of Highland Light trawler.
FIRM FY 2004 FY 2005 TOTAL:
Ocean Beauty Seafoods $1,048,908.46 $1,259,625.59 $2,308,534.05
Icicle Seafoods $774,260.76 $904,016.58 $1,678,277.34
Peter Pan Seafoods $737,284.09 $829,217.50 $1,566,501.59
Trident Seafoods Corporation $577,210.61 $781,080.43 $1,358,291.04
NorQuest Seafoods, Inc. $496,351.14 $366,103.49 $862,454.63
North Pacific Processors, Inc. $346,228.51 $359,040.74 $705,269.25
Snopac Products, Inc. $102,682.58 $122,228.77 $224,911.35
Yardarm Knot Fisheries, LLC $123,963.56 $103,574.75 $227,538.31
Western Alaska Fisheries, Inc. $48,889.51 $59,337.11 $108,226.62
TOTALS: $4,255,779.22 $4,784,224.96 $9,040,004.18
Most of the above named crab processors headquartered in Washington State or Japan:
Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP), which shows up in a different category of Fish Marketing Board handouts, also got $1,000,000 for FY 2003, $1,000,000 for FY 2004 and $1,000,000 for FY 2005, for a total of $3,000,000. It was given to them from that portion of the $29 Million the Alaska Fish Marketing Board (AFMB) sat aside specifically for “Grants.” GAPP includes all the above companies except Snopac; and also includes Alaska Ocean, Alyeska Seafoods, American Seafoods, Starbound, and Highland Light (an entity owned by Yardarm Knot).
In total, Ben gave $12,040,004 to the people who paid him $923.507. This does not account for the over $700,000 he raked off the top of the funds he raised for the Special Olympics, which, to the best of our knowledge, came mostly from the above named recipients of his gifts. However, unfortunately, we do not know because we do not have the power of subpoena and the Attorney General refuses to investigate. The Attorney General has told us “all you have is hearsay” and has refused to return calls to witnesses we have provided and witnesses who have called him, who claim to have knowledge of money laundering, kickbacks and Bribery.
Copies of three affidavits, affirming that Ben continues to conceal income from APOC, income that he received from Southeast Seiners Association between November 03, and August 05, are either attached, or available on request.
At Sea Processors Association 2002/2001 = $16,000
At Sea Processors Association 2003/2002 = $38,000
T = $54,000
Adak Fisheries 2001/2000 = $25,000
Adak Fisheries 2002/2001 = $15,000
Adak Fisheries 2003/2002 = $80,000
Adak Fisheries 2004/2003 = $120,000
Adak Fisheries 2005/2004 = $80,000
Adak Fisheries 2006/2005 = $50,000
Adak Fisheries 2006/2005 = $32,307
T = $402,307
Bering Sea Crab Effort Reduction Fund
2001/2000 = $42,500 T = $42,500
Glacier Fish Company 2003/2002 = $4,200
Glacier Fish Company 2004/2003 = $21,000
Glacier Fish Company 2005/2004 = $21,000
Glacier Fish Company 2006/2005 = $16,800
T = $63,000
Highland Light Fisheries, Inc. 2003/2002 = $4,200
Highland Light Fisheries, Inc. 2004/2003 = $25,200
Highland Light Fisheries, Inc. 2005/2004 = $25,200
T = $54,600
North Pacific Crab Association 2003/2002 = $44,000
North Pacific Crab Association 2004/2003 = $44,000
North Pacific Crab Association 2005/2004 = $42,000
North Pacific Crab Association 2006/2005 = $24,000
T = $154,000
NorQuest Seafoods, Inc. 2001/2000 = $12,500
NorQuest Seafoods, Inc. 2002/2001 = $25,000
T = $37,500
Yardarm Knot, Inc 2006/2005 = $33,600
T = $33,600
Unreported and thus far concealed from APOC.
Payments from Southeast Seiners Association.
Paid to Ben between November. 03 and August 05.
Estimated T = $100,000
Salmon Allocation Comparison - AFMB Awards
Firm Allocation for FY 2004 Allocation for FY 2005 Total to Date
Ocean Beauty Seafoods $1.048.908.46 $1,259,625.59 $2,308,534.05
Icicle Seafoods $774,260.76 $904,016.58 $1,578,277.34
Peter Pan Seafoods $737,284.09 $829.217.50 $1,566,501.59
Trident Seafoods Corporation $577,210.61 $781,080.43 $1,358,291.04
Bear & Wolf LLC $471.761.37 $530,344.02 $1 ,002,105.39
NorOuest Seafoods, Inc. $496,351.14 $366,103.49 $802.454.63
North Pacific Processors, Inc. $346.228.51 $359,040.74 $705,269.25
Kanaway, Inc. dba Ak General Seafoods $223,202.94 $344.515.90 $567.718.84
Kodiak Salmon Packers, Inc. $74,105.66 $135.141.89 $209,247.55 $224 9.11.35
Snopac Products. Inc. $102,682.58 $122.228.77
Yardarm Knot Fisheries. LLC $123,963.56 5103.574.75 5227,538.31
Inlet Fish Producers. Inc. $65,834.84 $8I,585.24 $147,420.08
E.C. Phillips & Son, Inc. $63,649.95 $77,559.30 $141.209.25
Leader Creek Fisheries, LLC $54,648.00 $70,693.79 $125,341.79
Great Pacific Seafoods. Inc. $96,043.75 $63,507_00 $I59,550.75
Seafood Producers Cooperative $48,024.36 561,514.84 $109,539.20
Western Alaska Fisheries, Inc. $48,889.51 559,337.11 $108,226.62 $117,124.58
Copper River Fine Seafoods $65,692.49 $51,432.09
Nautilus Foods $44.628.00 $44,628.00 $70,931.57 $53,344.75
Snug Harbor Seafoods. Inc. $34,245.97 $36,685.60
Icy Strait Seafoods, Inc. $18,674.70 $34.670.05
Baywatch Seafoods. LLC $24,678.48 $28.249.17 $52,927.65
Coffee Point Seafood's $25,793.66 $25,793.66
Pacific Star Seafoods /Fishhawk, Inc. $19.686.84 $23,954.12 $43,640.96
Salamatof Seatoods, Inc. $25,514.75 $22,448.13 $47.962.88
Alaska Peninsula Fishermans Coop $13,552.47 $22,142.52 $35.694.99
Island Fish Co, LLC dba Island Seafoods $21,575.87 $21.575.87 $18.179.59
Sea Level Seafoods $18.179.59
R&J Seafood $12,899.00 $13;117.95 $26.0.16.95
Alaska Salmon Purchasers, Inc. $9,773.00 $9.203.75 $18,976.75 $6,390.19
TKO Limited dba Signature Seafoods, Inc. $6.390.19
Deep Creek Custom Packing Inc $10,751 .56 $6.352.33 $17,103.89
Kwikpak Fisheries LLC $6,410.00 $5,178.86 $11,588.86
Grand Hale Marine Products Co Ltd.- $4,480.41 $4,017.25 $8,497.66
Boreal Fisheries. Inc. $2,314.96 $2.314.96
Prime Select Seafoods $3,279.10 $2,190.94 $5.470.04
Interior Alaska Fish Processors. Inc. $1,528.00 $1.528.00
Star Shadow Fisheries $1.528.00 $1.528.00
William Crump $980.00 $980.00
Maserculiq Fish Processors, Inc. $891.23 $891.23
Wind and Tide, Inc. $704.00 $704.00
Tim Berg's Alaskan Fishing Advent,ires $635.76 $635.76
Coastal Cold Storage, Inc. $519.00 $519.00
Wild By Nature LLC dba Wild Salmon Maxcy Fishing Company $441.00 $441.00
F/V Ilona-B $381.00 $381.00
Thorne Fisheries $379.00 $379.00
Tonka Seafoods, Inc. $338.00 $338.00
Kodiak Smoking & Processing $275.00 $275.00
F/V Willie Lee II $273.00 $273.00
FA/ Kaleva $254.00 $254.00
FlV Sea Comber $228.00 $228.00
FiV Myriad I Myriad Ent $190.00 $190.00
FIV Triad i Chris Chris Fisheries $181.00 $181.00
Horst's Seafood $170.00 $170.00
Smoky Bay Fisheries $152.00 $152.00
Alaska Flyin Fish Company $149.00 $149.00
Arctic Circle Seafood $76.00 $76.00
Alaska Wild Salmon Co I FA/ Dutch Master $71.00 $71.00
Seadance Seafoods $57.00 $57.00
Great Ruby Fish Company $55.00 $55.00
Pacman Fisheries I Bristol Gold -=-Ternium Sockeye Salmon $55.00 $55.00
Gateway Seafood and Smokehouse $43.00 $43.00
Bell's Seafood $38.00 $38.00
Lofoten Fish Company $36.00 $36.00
Pacific Pleasures $35.00 $35.00
Cross Sound Seafoods $35.00 $35.00
Wayne R. Beeson $18.00 $18.00
A&J Fisheries $11.00 $11.00
Totals $5,658,043.85 $6,482,983.99 $12,141,027.84
Salmon Allocation Comparison - AFMB Awards
Ben’s Bribes In A Nutshell.
Of the $12,141,027 that was as allocated to Ben’s friends that fish for Salmon, let me show you where three fourths of it went and what Ben got for it. To see for yourself, go to http://www.alaskafisheriesboard.org/, and click on “Allocations.”
See the names highlighted in blue: Ocean Beauty, Icicle, Peter Pan, Trident, NorQuest, North Pacific Processors, Western Alaska, Snopac, and Yardarm Knot. Collectively they received $9,040,000. These companies are also in the crabbing industry. Together, they make up the funding foundation for the 9-member North Pacific Crab Association. While Ben paid them $9,040,000 through the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board to market Salmon, and they paid Ben $154,000 through the North Pacific Crab Association.
The Bering Sea Crab effort reduction fund that paid Ben $42,500, in 2000, (See his APOC report.) is for the most part, the same group now known as the North Pacific Crab Association, highlighted in blue in the left column of the attached Salmon Allocation Comparison chart of the AFMB Awards
At Sea Processors is a lobbying organization funded by major factory trawler owner-processors including Trident Seafoods. At Sea paid Ben’s Business partner, Trevor McCabe, to be its executive director until he resigned in late-2003. Trevor is also helping dish out the money to Ben’s friends as the vice chair of Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board. At Sea has paid Ben Stevens a total of $54,000. We have no knowledge of how much they paid Trevor McCabe as a manager. Glacier Fish Company, a member of At Sea also paid Ben Stevens an additional $63,000.
Through AFMB, Ben also awarded the “Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers” another $3,000,000, through the “AFMB Grants Program” (Go to website and click on “allocations” then “appropriations”) The “Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers” another group formed and dominated by the same above named companies. When added to the $9,040,000 for “salmon allocations” to friends of AFMB Chairman Ben Stevens and Vice Chair Trevor McCabe, the additional $3,000,000 brings the total to $12,040,000 we can count. Who knows what else we would find if the Attorney General and the Alaska Public Offices weren’t sandbagging this investigation.
