Corruption News Central

The Gorilla in the room

2011-10-21T00:12:00.001-08:00

We will be hosting another protest, blowing up our giant 26 foot tall inflatable rat for the second time, in front of the Anchorage Daily News this Friday October 21st 1:00 to 3:00 PM for selling out their readers in favor of to corporate interests.

Like it or not, ADN is still the media gorilla in Alaska. A little fact checked front page news about oil taxes would discredit the claims of Hawker and Parnell and bring an abrupt end to any significant measure of support BP has for its campaign to avoid paying Alaskans a fair price for the oil they take.

Whether through campaign funds, or other means, want of money is the only logical rational for a fully informed legislator, or governor, or newspaper for that matter, to turn a blind eye and/or assist a resource extractor in a quest to take Alaska's resources for less than other resource extractors would pay if they were given the opportunity.

KTUU News argues that ADN is a private company and has the right to print, or not print as they wish. KTVA didn't see it that way and gave us good coverage two weeks ago. Click here to see KTVS's coverage of our last protest in front of the Anchorage Daily News. http://www.ktva.com/home/outbound-xml-feeds/Protest-Over-Oil-Taxes-Coverage-131378053.html

"Sin of omission" is a term you've have learned in journalism. ADN's readers have a right to trust in ADN's truthfulness, and ADN has violated its moral obligation to be truthful with their readers. The degree to which The Daily News has avoided factual reporting on oil tax issues is obvious and money for silence is only one logical reason.

Getting a fair price for Alaska's oil effects your dividend, your teachers salary, your tuition and just about every thing government service you depend on. Join us and make an impact on a local institution that has sold you out as it licks the boots of British Petroleum.

Ray Metcalfe 907-344-4514

Protesting the Anchorage Daily News Censorship

2011-10-12T18:03:00.001-08:00

Three weeks ago I sent the following letter to the Daily News Room Boss:

Attached is a fact filled sheet designed to provide interested Alaskan voters with the information they need to make informed decisions about oil taxes.

After receiving a negative response to having brought similar articles to the attention of an ADN reporter on oil, I hand delivered two of the articles attached to Attention Patrick Doyle with the question:

·

“What would motivate the largest newspaper in an oil state to withhold widely published news stories containing readily available information about production costs and oil profits from its readers in the midst of a statewide debate about oil profits and production costs?”

While I have confidence in the integrity of most ADN reporters, I have lost confidence in the integrity and motives of ADN’s management, publishers and owners.

Oil producers and their supporters who claim they want to “make Alaska competitive again” have filled the airwaves and your pages with "facts" that have consistently proven to be fabrications. ADN has made no credible effort to retract, correct, or educate its readers on the world market norms for the taxation of oil.

Rather than provide its readers with readily available fact-filled articles, the ADN uses dueling editorialists to place Alaska’s oil tax issues into the context of a “he said she said domestic quarrel.”

In his Sunday August 14th column Paul Jenkins said that Alaska's high taxes are "forcing the oil industry to go elsewhere, to places such as booming North Dakota.” Clearly knowing the statement is false, ADN demands no correction and continues his column.

Not until after Petroleum News’ “North Slope Booming” article reached ADN’s readers did ADN bother to print anything contrary to Mark Hamilton’s “Starving North Slope Workers Moving to North Dakota Advertising Campaign.” Attached is a Juneau Empire article which explained the same issue eighteen months earlier. It was one of the articles delivered by me to the attention of Patrick Doyle. It preceded Mark Hamilton’s advertising campaign; but ADN's Anchorage readers had no way of knowing they were being misled.

On Saturday August 20th, the ADN gave Representative Hawker a platform to tell Alaskans that "Alaska's Production taxes are the highest in North America." That is also not true and its falsity is easily verifiable.

In a state that relies so heavily on getting world market values for its resources, few issues are more important. The ADN has a lengthy track record of keeping its readers in the dark on such issues. On Thursday of this week, at noon, I will be delivering a power point presentation to the Anchorage Democratic Bartlett Club's weekly forum at Denny's at 3950 DeBarr Rd., Anchorage, AK. My focus will include the ADN’s refusal to educate its readers on this issue.

Please be assured that I do not believe the above sins of omission rest on your shoulders or those of your reporters. I believe its rests squarely on the shoulders of ADN's management.

You are invited to come and listen on Thursday. The Bartlett Club has agreed to leave the following Thursday’s lunch speaker schedule open should ADN wish to respond.

Ray Metcalfe 907-344-4514

The Daily News did not show and has offered no meaningful response. If the Voters knew the facts about oil taxes; Parnell's push to roll them back Alaska's oil tax wouldn't have a snowballs chance in hell of going anywhere. In fact, some people might even begin to think he smelled a lot like Bill Allen.

Audio: Ray Metcalfe protest outside ADN | adn.com

community.adn.com

Political activist Ray Metcalfe led a demonstration against the Anchorage Daily News along Bragaw Street that featured a 25-foot rat this afternoon. Metcalfe and his supporters said ADN refuses to publish the truth about oil taxes.

