Isn't that just ducky.

From the news wire

Alaskan Elephants in crisis

Ethics addressed finally!

The Senate Majority made a commitment to pass ethics legislation this session and we delivered on
that commitment. House Bill 109 is an omnibus bill that establishes new ethical standards for
members of the Alaska Legislature, executive branch employees and lobbyists. Here are some of the
highlights:
House Bill 109 improves laws affecting lobbyists by:
• Requiring ethics training for lobbyists and their employers
• Increasing restrictions on lobbyists’ gifts
• Barring persons with certain felony convictions from lobbying
• Barring spouses and domestic partners of legislators from lobbying for pay
• Prohibiting certain high-level executive branch officials from lobbying for one year after leaving
those positions
Improves disclosure laws by:
• Requiring electronic filing of campaign and financial disclosures
• Requiring legislators and legislative employees to disclose all boards on which they serve
• Requiring final financial disclosures from legislators, public officials, and others within 90 days of
leaving office
• Requiring more details in financial disclosures
• Requiring members of more executive branch boards to file financial disclosures
Improves executive branch ethics laws by:
• Increasing requirements for public officials’ blind trusts
• Specifying when a financial interest in a business is insignificant
• Increasing restrictions on employment after leaving service in the executive branch
• Barring political use of state aircraft except when that use is incidental
• Requiring the governor, before granting executive clemency, to disclose any interest in the matter
and obtain an ethics determination from the attorney general
Improves legislative ethics laws by:
• Requiring ethics training
• Increasing restrictions on gifts legislators and legislative employees may accept
• Prohibiting legislators from receiving outside compensation for legislative, administrative, or
political work
• Makes it a crime for public servants not to report bribery they know about
• Prohibits agreements to exchange campaign contributions to elected officials or candidates for
changing their votes or positions on a matter
• Provides for forfeiture of certain pension contributions when an official is convicted of a felony
such as bribery in connection with official duties

From Sen. Huggins newsletter

Waiting for the next shoe to drop...

While your waiting for the next big event in Alaskan Politics to hit the head lines it might be fun to review a post from the past archives ...

June 30, 2006
Follow the Money
An In-depth Look At Ben Stevens' Secret Fish Deals
by Ray Metcalfe, Republican Moderate Party of Alaska

Ben’s Bribes

At Sea Processors Association 2002/2001 = $16,000
At Sea Processors Association 2003/2002 = $38,000
Total = $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

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 Bering Sea Crab Effort Reduction Fund 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.

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
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 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
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 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 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.

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 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 are available on request. Call Ray Metcalfe at 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.

Reposted from http://www.insurgent49.com/metcalfe_stevens2.html