In addition, it was Icicle Seafoods who in December of 2001, bought 50% of Adak Fisheries LLC and provided the necessary injection of capital Adak Fisheries LLC required to bring its overdue lease payments to the Aleut Enterprise Corp current. Six months later, it was Icicle Seafoods who also signed the now infamous “secret contract” granting Ben Stevens his second “secret option” to purchase a 25% interest in Adak Fisheries LLC, for a nominal Fee. (See Exhibit G & H) Note that his first secret option agreement was granted in 2000. (See Exhibit I).
Icicle Seafoods simultaneously provided the capital that enabled Adak Fisheries to increase Ben Stevens’ “consulting fees” from $15,000 per year to $80,000 the next year, $120,000 the year after that, and $80,000 the following year. (See Exhibit G, H, and Ben Stevens Disclosure).
Effectively, at the same time that Icicle Seafoods was shoving $280,000 into Ben Stevens pocket through Adak Fisheries consulting income, Ben was shoving $1,678,000 into Icicle Seafoods other pocket, through the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board salmon marketing grants program.
There are terms for such acts: Money laundering, and bribery. Both are felonies - under state and federal law.
In addition to the above, NorQuest, (owned by Trident since April 2004), paid Ben $37,500. (See Ben’s 2001 & 2002 Disclosure.) Ben rewarded NorQuest handily (or maybe Trident,) with $862,454 from the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board. (See the $862,454 highlighted in yellow)
Ben began paying Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board money to Yardarm Knot in 2004 and Yardarm Knot (and related company Highland Light) began handing Ben consulting fees for the first time in 2005. Ben paid Yardarm $227,538 in AFMB funds and Yardarm has paid Ben $33,600. An additional $54,000 was paid to Ben through Highland Light Fisheries, which is a subsidiary of Yardarm Knot Inc. (See Yardarm Knot’s $227,538 grant highlighted in yellow)
Ben’s unreported income from the Southeast Seiners Association (SEAS): The Southeast Seiners are fast learners. When they saw how things were shaping up for the founders of the Bering Sea Crab Effort Reduction Fund followed by the North Pacific Crab Association, the Southeast Seiners agreed to begin paying pay Ben $5,000 per month and promised him a 1% commission on what he could get.
(Paying on commission is a violation of federal lobbying law.)
Southeast Seiners payments to Ben began in 2003, and continued through most of 2005. We can only guess the amount because Ben has never reported this income to The Alaska Public Office Commission, (APOC), and we do not know the exact number of months that Ben was paid. We estimate payments to Ben to be in excess of $100,000.
When $50,000,000 appeared in a draft of the federal budget that had been passed out of the US Senate’s Appropriations Committee, the Southeast Seiners met to discuss how they were going to pay Ben the $500,000 commission they expected to owe him for this vessel buyback guarantee fund (a federal Fleet Capacity Reduction Program). Southeast Seiners’ management obviously had some concerns about the appearance, ethics, and legality of what they were doing at there November 13, 2004 meeting; they were openly discussing how to keep their payments to Ben “Off the Books.” Their concerns are obviously shared by Ben Stevens as to this day, has concealed these reportable payments from the Seiners’ association from the eyes of the Alaska Political Office Commission. Three corroborating Southeast Seiner member affidavits, attesting to Bens payments, are available on request. Call Ray Metcalfe 907 344-3414.
Who are they?
Alyeska Seafoods Inc., Seattle [Wards Cove/Marubeni/Maruha]
Icicle Seafoods Inc., Seattle [owned by SE AK investors]
NorQuest Seafoods, Seattle [Trident owned as of 2005]
Peter Pan Seafoods Inc., Seattle [Nichiro of Japan 100%]
Royal Aleutian Seafoods Inc., Seattle [recently bought by UniSea, owned by NISSUI]
Snopac Products Inc., Seattle [Korean investment]
Trident Seafoods Corp., Seattle [owned by US partners, Chuck Bundrant, Kaare Ness, etc.]
UniSea Inc., Redmond [owned by NISSUI - Nippon Suisan of Japan 100%]
Westward Seafoods Inc., Seattle [owned by Maruha 100%, formerly known as Taiyo
Yardarm Knot Fisheries LLC, Seattle. An Alan Chaffee company, also owners of Highland Light trawler.
FIRM FY 2004 FY 2005 TOTAL:
Ocean Beauty Seafoods $1,048,908.46 $1,259,625.59 $2,308,534.05
Icicle Seafoods $774,260.76 $904,016.58 $1,678,277.34
Peter Pan Seafoods $737,284.09 $829,217.50 $1,566,501.59
Trident Seafoods Corporation $577,210.61 $781,080.43 $1,358,291.04
NorQuest Seafoods, Inc. $496,351.14 $366,103.49 $862,454.63
North Pacific Processors, Inc. $346,228.51 $359,040.74 $705,269.25
Snopac Products, Inc. $102,682.58 $122,228.77 $224,911.35
Yardarm Knot Fisheries, LLC $123,963.56 $103,574.75 $227,538.31
Western Alaska Fisheries, Inc. $48,889.51 $59,337.11 $108,226.62
TOTALS: $4,255,779.22 $4,784,224.96 $9,040,004.18
Most of the above named crab processors headquartered in Washington State or Japan:
Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP), which shows up in a different category of Fish Marketing Board handouts, also got $1,000,000 for FY 2003, $1,000,000 for FY 2004 and $1,000,000 for FY 2005, for a total of $3,000,000. It was given to them from that portion of the $29 Million the Alaska Fish Marketing Board (AFMB) sat aside specifically for “Grants.” GAPP includes all the above companies except Snopac; and also includes Alaska Ocean, Alyeska Seafoods, American Seafoods, Starbound, and Highland Light (an entity owned by Yardarm Knot).
In total, Ben gave $12,040,004 to the people who paid him $923.507. This does not account for the over $700,000 he raked off the top of the funds he raised for the Special Olympics, which, to the best of our knowledge, came mostly from the above named recipients of his gifts. However, unfortunately, we do not know because we do not have the power of subpoena and the Attorney General refuses to investigate. The Attorney General has told us “all you have is hearsay” and has refused to return calls to witnesses we have provided and witnesses who have called him, who claim to have knowledge of money laundering, kickbacks and Bribery.
Copies of three affidavits, affirming that Ben continues to conceal income from APOC, income that he received from Southeast Seiners Association between November 03, and August 05, are either attached, or available on request.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Tony Knowles and VECO Editorial Cartoon
Guess the secret
A deep dark secret is revealed some where in this picture. What is the deep dark secret?
Post your guess in 25 words or less.
Prizes to be announced.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Did Knowles Forget? VECO owner Bill Allen led his 1994 transition team
Tony Knowles recently proclaimed himself squeaky clean of VECO influence. I doubt that Tony really forgot but maybe a few Daily News clips can refresh his memory. When Tony was elected he appointed VECO owner Bill Allen to head up his transition team.
Bill Allen helped raise over four hundred thousand dollars ($400,000.00) for Tony to use as he saw fit and Tony gave VECO’s clients a lease on a multi billion dollar oilfield without the requirement of competitive bid.
In an article printed in the Anchorage Daily News, October 18, 1998, that made reference to me (Ray Metcalfe) for blasting Tony Knowles for giving away Alaska’s resources in exchange for oil company favors, the Daily News said the following about Tony Knowles:
* “Within weeks of his 1994 election, he traveled to the corporate headquarters of Arco, Exxon and BP in Los Angeles, Houston and London. He took with him members of his transition team, including Bill Allen, chairman of VECO Corp., the oil field service company that years later won contracts to build production modules for Arco's Alpine field and BP's Northstar. VECO publishes the Voice of the Times.”
On January 16, 1995, the Anchorage Daily News said:
* “VECO also has the ear of Gov. Tony Knowles. The company and people affiliated with it gave Knowles' campaign $8,500.00 and VECO chairman Bill Allen is a member of the Knowles transition team.”
Then there is the story of “the Governor’s Fund.” reported in the Anchorage Daily News December 23, 1995:
· “Oil companies and lawyers were the biggest spenders earlier this month at an event that poured more than $161,000 into a political fund that Gov. Tony Knowles can tap at will. …..The Governor's Fund is a Democratic Party account that was set up primarily for Knowles' use. The figures released Friday also show that, so far this year, $375,000 has been deposited into the Governor's Fund and about $105,000 has been spent…. More than three-quarters of the $160,000 donated at the event would be illegal under a proposed ballot initiative to reform Alaska's campaign finance laws. The initiative, which supporters hope to get on next fall's ballot, would bar contributions to parties from companies, political action committees and labor unions.”
The Governors Fund didn't account for what had already been contributed to Tony’s campaign. It was in addition to his campaign contributions.
Immediately following the events described above, Tony Knowles arranged to give British Petroleum a completely rewritten lease. The Lease was conveyed in a manner intended to avoid the competitive bid process and given free of charge to BP even though Governor Knowles’ own advisers told him that the lease could possibly sell for as much as $225 million if put out to competitive bid on the same revised terms Tony was giving BP for free.
When Governor Knowles proposed his dirty deed, on April 19, 1996, the Anchorage Daily News said the following:
* “Ever since the Northstar deal was announced, several legislators have questioned whether it would be wise, or even legal, to alter leases that originally were purchased 17 years ago in a competitive-bid sale. Others have complained that the agreement has too many ''weasel words,'' especially in the nonbinding local-hire provisions.”
As soon as the deal was done the following companies put additional $59,000 into the “Governor’s Fund.” October 7, 1996, BP $20,000.00 and ARCO $10,000.00. On October 17, 1996. BP, an additional $10,000.00. October 30, 1996, ARCO, an additional $4,000.00. On November 5, 1996, VECO gave $15,000.00.
In an Anchorage Daily News article published May 30, 1998: Fritz Pettyjohn, a former Republican legislator from Anchorage, was quoted as he emerged from a closed-door meeting of the Republican Party Central Committee. The Committee had elected to show a united front, rejecting a proposed withdrawal of Party support, from John Lindauer. John Lindauer was the Republican Party’s Nominee for Governor, and he had repeatedly been caught lying about his candidacy.
Placing his loyalty to party and unity over his loyalty to ethics and honor, Fritz Pettyjohn, described John Lindauer as a “pathological liar” to an Anchorage Daily News reporter. After doing so, he then said “But, hey, he's our guy” and went on to explain that in the spirit of party unity, they had decided to hang tough with Lindauer.
Parties and party leaders will face credibility problems until they choose to place loyalty to honor and ethics above their loyalty to party unity and a united front.
I invite the Democratic Party to take a hard look at the above and do with Tony Knowles what the Republicans should have done with John Lindauer in 1998.