Ray Metcalfe and Citizens for ethical Government outside the ADN Offices

http://www.adn.com/2011/10/07/2109630/protesting-the-anchorage-daily.html#id=2109648&view=large_view

Protesting the Anchorage Daily News: News photo galleries | Alaska news at adn.com

www.adn.com

Political activist Ray Metcalfe led a demonstration against the Anchorage Daily News along Bragaw Street that featured a 25-foot rat on Friday, October 7, 2011. Metcalfe and his supporters said ADN refuses to publish the truth about oil taxes.

http://www.ktva.com/home/outbound-xml-feeds/Protest-Over-Oil-Taxes-Coverage-131378053.html

Protest Over Oil Taxes Coverage

www.ktva.com

Local political activist Ray Metcalfe is leading a protest against the Anchorage Daily News. Metcalfe says ADN is sandbagging its readers and withholding information about Alaska's oil tax facts.

"Faces of ACES” in the Shadows of Veco

2010-02-19T16:29:00.000-09:00

Former BP spokesman Paul Laird is now doing through Alaska Support industry Alliance what he can no longer get Veco to do for BP. The Anchorage Daily News is rehabilitating Paul Jenkins, the author of Veco’s Daily News Column the FBI shamed them into removing. And the same bunch of Veco backed Alliance backed legislators are lining up to collect the rewards of pretending there is one scintilla of truth in Bill Allen’s “Paul Laird’s Faces of ACES” campaign.

Fact: Every major oil producer in Alaska has bid for the right to take over production of Iraq’s poorly maintained and under-producing oilfields in exchange for payment of less than $2 per barrel for their services. Even after a big tax increase, Alaska’s largest producers still average about $20 per barrel for providing the same service.

BP partnered with a Chinese oil company to win the bid to re-develop Iraq’s largest oilfield, the Rumaila field. BP will effectively be working under a service agreement that pays BP and its partner $2 per barrel for oil produced in excess of the Rumaila field’s current 960,000 barrels per day. BP will be penalized if it does not hit its 2.85 million-barrel per day target within six years. On closer scrutiny, Wood Mackenzie, the same oil consulting firm Ralph Samuels hired to advise Alaska’s Legislature in 2004, reviewed the contracts and estimated even lower returns for BP and partner. Wood Mackenzie suggests an ultimate net of approximately $3 billion for 16 billion barrels of production. (Source: Business Week July 24, 2009)

Wood Mackenzie also told Business Week BP has admitted finalizing a similar contract in Abu Dhabi which would ultimately pay BP approximately $1 per barrel to produce their oil. (Source: Business Week July 24, 2009)

John Mingé, President of BP Exploration, no doubt at least vaguely familiar with the above, when asked about proposals to roll back Alaska’s new tax on oil, told The Anchorage Press; “it’s a good start, but it’s not enough to sustain Alaska’s oil and gas industry.”

Exxon and Shell have signed similar contracts with Iraq. According to The Wall Street Journal, Exxon and Shell signed a joint agreement to produce Iraq’s West Qurna oilfield. Exxon and Shell’s contract requires a $25 billion investment over the next seven years to ramp production up from 279,000 barrels to 2,250,000 barrels per day and another $25 billion for operating fees. They will be reimbursed for their pre-approved expenditures over the duration of their 20 year contract, not to exceed $50 billion. Exxon and Shell will operate the field on a break even (no profit) basis until the agreed increased production schedule of 2,250,000 barrels per day is reached. At that time, Exxon and Shell will be paid $1.90 for each barrel of daily production exceeding the original 279,000 barrels in production. (Source: Wall Street Journal JANUARY 18, 2010)

Shell won an additional contract on similar terms by partnering with Malaysia's Petronas Oil. Together they offered to redevelop Iraq's Majnoon oil field for $1.39 for each extra barrel they can extract above its current 45,000 barrels per day. (Source Wall Street Journal December 11, 2009)

In comparison, according to the Alaska’s Royalty Accounting Department, ConocoPhillips paid severance taxes to Alaska on 99,581,335 barrels of Alaskan oil in 2008. According to ConocoPhillips’ stated net earnings on their Alaskan investments, ConocoPhillips’ profited in the amount of $2.3 billion. Dividing ConocoPhillips stated net profit by the same number of barrels reveals ConocoPhillips’ net profit averaged $23.10 per barrel from its Alaskan interests in 2008.

By applying the same calculations to 2009, and averaging them in with 2008, we can calculate that ConocoPhillips has averaged about $19.62 per barrel in the two years following the Legislature’s increase in Alaska’s oil tax.

BP and Exxon refuse to disclose their profits from Alaskan oil, but a reasonably accurate estimation of their profit margin can be extrapolated by applying the same North Slope per-barrel profit margin to the number of barrels on which BP and Exxon paid taxes in 2008. BP paid taxes on 79,496,721 Barrels, placing their estimated profits for 2008 over $1.8 billion. Exxon paid taxes on 53,756,656 barrels, placing their estimated 2008 profits over $1.2 billion.

Alaska’s oil makes Alaska’s Producers about ten times the per barrel profit they’re hoping to get from Iraq. Iraq doesn’t beg them to spend for more production, they tell them to do it or get out. Alaska’s oil fields have never been nationalized as Iraq’s were when taken from BP in the 1970’s, Alaska’s oil is not in a war zone, and isn’t likely to become the subject of a civil war between religious factions fighting over who owns the oil.

Alaska’s three big oil producers spent between two and three billion dollars in 2008 and profited over $5 billion. If Exxon and Shell reach Iraq’s required production target, they will first spend and recover at least $25 billion for infrastructure and operating costs before receiving a dime of profit. Once their required production target is reached, they will be paid $1.90 per barrel on 1,971,000 Barrels per day for a total annual payment $1.3 billion. If they don’t meet their target, they may be sent packing.

Hardball works far better than caving to demands. Every company mentioned above was demanding Iraq pay two to three times as much for their service until Iraq said get moving or get out. Exxon holding Point Thompson as a strategic reserve to develop if their refineries ran short of crude. When Alaska moved to take Point Thompson away Exxon finally started drilling.

Perhaps the biggest story here is in why most of Alaska’s media has never provided their Alaskan readers and viewers with coverage of any of the above referenced widely publicized stories. In light of the advertising campaign by the Alaska Support Industry Alliance, such information would seem crucial to the decision making process of Alaskans. I hereby challenge Dan Fagan and the Industry Alliance sponsors of those “Faces of ACES” ads to debate the content of this article and their ads any time, any place, any audience.

Ray Metcalfe

Corruption News Central: Replay Begich's Campaign Ad Claiming To Have Eliminated Anchorage’s Deficits.

2009-11-21T14:55:00.000-09:00

Corruption News Central: Replay Begich's Campaign Ad Claiming To Have Eliminated Anchorage’s Deficits.

Replay Begich's Campaign Ad Claiming To Have Eliminated Anchorage’s Deficits.

2009-11-21T14:30:00.002-09:00

Begich claims he warned the Anchorage Assembly of looming deficits. If he did so at the time he said he did, he did so while simultaneously running campaign ads advising voters that he personally had eliminated Anchorage’s deficits.

Click below to see Begich’s quote in today's Anchorage Daily News (11/19/2009) referencing Anchorage’s $30 million deficit. Begich said he “fully apprised [the Assembly] of all financial information related to the Municipality throughout my terms as mayor."

Then click below that to see Begich’s news release saying that he did inform the Assembly.

Farther below, click to see the campaign ads he ran at the same time, claiming that Anchorage’s deficits had been eliminated by his leadership.

Clearly, either the claims Begich made in his campaign were false, or the claims Begich is making today are false. If Begich did advise the Assembly of looming deficits as claimed, then he was clearly lying to voters in his campaign ad. (View the ad)

If, as the Municipal Attorney claims, Begich did not advise the Assembly then, he is lying to the Assembly today.

By necessity, one or the other of Begich’s conflicting statements has to be false.

Anchorage Daily News:

http://www.adn.com/

The ADN story:

http://www.adn.com/mark_begich/story/1018683.html

When the Municipal Attorney said Begich had failed to advise the Assembly of looming deficits, Begich responded by saying any suggestion that he had not informed the Assembly was “absurd” and claims to have provided proof through documents. (Click below to see Begich news release)

http://media.adn.com/smedia/2009/11/18/18/Wheeler_report_react.source.prod_affiliate.7.pdf

Two campaign ads claiming to have eliminated the deficit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr397LP9EH0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWIkiG7CcOE&feature=channel

The above has been provided to you compliments of Ray Metcalfe.

Open Letter to All Legislators Regarding Suspicions of Bribery

2009-08-04T09:40:00.001-08:00

Open Letter to All Legislators Regarding Suspicions of Bribery:

From Ray Metcalfe 08/04/2009

Lesil McGuire signed a contractual agreement with one of Alaska’s largest companies who agreed to pay her $10,500 for assisting them in securing seven million dollars in appropriations. You will find a copy of the contract attached.

The $10,500 was paid and the appropriations were made. Bribery by definition is when someone outside of government pays a legislator to assist them with an appropriation or other legislation.

Two years ago, I hand delivered copies of McGuire’s contract and her invoices for “services” to the office of Alaska’s Attorney General and Senator Lyda Green. I also provided same to APOC in the form of a complaint. APOC chose only to pass the information to the Senate Subcommittee of the Select Committee on Legislative Ethics, who chose to do nothing.

In their dismissal, Legislative Ethics referenced a two year statute of limitation for ethics complaints. They made no mention of the fact that the statute of limitation begins to run at the conclusion of the final related act. The final related appropriation, in the series of appropriations that McGuire contracted to help secure, passed the Legislature in May of 2006, one year and nine months before the commission received APOC’s referral. Well within the two years. Senate Ethics also made no reference of any referral of the matter to the office of the Attorney General nor did they mention that the statute of limitation for bribery is five years.

There are now, from the date of this letter, two years left for a grand jury to indict.