From Ray Metcalfe
09/20/2006
Thanks for reading
Bill Allen helped raise over four hundred thousand dollars ($400,000.00) for Tony to use as he saw fit and Tony gave VECO’s clients a lease on a multi billion dollar oilfield without the requirement of competitive bid.
In an article printed in the Anchorage Daily News, October 18, 1998, that made reference to me (Ray Metcalfe) for blasting Tony Knowles for giving away Alaska’s resources in exchange for oil company favors, the Daily News said the following about Tony Knowles:
* “Within weeks of his 1994 election, he traveled to the corporate headquarters of Arco, Exxon and BP in Los Angeles, Houston and London. He took with him members of his transition team, including Bill Allen, chairman of VECO Corp., the oil field service company that years later won contracts to build production modules for Arco's Alpine field and BP's Northstar. VECO publishes the Voice of the Times.”
On January 16, 1995, the Anchorage Daily News said:
* “VECO also has the ear of Gov. Tony Knowles. The company and people affiliated with it gave Knowles' campaign $8,500.00 and VECO chairman Bill Allen is a member of the Knowles transition team.”
Then there is the story of “the Governor’s Fund.” reported in the Anchorage Daily News December 23, 1995:
· “Oil companies and lawyers were the biggest spenders earlier this month at an event that poured more than $161,000 into a political fund that Gov. Tony Knowles can tap at will. …..The Governor's Fund is a Democratic Party account that was set up primarily for Knowles' use. The figures released Friday also show that, so far this year, $375,000 has been deposited into the Governor's Fund and about $105,000 has been spent…. More than three-quarters of the $160,000 donated at the event would be illegal under a proposed ballot initiative to reform Alaska's campaign finance laws. The initiative, which supporters hope to get on next fall's ballot, would bar contributions to parties from companies, political action committees and labor unions.”
The Governors Fund didn't account for what had already been contributed to Tony’s campaign. It was in addition to his campaign contributions.
Immediately following the events described above, Tony Knowles arranged to give British Petroleum a completely rewritten lease. The Lease was conveyed in a manner intended to avoid the competitive bid process and given free of charge to BP even though Governor Knowles’ own advisers told him that the lease could possibly sell for as much as $225 million if put out to competitive bid on the same revised terms Tony was giving BP for free.
When Governor Knowles proposed his dirty deed, on April 19, 1996, the Anchorage Daily News said the following:
* “Ever since the Northstar deal was announced, several legislators have questioned whether it would be wise, or even legal, to alter leases that originally were purchased 17 years ago in a competitive-bid sale. Others have complained that the agreement has too many ''weasel words,'' especially in the nonbinding local-hire provisions.”
As soon as the deal was done the following companies put additional $59,000 into the “Governor’s Fund.” October 7, 1996, BP $20,000.00 and ARCO $10,000.00. On October 17, 1996. BP, an additional $10,000.00. October 30, 1996, ARCO, an additional $4,000.00. On November 5, 1996, VECO gave $15,000.00.
In an Anchorage Daily News article published May 30, 1998: Fritz Pettyjohn, a former Republican legislator from Anchorage, was quoted as he emerged from a closed-door meeting of the Republican Party Central Committee. The Committee had elected to show a united front, rejecting a proposed withdrawal of Party support, from John Lindauer. John Lindauer was the Republican Party’s Nominee for Governor, and he had repeatedly been caught lying about his candidacy.
Placing his loyalty to party and unity over his loyalty to ethics and honor, Fritz Pettyjohn, described John Lindauer as a “pathological liar” to an Anchorage Daily News reporter. After doing so, he then said “But, hey, he's our guy” and went on to explain that in the spirit of party unity, they had decided to hang tough with Lindauer.
Parties and party leaders will face credibility problems until they choose to place loyalty to honor and ethics above their loyalty to party unity and a united front.
I invite the Democratic Party to take a hard look at the above and do with Tony Knowles what the Republicans should have done with John Lindauer in 1998.
From Ray Metcalfe
09/20/2006
Thanks for reading
Friday, September 15, 2006
Look how fast the dirty money finds a new taker in Knowles.
With Binkly and Murkowski out of the race, VECO owner Bill Allen needs a new horse to back and it appears to be Tony Knowles.
A few of Bill Allen's closest friends have switched over to back a democrat. Unfortunate for Bill Allen, and unfortunate for Tony Knowles as well, just before the FBI raid, one of Bill's closest associates sent out an invitation for a fund raiser and invited a lot of friends of Ben Stevens, Carl Marrs and Bill Allen, to a fund-raiser for Tony Knowles. See below the invitation to a fund raiser for Tony Knowles at the home of Carl Marrs.
So who is Carl Marrs?
Carl Marrs is the former president and chief executive of Cook Inlet Region Inc. (CIRI)
CIRI is one of the companies to which the FBI went, seeking information about VECO and their inappropriate association with certain legislators. (click here to read the story)http://www.adn.com/news/government/veco/story/8149379p-8041116c.html Carl Marrs is a business partner with Bill Allen in a company they co-own with other partners who were also served with warrants and searched. While Carl Marrs was president of CIRI, when CIRI paid Ben Stevens $270,000 in "consulting fees."
Carl Marrs and VECO Owner Bill Allen have a well established track-record of backing the same candidates VECO backs.
See the origional email in PDF form here
----- Original Message -----
*From:* Joy Marrs
*Sent:* Tuesday, September 05, 2006 1:07 PM
*Subject:* Don't forget this Thursday night!
Joy Marrs, Patti McGuire, Rosie Fletcher, Jana Hayenga, Jo Michalski,
Jeanie Penney, Bonnie Swanson and Marty Weeks invite you to join them at
a fundraising reception for Alaska's future Governor and First Lady Tony
& Susan Knowles
*Thursday, September 7, 2006* from *5:30--7:30pm*
at the home of *Mr. & Mrs. Carl Marrs* 2239 Sorbus Way
(From the intersection of Benson Blvd. & New Seward go east on Benson
Blvd. Left on Maplewood. Right at the Woodside East sign on Cimarron.
Left on Shepherdia. Right on Sorbus Way.)
*Please join us in supporting a Governor who:
*~ Works for kids, families and communities.
~ Believes Alaska can and should have the best schools in the nation.
~ Will always defend a woman's right to make her own reproductive decisions.
Suggested donation: $100 - $1,000 RSVP/Questions: 907.562.2006
*If you are unable to attend, you may donate online or call 562-2006.
Maximum allowable contribution per individual is $1,000 per calendar year.*
Paid for by Knowles for Governor, P.O. Box 201663, Anchorage, Alaska
99520-1627
Knowles for Governor
PO Box 201663
Anchorage, AK 99520
So who is Carl Marrs?
See the origional email in PDF form here
----- Original Message -----
*From:* Joy Marrs
*Sent:* Tuesday, September 05, 2006 1:07 PM
*Subject:* Don't forget this Thursday night!
Joy Marrs, Patti McGuire, Rosie Fletcher, Jana Hayenga, Jo Michalski,
Jeanie Penney, Bonnie Swanson and Marty Weeks invite you to join them at
a fundraising reception for Alaska's future Governor and First Lady Tony
& Susan Knowles
*Thursday, September 7, 2006* from *5:30--7:30pm*
at the home of *Mr. & Mrs. Carl Marrs* 2239 Sorbus Way
(From the intersection of Benson Blvd. & New Seward go east on Benson
Blvd. Left on Maplewood. Right at the Woodside East sign on Cimarron.
Left on Shepherdia. Right on Sorbus Way.)
*Please join us in supporting a Governor who:
*~ Works for kids, families and communities.
~ Believes Alaska can and should have the best schools in the nation.
~ Will always defend a woman's right to make her own reproductive decisions.
Suggested donation: $100 - $1,000 RSVP/Questions: 907.562.2006
*If you are unable to attend, you may donate online or call 562-2006.
Maximum allowable contribution per individual is $1,000 per calendar year.*
Paid for by Knowles for Governor, P.O. Box 201663, Anchorage, Alaska
99520-1627
Knowles for Governor
PO Box 201663
Anchorage, AK 99520
Murky Waters
Murkowski at the helm of the Alaskan Ship of State.
©2006 Bill Fikes/Republican Moderates of Alaska
Letter Ray Metcalfe sent to Frank Murkowski's Attorney General David W. Márquez
Attached is the letter Ray Metcalfe sent to Frank Murkowski's Attorney General David W. Márquez accusing him and the Murkowski administration of engaging in cover-ups, and attempting to commit this state’s most valuable resources to bargain basement sales agreements using a State Senate President who they are fully aware is accepting bribes to advocate the position of oil interests before our State Legislature.
---------------------------------
Ray Metcalfe (907) 344-4514
Post Office Box 233809 E-mail Rayinak@aol.com
Anchorage AK 99523
March 25, 2006
Attention: Attorney General David W. Márquez:
P.O. Box 110300
Juneau, AK 99811-0300
Tel: (907) 465-2133
Fax: (907) 465-2075 email: Attorney_General@law.state.ak.us
Regarding: Your Advice to APOC Staff, Ben Stevens & Bribery.
Dear Attorney General Márquez:
I recently confronted the staff at the Alaska Public Office Commission, (APOC) regarding their prolonged failure to reply to several complaints I filed concerning Ben Stevens’ refusals to comply with disclosure reporting requirements.
On inquiry, APOC staff verbally advised me that your office has ordered them not to investigate my complaint and not to provide me with any written answer explaining why they are neither answering nor investigating my complaint. Your instructions are in violation of 2 AAC 50.810 and of the Administrative Procedures Act, which requires administrative agencies to be independent decision-makers.
Following my inquiry, APOC staff also refused to provide me with an explanation of their refusal. That also is a violation of 2 AAC 50.810.
Verbally, APOC staff explained that they have been instructed by your office to invoke "Legislative Immunity" on Ben Stevens’ behalf. The only written document provided to me by APOC was a copy of a 1986 AG’s opinion that bore little relevance to the situation of Ben Stevens.
There are three additional things that are glaringly wrong with such reasoning:
1. Nearly all of the questions raised in my complaints were presented to APOC at or before the December 1, 2005 APOC meeting, well before the Legislature was in session. It was APOC who refused to respond to questions presented and pushed hearing the issues from the December 1, 2005 calendar, into a meeting scheduled for the midst of the legislative session. Once the legislative session began, the new excuse for no response became APOC’s assertion of legislative immunity on Ben Stevens’ behalf.
2. It seems highly implausible that Ben Stevens can claim legislative immunity to avoid responding to a well-documented accusation of concealing reportable financial information when Alaska’s Supreme Court has ruled that seated senators who refuse to provide a complete Legislative Financial Disclosure Statement are subject to removal from office. (See Grimm v. Wagoner, 77 P3d 423) It would not be possible to carry out the Court’s order if one could claim immunity from such an order.
3. APOC has been deceitful by leading me to believe my complaints were being dealt with in the normal course of business, while in fact, at your direction, APOC had strategized to delay consideration of my complaints to the end of Ben Stevens' term of office. Effectively, at your direction, APOC’s methods of unannounced unwritten unilateral invocation of legislative immunity on Ben Stevens behalf has denied us the opportunity to timely challenge whether legislative immunity applies and whether Ben Stevens is allowed to serve out the remainder of his term.
History of events:
1. On July 14, 2005, I tendered a complaint to APOC arguing that Ben Stevens’ required reports to APOC were incomplete. On August 19, APOC staff disagreed and advised me that if I wished to appeal, I needed to do so by September 15, 2005.
2. I began preparation of an appeal but failed to complete it in time to meet the September 15 deadline. On November 17, 2005, I tendered what I had prepared as a second complaint, elaborating why I believed Ben Stevens’ report was incomplete.
3. On delivery, APOC staff verbally advised me that my second complaint had been received too late for consideration at the December 2005 meeting of the Commissioners and would be scheduled for a hearing then being planned for around the end of February 2006. Also at that time, contrary to APOC’s prior written advise, APOC staff verbally advised me that my first complaint was still ripe for appeal.
4. Responding to this new advice, I appealed the first complaint, adding additional reasoning explaining why I believed Ben Stevens’ report to APOC was incomplete. Most of the additional information added to the appeal was gleaned from what I had delivered to APOC as the second complaint, which APOC was refusing to hear at the December 1, 2005 meeting.
5. At the December 1, 2005 meeting, although staff provided the Commissioners with copies of my points of appeal, the only argument staff had prepared responses to and/or raised for discussion at the December 1, 2005 meeting was an argument contained in my first complaint before the points of appeal were added. (Staff’s failure to respond was a violation of 2 AAC 50.810.)
6. On two occasions, I confronted APOC staff about their non-response to my points of appeal, and each time I received a different verbal answer. First; Not to worry, most of the questions raised in my points of appeal were also contained in my second complaint and it would be heard at the next quarterly meeting. Second; Copies of my points of appeal were delivered to the Commissioners in the packet APOC staff provided to them. Therefore, according to APOC staff, the Commissioners had chosen not to respond, and by choosing not to respond, the Commission had in effect, dismissed all of my points of appeal. (It was staff who omitted my points of appeal from the agenda.)
7. On or about February 17, 2006, as the date for the next quarterly meeting drew near, (Scheduled for February 28 through March 1 of 2006), I stopped in at APOC’s Anchorage office to inquire why staff had not responded to my complaint filed November 17, 2005 or my complaint filed December 12, 2005, as required by 2 AAC 50.810. I also asked what the schedule was for the Commission to hear my complaints. That was when APOC staff advised me that they had taken the position that they were barred by legislative immunity from disturbing Ben Stevens with a request to respond to my complaints. Using that reasoning, they claimed they could not respond to my complaints and therefore they had neither opened an investigation nor scheduled a hearing or prepared a response to my complaints. APOC staff then made it clear that they were following orders from your office, and they had no intention of processing my complaints until after the conclusion of the 2006 legislative session.
Copies of my complaints were also delivered to the Anchorage offices of the Alaska AG, the DA's office, and the Office of Special Prosecutions and Appeals, (OSPA).
In addition to those portions of the aforementioned complaints asserting that Ben Stevens had knowingly and willingly violated Alaska’s reporting requirements, the complaints delivered to the AG, the DA and OSPA also asserted, and provided corroborating evidence, that Ben Stevens had solicited and accepted bribes that were paid in exchange for doing the bidding of Alaska’s oil industry under the direction of Alaska’s largest oilfield service company, VECO. Also delivered was more than one source of sworn testimony providing evidence that Ben Stevens is actively engaged in laundering federal money into his own pocket through the fishing industry.
The corroborating information I delivered included names, phone numbers, affidavits and letters from a variety of people, some of whom have quietly intimated to me a willingness to provide your office with testimony corroborating Ben Stevens’ involvement in subjects of money laundering, plans for delivery of clandestine “off the books” payments, and bribery.
Four months have gone by, and not one of the people who have offered to provide information to your investigators has received so much as a phone call from a single state investigator. This leads me to suspect you have provided Alaska’s law enforcement officials with the same kind of “hands-off” instructions that APOC staff says you delivered to them.
All the above brings me to the primary point of this letter and reasoning for its urgency. At this time, you and the Governor are attempting to bind future Legislatures to a tax rate that, according to the consultants that just finished advising the legislature, is about half the rate of the world average rate of taxation on oil.
You and the Governor are attempting, by way of a legislatively approved contract, to bar future Legislatures from curing this deficiency should it happen, and you are relying on a Senate President, who appears to be accepting bribes from Alaska’s oil industry, to shepherd favors to oil companies through the Legislature.
AS: 24.60.100 states: A legislator or legislative employee may not represent another person for compensation before an agency, committee, or other entity of the legislative branch and AS: 11.56.110 defines it as receiving a bribe if he does. Ben Stevens has been paid over a quarter million dollars by VECO, and the only apparent “consulting” Ben Stevens appears to have done has been his advocacy of legislation for VECO, favoring oil company interests.
You appear to have exempted Ben Stevens from the rule of law and Ben’s exemption could lead to the Legislature’s consummation of a transaction that involves the forfeiture of tens of billions of dollars and if passed, and could easily affect Alaska for the remainder of this century.
I will not stand quietly by while you and the Governor abandon the rule of law, engage in cover-ups, and attempt to commit this state’s most valuable resources to bargain basement sales agreements using a State Senate President who appears to be accepting bribes to advocate the position of oil interests before our State Legislature.
Ben Stevens re-demonstrated his allegiance to VECO as recently as March 24, 2006, in the Senate Resources Committee, as he attempted to lower the already ridiculously low proposed tax rate from a proposed 25% to 20 %. (A proposed gift to Ben’s oil company clients of over a billion dollars per year.)
I believe the above scenario warrants either the appointment of a special prosecutor now, or the expedited consideration of the Courts. I believe that Ben Stevens has been bribed to invade the Permanent Fund dividend program, with the hope it will relieve political pressure for Alaskans to get their fair share from Alaska’s oil revenues. I believe he has been bribed to send Alaska’s gas through Canada rather than the “All Alaska Gas Line” we Alaskans voted for. And I believe he has been bribed to lower Alaska’s taxes on oil whenever and wherever he is able, for his clients.
For these reasons, in the absence of a satisfactory explanation from you, I am preparing to sue you and APOC, to ask for Ben Stevens’ removal from the Senate and a preliminary injunction to halt Ben Stevens’ hand in the process until the question of his bribery has been answered.
Please contact me if you have any questions.
Sincerely
Ray Metcalfe
Attorney General David W. Márquez response to Ray Metcalfe's letter accusing him and the Murkowski administration of engaging in cover-ups, and attempting to commit this state’s most valuable resources to bargain basement sales agreements using a State Senate President who they are fully aware is accepting bribes to advocate the position of oil interests before our State Legislature.
Click here to download the PDF file (File Size 1.8 meg)
---------------------------------
Ray Metcalfe (907) 344-4514
Post Office Box 233809 E-mail Rayinak@aol.com
Anchorage AK 99523
March 25, 2006
Attention: Attorney General David W. Márquez:
P.O. Box 110300
Juneau, AK 99811-0300
Tel: (907) 465-2133
Fax: (907) 465-2075 email: Attorney_General@law.state.ak.us
Regarding: Your Advice to APOC Staff, Ben Stevens & Bribery.
Dear Attorney General Márquez:
I recently confronted the staff at the Alaska Public Office Commission, (APOC) regarding their prolonged failure to reply to several complaints I filed concerning Ben Stevens’ refusals to comply with disclosure reporting requirements.
On inquiry, APOC staff verbally advised me that your office has ordered them not to investigate my complaint and not to provide me with any written answer explaining why they are neither answering nor investigating my complaint. Your instructions are in violation of 2 AAC 50.810 and of the Administrative Procedures Act, which requires administrative agencies to be independent decision-makers.
Following my inquiry, APOC staff also refused to provide me with an explanation of their refusal. That also is a violation of 2 AAC 50.810.
Verbally, APOC staff explained that they have been instructed by your office to invoke "Legislative Immunity" on Ben Stevens’ behalf. The only written document provided to me by APOC was a copy of a 1986 AG’s opinion that bore little relevance to the situation of Ben Stevens.
There are three additional things that are glaringly wrong with such reasoning:
1. Nearly all of the questions raised in my complaints were presented to APOC at or before the December 1, 2005 APOC meeting, well before the Legislature was in session. It was APOC who refused to respond to questions presented and pushed hearing the issues from the December 1, 2005 calendar, into a meeting scheduled for the midst of the legislative session. Once the legislative session began, the new excuse for no response became APOC’s assertion of legislative immunity on Ben Stevens’ behalf.
2. It seems highly implausible that Ben Stevens can claim legislative immunity to avoid responding to a well-documented accusation of concealing reportable financial information when Alaska’s Supreme Court has ruled that seated senators who refuse to provide a complete Legislative Financial Disclosure Statement are subject to removal from office. (See Grimm v. Wagoner, 77 P3d 423) It would not be possible to carry out the Court’s order if one could claim immunity from such an order.
3. APOC has been deceitful by leading me to believe my complaints were being dealt with in the normal course of business, while in fact, at your direction, APOC had strategized to delay consideration of my complaints to the end of Ben Stevens' term of office. Effectively, at your direction, APOC’s methods of unannounced unwritten unilateral invocation of legislative immunity on Ben Stevens behalf has denied us the opportunity to timely challenge whether legislative immunity applies and whether Ben Stevens is allowed to serve out the remainder of his term.
History of events:
1. On July 14, 2005, I tendered a complaint to APOC arguing that Ben Stevens’ required reports to APOC were incomplete. On August 19, APOC staff disagreed and advised me that if I wished to appeal, I needed to do so by September 15, 2005.
2. I began preparation of an appeal but failed to complete it in time to meet the September 15 deadline. On November 17, 2005, I tendered what I had prepared as a second complaint, elaborating why I believed Ben Stevens’ report was incomplete.
3. On delivery, APOC staff verbally advised me that my second complaint had been received too late for consideration at the December 2005 meeting of the Commissioners and would be scheduled for a hearing then being planned for around the end of February 2006. Also at that time, contrary to APOC’s prior written advise, APOC staff verbally advised me that my first complaint was still ripe for appeal.
4. Responding to this new advice, I appealed the first complaint, adding additional reasoning explaining why I believed Ben Stevens’ report to APOC was incomplete. Most of the additional information added to the appeal was gleaned from what I had delivered to APOC as the second complaint, which APOC was refusing to hear at the December 1, 2005 meeting.
5. At the December 1, 2005 meeting, although staff provided the Commissioners with copies of my points of appeal, the only argument staff had prepared responses to and/or raised for discussion at the December 1, 2005 meeting was an argument contained in my first complaint before the points of appeal were added. (Staff’s failure to respond was a violation of 2 AAC 50.810.)