As evidenced by eleven Federal convictions, Alaska is an extremely corrupt state. However, State Prosecutors have yet to find a single cause for an indictment. Just as with Ben Stevens and Veco, State Prosecutors have demonstrated that they have no intention of investigating the evidence of McGuire’s bribery which I hand delivered to their desks.

In 1982, Bethel Senator George Hohman was expelled from the Senate and sent to prison for simply suggesting that the backers of a project were likely contributors. Today, no one other than you has more responsibility to ask why such far more egregious acts are tolerated by our Legislators and ignored by our Prosecutors.

Ray Metcalfe

907-344-4514

08/04/2009

Please find a PDF at http://www.citizens4ethics.com/pdf/Evidence-File-15-meg.pdf that includes:

McGuire’s Contract, (See Exhibit A page 9 of the PDF, and the contract to which Exhibit A was an attachment, pages 10-16)

APOC’s dismissal, (See pages 33-34)

Copy of three appropriations totaling $7,000,000 as referenced in McGuire’s letter, and (See pages 1-8)

See the Senate Ethics dismissal. (See pages 33-34)

To those who care about ending corruption in Alaska

2009-05-30T19:59:00.000-08:00

The application to the Director of the Alaska Division of Elections requesting certification of an initiative to outlaw one’s personal use of one’s public office to enrich one’s self has been approved by the Division of Elections and the Lieutenant Governor.

The proposal reads:

"Anyone found using their public office to enrich themselves, their relatives, close friends, business associates; past, present, or anticipated employers or contributors, is guilty of a class A felony. Anyone found securing enrichment by inducing public officials to violate this statute is guilty of bribery, a class A felony.”

Believe it or not, what you just read is totally legal. It is only on rare occasions in which an agreement for a kickback can found that such actions are prosecuted. Even if the kickback is obvious, it is generally not prosecutable unless the prosecutor has possession of proof that the perpetrators agreed that the kickback was only to be delivered if the appropriations were made.

Unfortunately, such agreements are usually limited to nebulous winks and nods that have no admissibility in a court room. Alaska has seen eleven political corruption convictions over the past two years. One thing I have learned from my involvement in the investigations of those convicted is that for every kickback that could be proved there were ten crooks that successfully covered their tracks.

This would change that by making the delivery of appropriations to family and contributors a serious crime regardless of whether a kickback is demonstrated.

We now need to organize volunteers and raise about $50,000 to gather signatures if this proposition is to become law. Download a detailed explanation of the proposal and why it works.

Ray Metcalfe

907-344-4514

http://citizens4ethics.com/docs/petition-and-explination.doc

He's a real mudder that one!

2009-05-04T11:30:00.002-08:00

Mark Allen, owner of Mine that Bird, is the son of Bill Allen who used to run VECO Oilfield Services. The Anchorage Daily News reported that the $400,000 purchase price of the colt came from the sale of the now-defunct oil-field services business.

Bill Allen plea dealt his way into taking all the punishment, much of which should have landed on his Son's head as co-conspirator.

See kid's, The Oilmen bribed the Senator, the Senator walked away clean and the Oilmen won millions, crime does pay!

Ted Stevens' Charges Dropped

2009-04-01T16:59:00.003-08:00

No, it's unfortunately not an April Fool's Joke.

Ted Stevens' Charges Dropped: A Tale of Two Justice Systems
Posted by Joshua Holland, AlterNet at 10:31 AM on April 1, 2009.

Corruption charges dropped against Stevens

By Kevin Johnson and Matt Kelley, USA TODAY

U.S. drops corruption case against ex-Sen. Stevens
Apr 1, 2009 ... court to set aside the jury verdict and throw out the charges.

Outlawing Self-Enrichment Through Public Office

2009-03-15T07:28:00.002-08:00

How Outlawing Self-Enrichment Through Public Office
Can Eliminate Most of Alaska’s Corruption

By Ray Metcalfe 03/15/20009

Some reviewers of my proposal have raised the issue of vagueness. They are correct in that the first reaction from most attorneys is that my proposal to make self-enrichment through public office a felony is too vague to pass courtroom scrutiny. However, I disagree and I am prepared to argue the question in court if necessary.

There is a method to the strategy behind the precise wording of this initiative. I played with the wording for several days to compact as much wallop into fifty words as possible. State statute limits the printed description of propositions placed before the voters on the official voter’s ballot to not more than fifty words. By limiting this proposition to fifty words, we will be in position to ask the Court to tell the Division of Elections to place the proposition on the ballot verbatim if the Division of Elections, at the direction of the Lieutenant Governor, tries to describe the proposed initiative as anything other than what it is.

The petition would create a statute reading as follows:

* "Anyone found using their public office to enrich themselves, their relatives, close friends, business associates; past, present, or anticipated employers or contributors, is guilty of a class A felony. Anyone found securing enrichment by inducing public officials to violate this statute is guilty of bribery, a class A felony.”