6. On two occasions, I confronted APOC staff about their non-response to my points of appeal, and each time I received a different verbal answer. First; Not to worry, most of the questions raised in my points of appeal were also contained in my second complaint and it would be heard at the next quarterly meeting. Second; Copies of my points of appeal were delivered to the Commissioners in the packet APOC staff provided to them. Therefore, according to APOC staff, the Commissioners had chosen not to respond, and by choosing not to respond, the Commission had in effect, dismissed all of my points of appeal. (It was staff who omitted my points of appeal from the agenda.)
7. On or about February 17, 2006, as the date for the next quarterly meeting drew near, (Scheduled for February 28 through March 1 of 2006), I stopped in at APOC’s Anchorage office to inquire why staff had not responded to my complaint filed November 17, 2005 or my complaint filed December 12, 2005, as required by 2 AAC 50.810. I also asked what the schedule was for the Commission to hear my complaints. That was when APOC staff advised me that they had taken the position that they were barred by legislative immunity from disturbing Ben Stevens with a request to respond to my complaints. Using that reasoning, they claimed they could not respond to my complaints and therefore they had neither opened an investigation nor scheduled a hearing or prepared a response to my complaints. APOC staff then made it clear that they were following orders from your office, and they had no intention of processing my complaints until after the conclusion of the 2006 legislative session.
Copies of my complaints were also delivered to the Anchorage offices of the Alaska AG, the DA's office, and the Office of Special Prosecutions and Appeals, (OSPA).
In addition to those portions of the aforementioned complaints asserting that Ben Stevens had knowingly and willingly violated Alaska’s reporting requirements, the complaints delivered to the AG, the DA and OSPA also asserted, and provided corroborating evidence, that Ben Stevens had solicited and accepted bribes that were paid in exchange for doing the bidding of Alaska’s oil industry under the direction of Alaska’s largest oilfield service company, VECO. Also delivered was more than one source of sworn testimony providing evidence that Ben Stevens is actively engaged in laundering federal money into his own pocket through the fishing industry.
The corroborating information I delivered included names, phone numbers, affidavits and letters from a variety of people, some of whom have quietly intimated to me a willingness to provide your office with testimony corroborating Ben Stevens’ involvement in subjects of money laundering, plans for delivery of clandestine “off the books” payments, and bribery.
Four months have gone by, and not one of the people who have offered to provide information to your investigators has received so much as a phone call from a single state investigator. This leads me to suspect you have provided Alaska’s law enforcement officials with the same kind of “hands-off” instructions that APOC staff says you delivered to them.
All the above brings me to the primary point of this letter and reasoning for its urgency. At this time, you and the Governor are attempting to bind future Legislatures to a tax rate that, according to the consultants that just finished advising the legislature, is about half the rate of the world average rate of taxation on oil.
You and the Governor are attempting, by way of a legislatively approved contract, to bar future Legislatures from curing this deficiency should it happen, and you are relying on a Senate President, who appears to be accepting bribes from Alaska’s oil industry, to shepherd favors to oil companies through the Legislature.
AS: 24.60.100 states: A legislator or legislative employee may not represent another person for compensation before an agency, committee, or other entity of the legislative branch and AS: 11.56.110 defines it as receiving a bribe if he does. Ben Stevens has been paid over a quarter million dollars by VECO, and the only apparent “consulting” Ben Stevens appears to have done has been his advocacy of legislation for VECO, favoring oil company interests.
You appear to have exempted Ben Stevens from the rule of law and Ben’s exemption could lead to the Legislature’s consummation of a transaction that involves the forfeiture of tens of billions of dollars and if passed, and could easily affect Alaska for the remainder of this century.
I will not stand quietly by while you and the Governor abandon the rule of law, engage in cover-ups, and attempt to commit this state’s most valuable resources to bargain basement sales agreements using a State Senate President who appears to be accepting bribes to advocate the position of oil interests before our State Legislature.
Ben Stevens re-demonstrated his allegiance to VECO as recently as March 24, 2006, in the Senate Resources Committee, as he attempted to lower the already ridiculously low proposed tax rate from a proposed 25% to 20 %. (A proposed gift to Ben’s oil company clients of over a billion dollars per year.)
I believe the above scenario warrants either the appointment of a special prosecutor now, or the expedited consideration of the Courts. I believe that Ben Stevens has been bribed to invade the Permanent Fund dividend program, with the hope it will relieve political pressure for Alaskans to get their fair share from Alaska’s oil revenues. I believe he has been bribed to send Alaska’s gas through Canada rather than the “All Alaska Gas Line” we Alaskans voted for. And I believe he has been bribed to lower Alaska’s taxes on oil whenever and wherever he is able, for his clients.
For these reasons, in the absence of a satisfactory explanation from you, I am preparing to sue you and APOC, to ask for Ben Stevens’ removal from the Senate and a preliminary injunction to halt Ben Stevens’ hand in the process until the question of his bribery has been answered.
Please contact me if you have any questions.
Sincerely
Ray Metcalfe
Attorney General David W. Márquez response to Ray Metcalfe's letter accusing him and the Murkowski administration of engaging in cover-ups, and attempting to commit this state’s most valuable resources to bargain basement sales agreements using a State Senate President who they are fully aware is accepting bribes to advocate the position of oil interests before our State Legislature.
Click here to download the PDF file (File Size 1.8 meg)
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Corruption is killing the Alaska Dream
Corruption is killing the Alaska Dream and it’s soon going to take your dividend, and possibly your job, if you don’t pay attention.
Twenty-five years ago, State Senator George Hohman’s fellow Senators expelled him from the Alaska Senate and an Alaska Judge sentenced him to three years because someone said he said supporting a certain legislative proposal might be good for a thousand dollar “campaign contribution.”
Today, State Senator Ben Stevens doesn’t need “campaign contributions.” He’s collected nearly two million dollars in “consulting fees” from people hoping to benefit from his legislation. Today, prosecutors ho-hum such indiscretions to death while our ethically bankrupt Senate Leadership rewards Ben’s behavior with the Presidency of the Alaska State Senate.
Nearly a quarter-million of Ben's payments came from VECO, in exchange for services Ben fails to define in his “Conflict of Interest Report” beyond “Consulting fees.”
If you find all this hard to believe, direct your browser to http://www.repmod.info/ and click on “Conflict of Interest Documentation.” View the facts and decide!
In 1999, VECO supported a $350,000 campaign seeking voter permission to redirect Permanent Fund Dividends to capital projects. The vote was 83% “NO.”
Since the 1999 vote, VECO has paid $400,000 to six lobbyists and $243,000 to Ben Stevens, seeking ways to fund government from Permanent Fund earnings to thereby reduce public pressure for the Legislature to demand world market value for Alaska’s oil.
VECO’s interest in raiding the Fund stems from their wish to sustain an endlessly increasing series of taxbreaks, (taxbreaks commonly referred to as ELF), that the oil companies lobbied through many years ago. While oil company profits soar, ELF has cut Alaska’s tax on oil in half.
ELF’s taxbreaks increase automatically every year. If not reversed, ELF’s increases will soon cut our severance tax on North-Slope oil to one-fourth of the original pre-pipeline agreement. If labor leaders continue to ignore this issue, everything from patching potholes to competitive salaries for teachers and troopers will become impossible without taking away dividends and slapping the public with a very big tax. Giving away Alaska’s oil is not a winning formula for successful bargaining.
When Stevens was sworn into the State Senate, he signed an oath, (a contract with Alaska) promising to uphold Alaska’s Constitution. Alaska’s Constitution requires him to seek the highest possible payment for Alaska’s resources. Stevens then contracted his advice and loyalty to a company seeking to extract Alaska’s resources for as little as possible.
Shortly thereafter, Stevens introduced a Bill attempting to redirect $337 million from the Permanent Fund Earnings Account, into capitol projects.
The Permanent Fund Earnings Account has for 25 years been Alaska’s piggybank for dividends.
Stevens argued that the cost would just be a few dollars per person, but do the math. Divide $337 million between 650 thousand Alaskans. You’ll come up with $518 for every man, woman, and child in Alaska; and you can be sure they will extract more next year.
Contracting to advocate the position of two clients on matters of each client's mutually shared but conflicting interest is generally considered fraudulent and corrupt. Due to the opposing objectives of such contracts, it is not possible for a single consultant to loyally advocate victory for both sides. “By necessity of law,” one of any two such contracts was irrefutably signed in bad faith.
Stevens’ failure to define what he actually does for his “consulting fees” violates Alaska’s Conflict of Interest Disclosure Law (Sec 24.60.200) which requires Legislators to provide the public with details sufficient to tell the reader what work was performed in exchange for payment received.
Alaska Criminal Law (Sec. 11.56.110) reads: “A public servant commits the crime of receiving a bribe if the public servant solicits a benefit with the intent that the public servant's vote, opinion, judgment, action, decision, or exercise of discretion as a public servant will be influenced.” Receiving a bribe is a felony.
If enough Alaskan's do nothing while Ben Stevens does VECO’s bidding and raids the Permanent Fund, corruption will flourish, and Alaska's Dividend distribution program will soon be history.
Ray Metcalfe
Chairman of the Republican Moderate Party,
The Only Party Founded in Ethics Instead of Issues.
Twenty-five years ago, State Senator George Hohman’s fellow Senators expelled him from the Alaska Senate and an Alaska Judge sentenced him to three years because someone said he said supporting a certain legislative proposal might be good for a thousand dollar “campaign contribution.”
Today, State Senator Ben Stevens doesn’t need “campaign contributions.” He’s collected nearly two million dollars in “consulting fees” from people hoping to benefit from his legislation. Today, prosecutors ho-hum such indiscretions to death while our ethically bankrupt Senate Leadership rewards Ben’s behavior with the Presidency of the Alaska State Senate.
Nearly a quarter-million of Ben's payments came from VECO, in exchange for services Ben fails to define in his “Conflict of Interest Report” beyond “Consulting fees.”
If you find all this hard to believe, direct your browser to http://www.repmod.info/ and click on “Conflict of Interest Documentation.” View the facts and decide!
In 1999, VECO supported a $350,000 campaign seeking voter permission to redirect Permanent Fund Dividends to capital projects. The vote was 83% “NO.”
Since the 1999 vote, VECO has paid $400,000 to six lobbyists and $243,000 to Ben Stevens, seeking ways to fund government from Permanent Fund earnings to thereby reduce public pressure for the Legislature to demand world market value for Alaska’s oil.
VECO’s interest in raiding the Fund stems from their wish to sustain an endlessly increasing series of taxbreaks, (taxbreaks commonly referred to as ELF), that the oil companies lobbied through many years ago. While oil company profits soar, ELF has cut Alaska’s tax on oil in half.
ELF’s taxbreaks increase automatically every year. If not reversed, ELF’s increases will soon cut our severance tax on North-Slope oil to one-fourth of the original pre-pipeline agreement. If labor leaders continue to ignore this issue, everything from patching potholes to competitive salaries for teachers and troopers will become impossible without taking away dividends and slapping the public with a very big tax. Giving away Alaska’s oil is not a winning formula for successful bargaining.
When Stevens was sworn into the State Senate, he signed an oath, (a contract with Alaska) promising to uphold Alaska’s Constitution. Alaska’s Constitution requires him to seek the highest possible payment for Alaska’s resources. Stevens then contracted his advice and loyalty to a company seeking to extract Alaska’s resources for as little as possible.
Shortly thereafter, Stevens introduced a Bill attempting to redirect $337 million from the Permanent Fund Earnings Account, into capitol projects.
The Permanent Fund Earnings Account has for 25 years been Alaska’s piggybank for dividends.
Stevens argued that the cost would just be a few dollars per person, but do the math. Divide $337 million between 650 thousand Alaskans. You’ll come up with $518 for every man, woman, and child in Alaska; and you can be sure they will extract more next year.
Contracting to advocate the position of two clients on matters of each client's mutually shared but conflicting interest is generally considered fraudulent and corrupt. Due to the opposing objectives of such contracts, it is not possible for a single consultant to loyally advocate victory for both sides. “By necessity of law,” one of any two such contracts was irrefutably signed in bad faith.
Stevens’ failure to define what he actually does for his “consulting fees” violates Alaska’s Conflict of Interest Disclosure Law (Sec 24.60.200) which requires Legislators to provide the public with details sufficient to tell the reader what work was performed in exchange for payment received.
Alaska Criminal Law (Sec. 11.56.110) reads: “A public servant commits the crime of receiving a bribe if the public servant solicits a benefit with the intent that the public servant's vote, opinion, judgment, action, decision, or exercise of discretion as a public servant will be influenced.” Receiving a bribe is a felony.
If enough Alaskan's do nothing while Ben Stevens does VECO’s bidding and raids the Permanent Fund, corruption will flourish, and Alaska's Dividend distribution program will soon be history.
Ray Metcalfe
Chairman of the Republican Moderate Party,
The Only Party Founded in Ethics Instead of Issues.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
AlaskaReport.com has uncovered more information about the FBI raids August 31st.
AlaskaReport.com has uncovered more information about the FBI raids August 31st.
http://www.alaskareport.com/news11020.htm
9/01/06
Juneau, Alaska
By Dennis Zaki
1) Sources in Anchorage report that there were many Forensic Accountants on the team raiding Anchorage offices yesterday. Readers may be interested to note that Stephen Taufen of Groundswell worked for a seafood supplier on their case against two factory trawlers involving federal bankruptcies, and advised the FBI and Norwegian government in January of 1997 about the impending bankruptcies of others should shoreside pollock allocations increase.
Ben Stevens
2) Another background source confirms that National Marine Fisheries special agents are on the search teams, and that it is obvious with IRS involvement regarding Ben Stevens' "consulting income" (and what it was for) will surely spill over into the payments he received from Yard Arm Knot, Highland Light, the At-Sea Processors Association, North Pacific Crab Assn. (all major crab processors), Glacier Fish Company and others who were paying Ben along with Adak Fisheries, for consulting.
3) A deep-throat source alleged that for months a staffer in one of the offices raided has been providing information to federal authorities. This may explain why documents were taken off the back of a picture on the wall.
4) The searches are said to be continuing Friday 9/1 and the searches may branch beyond Alaska, most likely to Seattle, for financial documents confirming payments to Ben Stevens for fisheries matters.
5) Bill Allen, owner of VECO, and his firm, were involved in a renovation of Ted Stevens' chalet in Girdwood in the recent past.
6) Expect the IRS to do complete audits of all sources of funds to the legislators involved, and this week's action to be the entryway for the Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS to investigate monies held in offshore locations. One example is Adak Seafoods' Nowegian subsidiary KARLO, which may be a profit laundering operation for cod sales through to Brazil. In earlier court action involving Adak, mention was made of another operation in Portugal.
http://www.alaskareport.com/news11020.htm
9/01/06
Juneau, Alaska
By Dennis Zaki
1) Sources in Anchorage report that there were many Forensic Accountants on the team raiding Anchorage offices yesterday. Readers may be interested to note that Stephen Taufen of Groundswell worked for a seafood supplier on their case against two factory trawlers involving federal bankruptcies, and advised the FBI and Norwegian government in January of 1997 about the impending bankruptcies of others should shoreside pollock allocations increase.
Ben Stevens
2) Another background source confirms that National Marine Fisheries special agents are on the search teams, and that it is obvious with IRS involvement regarding Ben Stevens' "consulting income" (and what it was for) will surely spill over into the payments he received from Yard Arm Knot, Highland Light, the At-Sea Processors Association, North Pacific Crab Assn. (all major crab processors), Glacier Fish Company and others who were paying Ben along with Adak Fisheries, for consulting.
3) A deep-throat source alleged that for months a staffer in one of the offices raided has been providing information to federal authorities. This may explain why documents were taken off the back of a picture on the wall.
4) The searches are said to be continuing Friday 9/1 and the searches may branch beyond Alaska, most likely to Seattle, for financial documents confirming payments to Ben Stevens for fisheries matters.
5) Bill Allen, owner of VECO, and his firm, were involved in a renovation of Ted Stevens' chalet in Girdwood in the recent past.
6) Expect the IRS to do complete audits of all sources of funds to the legislators involved, and this week's action to be the entryway for the Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS to investigate monies held in offshore locations. One example is Adak Seafoods' Nowegian subsidiary KARLO, which may be a profit laundering operation for cod sales through to Brazil. In earlier court action involving Adak, mention was made of another operation in Portugal.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
When Alaska's leaders break the law
ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS refused to print this article which was printed in the Fairbanks and Juneau paper.
When Alaska's leaders break the law
Ray Metcalfe
Fairbanks News-Miner
Friday, November 04, 2005 - What do you do when your government breaks the law?
Communist Russia had a great constitution that didn't work because Russians couldn't ask their courts to enforce it.
When Alaska's Legislature passes unconstitutional laws, Alaskans can ask a judge to declare them unconstitutional and throw them out. The process is called "public interest litigation."
Alaska's courts recognize that few people will risk going to court without personal economic interests. Without people willing to challenge government, simply for the purpose of enforcing our constitution, we would have very few checks and balances. Consequently, Alaska's courts protect people who bring such complaints in two ways:
First, when public litigants bear the burden of proving the state's errors, Alaska's courts recognize them as a public servants and require the state to refund 100 percent of their costs.
Second, Alaska's courts recognize that public litigants are usually underfinanced private citizens battling against a battery of well-funded state attorneys. If the state were allowed to shackle them with the state's legal fees following a loss, all public litigants would eventually be bankrupted and silenced. Consequently, unless the court concludes that a public litigants complaint was frivolous, the courts protect them from having to pay the state's legal fees even when they lose.
In 2003, Gov. Frank Murkowski asked state Sen. Ben Stevens to pass legislation designed to do away with those annoying lawsuits that have occasionally forced them to obey Alaska's constitution.
The Republican Moderate Party, which is no relation to the Alaska Republican Party, challenged the constitutionality of the attempt to dispose of public litigation, and we won in Alaska Superior Court.
With public litigation protections back, we were willing to risk challenging the closed primary law. We won, and the closed primary is now history.
We are now in court seeking disclosure of the "Wood Mackenzie Report." That's the report for which the Legislature paid $50,000 to find out how Alaska's oil company profits compare with the rest of the world's.
To the surprise of the legislators who ordered the report, it did not support the cries of VECO--the Anchorage-based oil field services company--for more oil-tax cuts. Now your VECO-sponsored Legislature is doing everything it can to keep you from seeing the report.
Gov. Murkowski has appealed the Superior Court's overturning of his attempt to do away with public litigation. His appeal will be heard before the Alaska Supreme Court at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, on the fifth floor of the old 4th and K courthouse in Anchorage. Your attendance would be appreciated.
If our victory is upheld, we will soon be in court suing the Division of Elections over its decision to toss our petition to recall Ben Stevens, and we'll sue the Alaska Public Offices Commission for its decision to toss our complaint regarding Ben Stevens' refusal to explain what he did to earn $2 million in consulting fees.
Previously, we sued Gov. Tony Knowles when he rewrote the lease of one of Alaska's largest oil fields, reducing the state's royalty to a fraction of what a previous oil company had offered to pay. Tony then gave that rewritten lease to his biggest contributor without competitive bid or payment to the state.
Our one volunteer attorney was overwhelmed by 32 well-paid state and BP attorneys. We lost on a technicality. Had we not been protected by the rules of public litigation, our litigating would have ended and none of the above issues would have ever been litigated.
Tom Irwin, Alaska's former commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources, was right in recently questioning the legality of Murkowski's plan to give away Alaska's gas.
Now that Ben Stevens' plan to divvy up Alaska's fish between himself and a few friends has been exposed, it should come as no surprise to you that Frank Murkowski has similar plans rolled up in his plan to send Alaska's gas through Canada. It won't happen without a legal challenge from us.
And if Sen. Ralph Seekins ever gets the Legislature to approve his plan to put people in jail for accusing him of ethics violations, I promise to erect a giant billboard accusing him of ethics violations the very next day!
Ray Metcalfe is chairman of the Republican Moderate Party.
Web address http://repmod.info/
Email Rayinak@aol.com
When Alaska's leaders break the law
Ray Metcalfe
Fairbanks News-Miner
Friday, November 04, 2005 - What do you do when your government breaks the law?
Communist Russia had a great constitution that didn't work because Russians couldn't ask their courts to enforce it.
When Alaska's Legislature passes unconstitutional laws, Alaskans can ask a judge to declare them unconstitutional and throw them out. The process is called "public interest litigation."
Alaska's courts recognize that few people will risk going to court without personal economic interests. Without people willing to challenge government, simply for the purpose of enforcing our constitution, we would have very few checks and balances. Consequently, Alaska's courts protect people who bring such complaints in two ways:
First, when public litigants bear the burden of proving the state's errors, Alaska's courts recognize them as a public servants and require the state to refund 100 percent of their costs.
Second, Alaska's courts recognize that public litigants are usually underfinanced private citizens battling against a battery of well-funded state attorneys. If the state were allowed to shackle them with the state's legal fees following a loss, all public litigants would eventually be bankrupted and silenced. Consequently, unless the court concludes that a public litigants complaint was frivolous, the courts protect them from having to pay the state's legal fees even when they lose.
In 2003, Gov. Frank Murkowski asked state Sen. Ben Stevens to pass legislation designed to do away with those annoying lawsuits that have occasionally forced them to obey Alaska's constitution.