Believe it or not, what you just read is not illegal. The difficulty in prosecuting politicians like John Cowdery, who got six month home detention for offering a $25,000 bribe, is that much of what you would think is illegal is not. Politicians have exempted themselves from punishment through loopholes. Prosecutors find themselves relying on statutes made intentionally flimsy by the politicians they prosecute. Placing the above proposition on the ballot will bring an abrupt halt to the overwhelming majority of the corrupt practices that plague Alaska’s political system. A class A felony is punishable by up to 20 years in jail.

Under no stretch of the imagination is anyone going to mount a campaign that would successfully persuade a majority of voters to vote against something that effectively says: "If you use your public office to enrich your self, you go to jail." It will need no advertising to gain voter approval and no amount of advertising in opposition can stop it.

The Legislature will have the option of passing a substantially similar statute with more words to clarify what the statute means. In the absence of an agreement as to what constitutes “substantially similar” the proposal would remain on the ballot for the voters to decide.

The Legislature would have to negotiate the language with me and gain my concurrence or face the high probability that I would sue them and the probability that the Alaska Supreme Court would rule that their replacement statute was not "substantially similar." In such an event, the Court would order the proposition back on the ballot.

It will only require $100 and 100 signatures to see if the Lieutenant Governor is going to defend or oppose the proposal. If the Lieutenant Governor defends the proposal, it is smooth sailing. The state will then print and deliver the signature gathering petition booklets and defend against any other challenges.

If the Lieutenant Governor rules that it is too vague to meet constitutional muster and therefore refuses to print the signature gathering petitions, I will sue and show the Court that several Federal Circuit Courts have already upheld "Honest Services," a federal statute that is far less precise than my proposal, and the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review their rulings on grounds of vagueness.

About twenty years ago, Congress passed a federal statute for fighting corruption that is far more vague than my proposal. Known as the “Honest Services Act.” The statute for all practical purposes says public figures are obligated to deliver “honest services” to the public. It has been upheld by the Ninth Circuit and several other jurisdictions. In comparison to the “Honest Services” statute, my proposal is as clear as a bell. That is the reason I believe we can win in court on the issue of vagueness.

You will find three files attached to this email that can bring you up to speed on honest services, plus a fourth file, the actual petition.

Lobbyist Bill Bobrick and Governor Murkowski's chief of staff, Jim Clark, were both charged and convicted of violating the Honest Services statute. When Congress wrote the law Bobrick and Clark broke, Congress deliberately left it up to the Courts to define the fine points of what is meant by "Honest Services."

Justice Antonin Scalia disagreed with the majority opinion in refusing to consider the vagueness of Honest Services. However his dissent made it clear that the decision was a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to allow Congress to pass vague laws, deliberately leaving it up to the Courts to clarify the fine points of the intent of the statute.

Alaska is a comparative petri dish for initiative experiments. It costs millions in other states to do what can be done for $100,000 here. I believe that if we get this rolling here we will be able to get help from concerned deep-pockets around the nation with an interest in seeing if this can work. I believe that if we succeed, we will be able to export our idea to concerned citizens in every state that has an initiative process available to its voters.

There are 24 states with some form of initiative process. If a significant number follow our lead, it is probable that Congress will eventually do the same. If it works, it will close the book on a history of buying favors that has plagued this country for 200 years.

Excuses & Answers

What’s wrong with the concept that the only reason a person should contribute is because they actually believe that the person they are contributing to will deliver good honest open government? If this became law, those who sought to pass “Clean Elections” would achieve their goal. Those who have in the past given money with self enriching strings attached would face jail time if they continue the practice.

With their primary source of funding gone “Clean Elections” would suddenly look far more palatable to those in the Legislature. Those who continue to contribute and do so expecting nothing of personal monetary value in return will be few and far between.

One person asked; “what would happen if I were to give $25, then testify on environmental issues?”
Answer: Such scenarios would not adversely impact anyone if my proposed statute becomes law. Not unless the contributor also asked the politician to whom they had contributed to also give them something that contributed to their personal wealth and the politician delivered.

Another asked; “what about legislators voting on their own pay?”
Answer: What’s wrong with the concept that legislators should raise pay only for future legislatures but not their own, requiring existing legislators to set out a term before taking advantage of the new pay scale?

"What about a legislator who is a Realtor, voting on real estate issues or an oil company employ voting on oil issues?"
Answer: If it doesn’t clearly act to enrich yourself or your employer, don’t worry. If it does, don’t vote and don’t participate in the debate.

People paying for favors has been so ingrained into our system that, even the good guys tend at first glance, think of it as a right and wonder how the wheels of government could turn without it.

Paying for favors is a crime. It has just gotten really hard to prove, thanks to a little confusion that's been engineered into our statutes by the politicians it is meant to restrain.

The first corporations in America were for the construction of canals for barges. At the time corporations could only be created for public purposes, much as we view public utilities today. Look at what we have forgotten and where we have come as a result. Corporations have become vehicles to shield people from responsibility from their acts (Think Exxon Valdez). They send people to Washington to ask for money that they distribute to those rich enough to have bought their stock. Think AIG, bank bailouts and golden parachutes made possible by your tax dollars.

This petition doesn’t outlaw pleading poverty and asking for relief, it doesn’t outlaw lobbying, it just outlaws delivering contributions and then lobbying for governments delivery of cash, contracts, monopolies, or government assets or resources in return. Inventers of a better mouse trap would no longer be required to out-contribute entrenched owners of obsolete mouse traps to get Congress to consider their product. Corporations would be better advised to instruct their executives not to be donating to congressmen they expect to lobby and congressmen who had received donations would likely refer their contributors to other congressmen, when approached for favors. Corporate contributions to politicians would likely become a thing of the past. Huge speaking fees and book deals for seated members of Congress would also fall by the wayside, as would fat lobbying contracts and consulting fees for their spouses.

Standard practice today is for Alaska’s legislators to announce their conflict of interest and then vote anyway. What’s wrong with the concept that when the Legislature is voting on something that has a direct impact on your employer, family or business, you should announce your conflict and refrain from voting. When in doubt, don’t vote.

If you want to help clean up this states corruption problem, print out the attached petition, get a few signatures, scan them and email them to RayinAK@aol.com, or drop them in the snail mail.

Felon-Enrichment-Petition.doc
Honest-Services-Definition.doc
Honest-Services-Supreme-Court.doc
Honest-services-cases.doc

Ray Metcalfe

Chairman of Citizens for Ethical Government
P.O. Box 233809, Anchorage Alaska, 99523
907-344-4514 –– RayinAK@aol.com

Unhappy with Cowdery's light sentence? Sign our petition for change.

2009-03-12T08:23:00.000-08:00

The difficulty in prosecuting politicians is what you would think is illegal is not. Prosecutors rely on statutes made flimsy by the politicians they prosecute. To remedy this, Ray Metcalfe is collecting signatures to put the following proposition on the ballot.

*“Anyone found using their public office to enrich themselves, their relatives, close friends, business associates; past, present, or anticipated employers or contributors, is guilty of a class A felony. Anyone found securing enrichment by inducing public officials to violate this statute is guilty of bribery, a class A felony.”

If you’re willing, He needs 100 sponsors to submit his proposal to the Lieutenant Governor’s office. He will be at Café del Mundo 341 East Benson Blvd at noon Monday the 16th.

Alternatively, print out one or more copies of the petition you can download here: http://www.citizens4ethics.com/docs/FelonyEnrichmentPetition.doc
mail them to: Ray Metcalfe, PO Box 233809, Anchorage Alaska, 99523.

Beverly Masek to plead guilty to bribery

2009-03-12T07:29:00.003-08:00

Masek will be the 11th conviction for the FBI in their ongoing investigation of Alaska's corrupt politicians (All Republicans so far)

Yet another dirty Alaska Republican will plead guilty Thursday to bribery.

Beverly Masek, a former state Representative from Willow, has agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to receive a bribe.

Masek, accepted at least $4,000 from corrupt former VECO CEO Bill Allen in 2003, according to documents filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Anchorage.

Read bev's Plea here:
http://alaskareport.com/pdf/masek_plea.pdf

Read this full article here:
http://alaskareport.com/news39/x71129_beverly_masek.htm

Additional articles:

Ex-Alaska state Rep. Masek to plead guilty

MiamiHerald.com - ‎1 hour ago‎

By Richard Mauer Former state Rep. Beverly Masek has agreed to plead guilty Thursday to conspiring to receive a bribe, according to documents filed ...

Former Lawmaker To Plead Guilty

KTVA CBS 11 News Alaska - ‎14 hours ago‎

By Todd Walker, CBS 11 News The corruption scandals that have rocked Alaska's political system just expanded by one more person. Thursday, former Willow Rep ...

Former Alaska lawmaker Masek to plead guilty to conspiracy in ...

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - ‎15 hours ago‎

AP ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Another former Alaska lawmaker will plead guilty to a corruption charge tied to oil industry legislation. Former state Rep. ...

Corruption probe nets another former state representative

KTUU - ‎15 hours ago‎

by Rebecca Palsha ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Another former lawmaker is taking a plea deal after being accused of taking cash from VECO Corp. executives in ...

The company we keep

2008-10-28T19:54:00.002-08:00

Those that seek to serve in the public's interest should be held to certain standards. Their personnel lives should be looked at in some detail to gauge their honesty, lawfulness, integrity and other core values. His choice of Church, business relations, personnel friends and family should be looked at to gain an overall picture of him or her.
If it is found that they are questionable in any of these areas they should be investigated. If they are found to be drug users, sexual deviants, deadbeats, scofflaws, liars or equally abhorrent sorts they shouldn't hold public office. If they are found to associate with known criminal elements in business, public or private they should not be allowed to hold public office.
Of course in Alaska we would have to entirely clean house and start over, because so many of our elected or appointed officials have become convicted felons that their co workers, friends and families have been forced to associate with undesirable elements of society.

Mark Begich was the best man at Bill Bobrick’s wedding in 1998, Bill Bobrick admitted in federal court that he conspired to bribe former state Rep. Tom Anderson.
We tend to make friends of those that share our basic values.