The Republican Moderate Party, which is no relation to the Alaska Republican Party, challenged the constitutionality of the attempt to dispose of public litigation, and we won in Alaska Superior Court.
With public litigation protections back, we were willing to risk challenging the closed primary law. We won, and the closed primary is now history.
We are now in court seeking disclosure of the "Wood Mackenzie Report." That's the report for which the Legislature paid $50,000 to find out how Alaska's oil company profits compare with the rest of the world's.
To the surprise of the legislators who ordered the report, it did not support the cries of VECO--the Anchorage-based oil field services company--for more oil-tax cuts. Now your VECO-sponsored Legislature is doing everything it can to keep you from seeing the report.
Gov. Murkowski has appealed the Superior Court's overturning of his attempt to do away with public litigation. His appeal will be heard before the Alaska Supreme Court at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, on the fifth floor of the old 4th and K courthouse in Anchorage. Your attendance would be appreciated.
If our victory is upheld, we will soon be in court suing the Division of Elections over its decision to toss our petition to recall Ben Stevens, and we'll sue the Alaska Public Offices Commission for its decision to toss our complaint regarding Ben Stevens' refusal to explain what he did to earn $2 million in consulting fees.
Previously, we sued Gov. Tony Knowles when he rewrote the lease of one of Alaska's largest oil fields, reducing the state's royalty to a fraction of what a previous oil company had offered to pay. Tony then gave that rewritten lease to his biggest contributor without competitive bid or payment to the state.
Our one volunteer attorney was overwhelmed by 32 well-paid state and BP attorneys. We lost on a technicality. Had we not been protected by the rules of public litigation, our litigating would have ended and none of the above issues would have ever been litigated.
Tom Irwin, Alaska's former commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources, was right in recently questioning the legality of Murkowski's plan to give away Alaska's gas.
Now that Ben Stevens' plan to divvy up Alaska's fish between himself and a few friends has been exposed, it should come as no surprise to you that Frank Murkowski has similar plans rolled up in his plan to send Alaska's gas through Canada. It won't happen without a legal challenge from us.
And if Sen. Ralph Seekins ever gets the Legislature to approve his plan to put people in jail for accusing him of ethics violations, I promise to erect a giant billboard accusing him of ethics violations the very next day!
Ray Metcalfe is chairman of the Republican Moderate Party.
Web address http://repmod.info/
Email Rayinak@aol.com
When did APOC go over to the dark side?
When Alaska Public Offices Commissioner, said the law wasn’t clear enough to hold Ben Stevens accountable for channeling money from his father to his fishing company, APOC became the Ben Stevens defense team.
I read Ray Metcalfe’s charges and his supporting evidence. APOC’s $150 slap on the wrist was more than inappropriate, I believe the Republican appointed majority may be shielding the corruption of their favorite father and son team.
Sheila and her fellow Republican appointees know that the rules they are supposed to enforce were designed to prevent exactly this kind of wrongdoing by public officials.
For the rest of us who set on the sidelines and do nothing, if Ben were to tell us that a falling star had landed in his pocket once, although hard to swallow, he would deserve the benefit of a doubt. But when APOC pretends not to see, as Ben Stevens shrugs his shoulders with a “who new attitude” and over and over again, stuffs his daddy’s earmarked appropriations into his pocket, we have the classic case of the audience afraid to speak what they all know.
Neither APOC nor the King have any clothes.
Authored with assistance of Ray Metcalfe, submitted to the ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS by Al Sundquist December of 2005, and the ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS refused to print it.
I read Ray Metcalfe’s charges and his supporting evidence. APOC’s $150 slap on the wrist was more than inappropriate, I believe the Republican appointed majority may be shielding the corruption of their favorite father and son team.
Sheila and her fellow Republican appointees know that the rules they are supposed to enforce were designed to prevent exactly this kind of wrongdoing by public officials.
For the rest of us who set on the sidelines and do nothing, if Ben were to tell us that a falling star had landed in his pocket once, although hard to swallow, he would deserve the benefit of a doubt. But when APOC pretends not to see, as Ben Stevens shrugs his shoulders with a “who new attitude” and over and over again, stuffs his daddy’s earmarked appropriations into his pocket, we have the classic case of the audience afraid to speak what they all know.
Neither APOC nor the King have any clothes.
Authored with assistance of Ray Metcalfe, submitted to the ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS by Al Sundquist December of 2005, and the ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS refused to print it.
What is a crime?
It is a crime for legislators to receive gifts in excess of $250, (See AS: 24.60.080), and it’s a crime for legislators to represent individuals before the legislature in exchange for pay. (See AS: 24.60.100.)
It has become commonplace, but not legal, for legislators to accept “consulting fees” under what I believe to be, far more often than not, a false pretence that they supplied an unrelated legitimate consulting service.
While it is legal for lobbyists to represent individuals before the legislature for pay, when legislators do so, it is called “bribery.” (See AS: 11.56.110.)
The real breakdown in the system comes when those who’s duty it is to prosecute the powerful have more fear of losing their jobs for trying, than they have losing their self-respect if they don’t.
Ray Metcalfe
It has become commonplace, but not legal, for legislators to accept “consulting fees” under what I believe to be, far more often than not, a false pretence that they supplied an unrelated legitimate consulting service.
While it is legal for lobbyists to represent individuals before the legislature for pay, when legislators do so, it is called “bribery.” (See AS: 11.56.110.)
The real breakdown in the system comes when those who’s duty it is to prosecute the powerful have more fear of losing their jobs for trying, than they have losing their self-respect if they don’t.
Ray Metcalfe
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Ben Stevens gave $12 Million of your money to a handful of people who gave him $1.7 Million of theirs
Ben Stevens gave $12 Million of your money to
a handful of people who gave him $1,7 Million of theirs.
See details below.
Please forward. The same file is attached as an MS Word document
The Entirety of Ben Stevens’ APOC Reported Consulting Income From Fishing Interests
Ben’s Bribes Below The Booty Ben Delivered
Trident money: Ben’s business partner, Trevor McCabe is Executive Director of At Sea Processors. Trident got $1,358,291 of Ben’s AFMB handouts. Icicle bought into Adak Fisheries and upped Ben’s salary from $15,000 to $80,000 and then to $120,000. Icicle also signed the now infamous “Secret Option agreement.” Icicle received $1,678,277 in Ben Bucks from AFMB. The was the lobbying group formed by persons who received over $9,000,000 Ben Bucks. Glacier Fish Company is a member of At Sea Processors and one of the first beneficiaries of the Pollock allocations that Ben’s father pushed through Congress. Highland Light Fisheries is a subsidiary of Yardarm Knot., who received $227,538 in Ben Bucks. North Pacific Crab Association was formed by Trident, Icicle, and other members of the crabbing industry, who were also privileged to receive a share of over $9,000,000 in Ben Bucks from the Alaska Fish Marketing Board. (AFMB) NorQuest Seafoods received $862,454 in Ben Bucks from AFMB. NorQuest is owned by Trident who received $1,358,291. Combined they have received $2,220,745 at Ben’s direction. Yardarm Knot received $227,538 Trying to copy Trident and friends by getting a $50,000,000 for themselves, the Southeast Seiners Association paid Ben about $100,000 to try, and promised him another half a million if he does.
At Sea Processors Association 2002/2001 = $16,000
At Sea Processors Association 2003/2002 = $38,000
T = $54,000
T = $402,307
2001/2000 = $42,500 T = $42,500
Glacier Fish Company 2003/2002 = $4,200
Glacier Fish Company 2004/2003 = $21,000
Glacier Fish Company 2005/2004 = $21,000
Glacier Fish Company 2006/2005 = $16,800
T = $63,000
Highland Light Fisheries, Inc. 2003/2002 = $4,200
Highland Light Fisheries, Inc. 2004/2003 = $25,200
Highland Light Fisheries, Inc. 2005/2004 = $25,200
T = $54,600
North Pacific Crab Association 2003/2002 = $44,000
North Pacific Crab Association 2004/2003 = $44,000
North Pacific Crab Association 2005/2004 = $42,000
North Pacific Crab Association 2006/2005 = $24,000
T = $154,000
NorQuest Seafoods, Inc. 2001/2000 = $12,500
NorQuest Seafoods, Inc. 2002/2001 = $25,000
T = $37,500
Yardarm Knot, Inc 2006/2005 = $33,600
T = $33,600
Unreported and thus far concealed from APOC.
Payments from Southeast Seiners Association.
Paid to Ben between November. 03 and August 05.
Created
Estimated T = $100,000
| Salmon Allocation Comparison – AFMB Awards | |||
| Firm | Allocation for FY 2004 | Allocation for FY 2005 | Total to Date |
| Ocean Beauty Seafoods | $1.048.908.46 | $1,259,625.59 | $2,308,534.05 |
| Icicle Seafoods | $774,260.76 | $904,016.58 | $1,578,277.34 |
| Peter Pan Seafoods | $737,284.09 | $829.217.50 | $1,566,501.59 |
| Trident Seafoods Corporation | $577,210.61 | $781,080.43 | $1,358,291.04 |
| Bear & Wolf LLC | $471.761.37 | $530,344.02 | $1 ,002,105.39 |
| NorOuest Seafoods, Inc. | $496,351.14 | $366,103.49 | $802.454.63 |
| North Pacific Processors, Inc. | $346.228.51 | $359,040.74 | $705,269.25 |
| Kanaway Seafoods, Inc. dba Ak General Seafoods | $223,202.94 | $344.515.90 | $567.718.84 |
| Kodiak Salmon Packers, Inc. | $74,105.66 | $135.141.89 | $209,247.55 $224 9.11.35 |
| Snopac Products. Inc. | $102,682.58 | $122.228.77 | |
| Yardarm Knot Fisheries. LLC | $123,963.56 | 5103.574.75 | 5227,538.31 |
| Inlet Fish Producers. Inc. | $65,834.84 | $8I,585.24 | $147,420.08 |
| E.C. Phillips & Son, Inc. | $63,649.95 | $77,559.30 | $141.209.25 |
| Leader Creek Fisheries, LLC | $54,648.00 | $70,693.79 | $125,341.79 |
| Great Pacific Seafoods. Inc. | $96,043.75 | $63,507_00 | $I59,550.75 |
| Seafood Producers Cooperative | $48,024.36 | 561,514.84 | $109,539.20 |
| Western Alaska Fisheries, Inc. | $48,889.51 | 559,337.11 | $108,226.62 $117,124.58 |
| | $65,692.49 | $51,432.09 | |
| Nautilus Foods | $44.628.00 | | $44,628.00 $70,931.57 $53,344.75 |
| | $34,245.97 | $36,685.60 | |
| Icy Strait Seafoods, Inc. | $18,674.70 | $34.670.05 | |
| Baywatch Seafoods. LLC | $24,678.48 | $28.249.17 | $52,927.65 |
| Coffee Point Seafood's | | $25,793.66 | $25,793.66 |
| Pacific Star Seafoods /Fishhawk Fisheries of AK, Inc. | $19.686.84 | $23,954.12 | $43,640.96 |
| Salamatof Seatoods, Inc. | $25,514.75 | $22,448.13 | $47.962.88 |
| | $13,552.47 | $22,142.52 | $35.694.99 |
| Island Fish Co, | | $21,575.87 | $21.575.87 $18.179.59 |
| Sea Level Seafoods | | $18.179.59 | |
| R&J Seafood | $12,899.00 | $13;117.95 | $26.0.16.95 |
| Alaska Salmon Purchasers, Inc. | $9,773.00 | $9.203.75 | $18,976.75 $6,390.19 |
| TKO Fisheries Limited dba Signature Seafoods, Inc. | | $6.390.19 | |
| Deep Creek Custom Packing Inc | $10,751 .56 | $6.352.33 | $17,103.89 |
| Kwikpak Fisheries LLC | $6,410.00 | $5,178.86 | $11,588.86 |
| Grand Hale Marine Products Co Ltd.- | $4,480.41 | $4,017.25 | $8,497.66 |
| Boreal Fisheries. Inc. | | $2,314.96 | $2.314.96 |
| Prime Select Seafoods | $3,279.10 | $2,190.94 | $5.470.04 |
| Interior | $1,528.00 | | $1.528.00 |
| Star Shadow Fisheries | $1.528.00 | | $1.528.00 |
| William Crump | $980.00 | | $980.00 |
| Maserculiq Fish Processors, Inc. | $891.23 | | $891.23 |
| Wind and Tide, Inc. | $704.00 | | $704.00 |
| Tim Berg's Alaskan Fishing Advent,ires | $635.76 | | $635.76 |
| Coastal Cold Storage, Inc. | $519.00 | | $519.00 |
| Wild By Nature LLC dba Wild Salmon Maxcy Fishing Company | $441.00 | | $441.00 |
| F/V Ilona-B | $381.00 | | $381.00 |
| Thorne Fisheries | $379.00 | | $379.00 |
| Tonka Seafoods, Inc. | $338.00 | | $338.00 |
| Kodiak Smoking & Processing | $275.00 | | $275.00 |
| F/V Willie Lee II | $273.00 | | $273.00 |
| FA/ Kaleva | $254.00 | | $254.00 |
| | $228.00 | | $228.00 |
| FiV Myriad I Myriad Ent | $190.00 | | $190.00 |
| FIV Triad i Chris Chris Fisheries | $181.00 | | $181.00 |
| Horst's Seafood | $170.00 | | $170.00 |
| Smoky Bay Fisheries | $152.00 | | $152.00 |
| | $149.00 | | $149.00 |
| | $76.00 | | $76.00 |
| Alaska Wild Salmon Co I FA/ Dutch Master | $71.00 | | $71.00 |
| Seadance Seafoods | $57.00 | | $57.00 |
| Great Ruby Fish Company | $55.00 | | $55.00 |
| Pacman Fisheries I Sockeye Salmon | $55.00 | | $55.00 |
| Gateway Seafood and Smokehouse | $43.00 | | $43.00 |
| | $38.00 | | $38.00 |
| Lofoten Fish Company | $36.00 | | $36.00 |
| Pacific Pleasures | $35.00 | | $35.00 |
| Cross Sound Seafoods | $35.00 | | $35.00 |
| Wayne R. Beeson | $18.00 | | $18.00 |
| A&J Fisheries | $11.00 | | $11.00 |
| Totals | $5,658,043.85 | $6,482,983.99 | $12,141,027.84 |
| Salmon Allocation Comparison – AFMB Awards | |||
Ben’s Bribes In A Nutshell.
Of the $12,141,027 that was as allocated to Ben’s friends that fish for Salmon, let me show you where three fourths of it went and what Ben got for it. To see for yourself, go to http://www.alaskafisheriesboard.org/, and click on “Allocations.”
See the names highlighted in blue: Ocean Beauty, Icicle, Peter Pan, Trident, NorQuest, North Pacific Processors,
The Bering Sea Crab effort reduction fund that paid Ben $42,500, in 2000, (See his APOC report.) is for the most part, the same group now known as the North Pacific Crab Association, highlighted in blue in the left column.
At Sea Processors is a lobbying organization funded by major factory trawler owner-processors including Trident Seafoods. At Sea paid Ben’s Business partner, Trevor McCabe, to be its executive director until he resigned in late-2003. Trevor is also helping dish out the money to Ben’s friends as the vice chair of Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board. At Sea has paid Ben Stevens a total of $54,000. We have no knowledge of how much they paid Trevor McCabe as a manager. Glacier Fish Company, a member of At Sea also paid Ben Stevens an additional $63,000.
Through AFMB, Ben also awarded the “Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers” another $3,000,000, through the “AFMB Grants Program” (Go to website and click on “allocations” then “appropriations”) The “Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers” another group formed and dominated by the same above named companies. When added to the $9,040,000 for “salmon allocations” to friends of AFMB Chairman Ben Stevens and Vice Chair Trevor McCabe, the additional $3,000,000 brings the total to $12,040,000 we can count. Who knows what else we would find if the Attorney General and the Alaska Public Offices weren’t sandbagging this investigation.
In addition, it was Icicle Seafoods who in December of 2001, bought 50% of Adak Fisheries LLC and provided the necessary injection of capital Adak Fisheries LLC required to bring its overdue lease payments to the Aleut Enterprise Corp current. Six months later, it was Icicle Seafoods who also signed the now infamous “secret contract” granting Ben Stevens his second “secret option” to purchase a 25% interest in Adak Fisheries LLC, for a nominal Fee. (See Exhibit G & H) Note that his first secret option agreement was granted in 2000. (See Exhibit I).
Icicle Seafoods simultaneously provided the capital that enabled Adak Fisheries to increase Ben Stevens’ “consulting fees” from $15,000 per year to $80,000 the next year, $120,000 the year after that, and $80,000 the following year. (See Exhibit G, H, and Ben Stevens Disclosure).
Effectively, at the same time that Icicle Seafoods was shoving $280,000 into Ben Stevens pocket through Adak Fisheries consulting income, Ben was shoving $1,678,000 into Icicle Seafoods other pocket, through the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board salmon marketing grants program.
There are terms for such acts: Money laundering, and bribery. Both are felonies – under state and federal law.
In addition to the above, NorQuest, (owned by Trident since April 2004), paid Ben $37,500. (See Ben’s 2001 & 2002 Disclosure.) Ben rewarded NorQuest handily (or maybe Trident,) with $862,454 from the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board. (See the $862,454 highlighted in yellow)
Ben began paying Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board money to Yardarm Knot in 2004 and Yardarm Knot (and related company Highland Light) began handing Ben consulting fees for the first time in 2005. Ben paid Yardarm $227,538 in AFMB funds and Yardarm has paid Ben $33,600. An additional $54,000 was paid to Ben through Highland Light Fisheries, which is a subsidiary of Yardarm Knot Inc. (See Yardarm Knot’s $227,538 grant highlighted in yellow)
Ben’s unreported income from the Southeast Seiners Association (SEAS): The Southeast Seiners are fast learners. When they saw how things were shaping up for the founders of the Bering Sea Crab Effort Reduction Fund followed by the North Pacific Crab Association, the Southeast Seiners agreed to begin paying pay Ben $5,000 per month and promised him a 1% commission on what he could get.
(Paying on commission is a violation of federal lobbying law.)
Southeast Seiners payments to Ben began in 2003, and continued through most of 2005. We can only guess the amount because Ben has never reported this income to The Alaska Public Office Commission, (APOC), and we do not know the exact number of months that Ben was paid. We estimate payments to Ben to be in excess of $100,000.
When $50,000,000 appeared in a draft of the federal budget that had been passed out of US Senate Appropriations committee, the Southeast Seiners met to discuss how they were going to pay Ben the $500,000 commission they expected to owe him for this vessel buyback guarantee fund (a federal Fleet Capacity Reduction Program). Southeast Seiners’ management obviously had some concerns about the appearance, ethics, and legality of what they were doing at there
Who are they?
- Alyeska Seafoods Inc.,
- Icicle Seafoods Inc., Seattle [owned by
- NorQuest Seafoods,
- Peter Pan Seafoods Inc., Seattle [Nichiro of
- Royal Aleutian Seafoods Inc., Seattle [recently bought by UniSea, owned by NISSUI]
- Snopac Products Inc.,
- Trident Seafoods Corp., Seattle [owned by US partners, Chuck Bundrant, Kaare
- UniSea Inc., Redmond [owned by NISSUI - Nippon Suisan of Japan 100%]
- Westward Seafoods Inc., Seattle [owned by Maruha 100%, formerly known as Taiyo
- Yardarm Knot Fisheries LLC, Seattle [an Alan Chaffee company, also owners of Highland Light trawler]
| FIRM | FY 2004 | FY 2005 | TOTAL: |
| Ocean Beauty Seafoods | $1,048,908.46 | $1,259,625.59 | $2,308,534.05 |
| Icicle Seafoods | $774,260.76 | $904,016.58 | $1,678,277.34 |
| Peter Pan Seafoods | $737,284.09 | $829,217.50 | $1,566,501.59 |
| Trident Seafoods Corporation | $577,210.61 | $781,080.43 | $1,358,291.04 |
| NorQuest Seafoods, Inc. | $496,351.14 | $366,103.49 | $862,454.63 |
| North Pacific Processors, Inc. | $346,228.51 | $359,040.74 | $705,269.25 |
| Snopac Products, Inc. | $102,682.58 | $122,228.77 | $224,911.35 |
| Yardarm Knot Fisheries, LLC | $123,963.56 | $103,574.75 | $227,538.31 |
| Western Alaska Fisheries, Inc. | $48,889.51 | $59,337.11 | $108,226.62 |
| TOTALS: | $4,255,779.22 | $4,784,224.96 | $9,040,004.18 |
Most of the above named crab processors headquartered in
Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP), which shows up in a different category of Fish Marketing Board handouts, also got $1,000,000 for FY 2003, $1,000,000 for FY 2004 and $1,000,000 for FY 2005, for a total of $3,000,000. It was given to them from that portion of the $29 Million the Alaska Fish Marketing Board (AFMB) sat aside specifically for “Grants.” GAPP includes all the above companies except Snopac; and also includes
In total, Ben gave $12,040,004 to the people who paid him $923.507. This does not account for the over $700,000 he raked off the top of the funds he raised for the Special Olympics, which, to the best of our knowledge, came mostly from the above named recipients of his gifts. However, unfortunately, we do not know because we do not have the power of subpoena and the Attorney General refuses to investigate. The Attorney General has told us “all you have is hearsay” and has refused to return calls to witnesses we have provided and witnesses who have called him, who claim to have knowledge of money laundering, kickbacks and Bribery. The Attorney General hasn't looked and decided were all wet, he doesn't want to look and doesn't want to know.
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