Bill Fikes, Wasilla, AK

Open Letter to the Anchorage Assembly

2008-07-31T21:15:00.001-08:00

Is it your desire to live in a corrupt state? A state where the measure of your success is judged by how much you can steal rather than how much you can contribute? If so, all you have to do is stay the course because the FBI cannot clean up Alaska or its largest city, if Alaska’s community leaders dig in their heels to resist the cleanup.

I spent several years forcing every member of the Alaska Legislature to look at the corruption in their midst. Most said they couldn’t see what I was talking about. Some said, “not my job” while others said, “There is nothing I can do.” Not one single Legislator was willing to stand against corruption.

When our forefathers created three branches of government it was their expectation that when one of the three branches stepped out of line, the other two branches would take use their collective powers to restore the wayward branch’s compliance with a system of laws. It is a duty of the office you hold to take action.

Had our state’s system of checks and balances functioned properly, had Murkowski’s Attorney General not attempted to obstruct justice, the FBI wouldn’t be in the middle of our state’s business, cleaning up the mess made possible by elected officials saying “not my job.” When the executive branch of government fails to clean its own house, there is no person with a greater obligation to confront corruption in the executive branch of government than you.

When rational people appear to make irrational decisions, it's usually because they have a hidden incentive you didn't know about. For twenty five years, a majority of both houses of Alaska’s Legislature appeared to make an irrational decision to let oil companies take Alaska's oil for a tiny fraction of what it was really worth. However, their decision wasn’t irrational at all. A majority of Alaska’s Legislature justified that the gratuities they took from Veco were worth the tens of billions of dollars the state lost because they did.

Now at seven convictions and counting, the cost of twenty five years of corruption is obvious. Alaska went from massive deficits to massive surpluses on the heels of Veco’s exposure. Those who attribute the surpluses to rising oil prices would be wrong as millions of barrels were leaving Alaska un-taxed. Zero tax equals zero income to Alaska regardless of the price of oil.

About nine months ago, Mayor Begich gave away the city’s economic interest in a Municipal parking garage through a cleverly written lease. A gift worth about ten million dollars to the developers of a 22 story building next door. In the absence of intervention, Jerry Neeser and Mark Pfeffer will be in position to tell prospective tenants of their 22 story building that they control the parking, facing those prospective tenants with the prospect of riding bicycles to work or renting from the only landlords with parking.

Ponder for a moment the reaction from Penny’s shoppers had the Mayor given all the parking within three blocks of the downtown mall to Nordstroms. Would other store owners sue the city? Of course they would.

The days that a mayor can give away a parking garage with confidence jail time won’t follow are gone and it is time for you to decide which side your on. If you want a government run by white collar crime all you have to do is pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about.

Four years ago I wrote an article published in most Alaska newspapers suggesting that Veco was paying bribes to large numbers of legislators and that their bribery was costing this state tens of billions of dollars. The name calling from the rich and powerful throughout the state started before the ink was dry on the newsprint. Since that day you have seen five confessions and three convictions by jury, all from within the ranks of those who said I was dead wrong.

Three years ago I accused Ben Stevens of taking bribes from Veco. His protests were quite similar to Mark Begich’s protests today. Had I not done so, neither Mark nor I would be running for the US Senate because Ben would have already filled his daddy’s shoes in Washington.

Two years ago I wrote an article detailing how Ted Stevens was laundering federal money into the pockets of his boy and his boy’s business partner Trevor McCabe, by funneling the money through a handful of Seattle based fish processing companies, who were funneling money back to Trevor McCabe and Ben Stevens through consulting fees. Six months later the offices of the processors were raided by the FBI and Trevor McCabe is now cooperating with the FBI’s ongoing investigation with hopes of shortening his jail time. ----(Anchorage Daily News, Feb. 10, 2008, McCabe 's attorney, Michael White of Seattle, said, " Trevor has been instructed by his lawyer to continue to cooperate with investigators and make no public comments.")

Over the past year, I have written extensively about John Rubini and the several real estate investments he has made with Mark Begich and Ted Stevens. Through the hand in hand cooperation of Rubini’s carefully selected business partners, Rubini has secured hundreds of millions of dollars worth of real estate that once belonged to the federal government and tens of millions in tax breaks through the passage of special legislation Ben Stevens pushed through the Legislature and a companion ordinance pushed through by Mark Begich.

Begich said the tax breaks were for the troops living in the base housing Ted Stevens had earmarked into the hands of Jon Rubini and Ted Stevens’ brother-in-law for free. However, the only thing Mark’s Tax breaks achieved, was an increase to the bottom line for his business partner Jon Rubini and the brother-in-law of Ted Steven’s, while they raised the rents on the troops.

The other excuse Begich used was that he wasn’t sure if the Municipality could tax Rubini’s privately owned military housing setting on ground Rubini leases from the federal government for one dollar per year. Before you buy into that argument, read the clip below on taxation, directly from Alaska’s constitution:

Article 9 - Finance and Taxation § 5. Interests in Government Property: Private leaseholds, contracts, or interests in land or property owned or held by the United States, the State, or its political subdivisions, shall be taxable to the extent of the interests.

Rubini’s rewards were well worth the $52,000 Rubini dressed up as real estate deals to pay Mark Begich. He gave Begich a small interest in two high-rise office buildings so he could buy him out when he needed a favor, much like he did with Ted Stevens when he bought Ted out of the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation building for $1,050,000. (All public record).

I highly doubt that there is anyone left on the Assembly who isn’t aware that the National Archives purchased Jon Rubini’s eight acres between your chambers and Lowe’s Hardware, believing it was zoned B-3. They paid him $3,525,000 for property he had picked up one year earlier for $1,550,000. They based their purchase price on the belief that the property was zoned B-3 and had been appraised at $4,495,000. The property was R-3 not B-3 and it was not appraised anywhere near $4,495,000.

When was the last time you saw a real estate professional, a mayor, or private investor get caught perpetrating or assisting in the sale of property to the federal government under fraudulent pretenses and not go to jail? – Are you willing to risk the possible consequences of helping Mark sweep this one under the rug?
(For any assembly member who will take the time to look, I will be happy to review documentation that demonstrates decision makers at the National Archives had been advised that the property they purchased was zoned B-3. They were advised of that before they started looking, and during their comparative evaluations, and after the purchase was complete.)

I recently asked assembly chair Matt Claman to review the agreement to eliminate Jon Rubini’s taxes. Claman couldn’t have ran any faster from the subject. That’s exactly what I meant by community leaders digging in their heels to resist the cleanup. When honest people compromise their principles in favor of victory or unity, they have also lost sight of their reason for having cared in the first place.

Turning back to Municipal gifts of parking garages, I am going to sue the Municipality for the illegal appropriation of public assets into the hands of a private person, If the assembly fails to intervene in Mark Begich’s gifts of the Sixth and Seventh Avenue parking garages to Mark Pfeffer and Jerry Neeser.

The appropriation lacks public purpose, was not voted on by the body with the authority to appropriate, and even if the assembly had done so, the assembly would have violated Alaska’s constitutional prohibition barring grants and special privileges of special appropriations to individuals without a public purpose. See clips from Alaska’s constitution below. For details on the gift of the parking garage, go to:
http://citizens4ethics.com/docs/Gift of Parking Garage Explained.doc

Article 1 - Declaration of Rights § 15. Prohibited State Action:
No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed. No law impairing the obligation of contracts, and no law making any irrevocable “grant of special privileges” or immunities shall be passed. No conviction shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture of estate.

Article 9 - Finance and Taxation § 6. Public Purpose:
No tax shall be levied, or appropriation of public money made, or “public property transferred,” nor shall the public credit be used, except for a public purpose.

Before Begich gave Mark Pfeffer and Jerry Neeser a parking garage, he required the parking authority to lease 67 parking spaces from them at $432 per space, ($29,000 per month) while arranging to rent parking spaces to Mark Pfeffer and Jerry Neeser on the other side of the street at $75 per space.

Before that Mark Begich attempted to persuade the Municipal Assembly to purchase City Hall from Jerry Neeser for about ten million dollars more than it was really worth.

After Jerry Neeser, Mark Pfeffer, and John Rubini landed the contract to build the new convention center, Mark Begich fattened their bottom line by waving dozens of inspection and code compliance requirements that any other developers in town would have been forced to comply with. Begich also gave Jerry Neeser free access to fifteen acres in the heart of downtown to store equipment and construction materials. I highly doubt that Mark Begich would have arranged wavers or free storage for any other developers.

If Mark Begich’s appetite for doing favors for Jerry Neeser, Mark Pfeffer, and John Rubini doesn’t raise every red flag for corruption in your body, there is something dreadfully wrong with your moral compass.

As you may recall, in the case of Ben Stevens, I first tried to recall him for doing Legislative favors for Veco. The Division of Elections, APOC, several Legislators, the Attorney General, and Alaska’s Superior Court, all said he had broken no laws and no crime had been committed. Now even former Governor Murkowski’s chief of staff has pleaded guilty to participating with Veco’s criminal activities and it’s a good bet he won’t be the last.

It would be disingenuous to pretend you don’t sense corruption. And I can only think of one reason why you would say you didn’t. The buck stops with you. Should you fail to act, I will take the city to court and be as relentless at uncovering who is doing what for whom and why as I was with Ben Stevens and Veco.

Ray Metcalfe

Sen. Ted Stevens Indicted, Charged With Making False Statements in Corruption Probe

2008-07-29T10:34:00.002-08:00

Tuesday , July 29, 2008

WASHINGTON —

Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens allegedly made false statements to cover up gifts given to him by an oil contractor seeking his help on Capitol Hill, according to a seven-count federal indictment unveiled Tuesday.

Stevens, 84, is the longest-serving Republican in the Senate and has been under investigation for more than a year, with a heavy focus on work done to his Girdwood, Alaska, ski-community home.

"We are at the very beginning of the criminal process," said Matthew Friedrich, acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department Criminal Division. "Like any other criminal defendant, Senator Stevens is presumed innocent."

Talking to reporters, Friedrich said that while the charges alleged making false statements, Stevens is not charged with bribery.

The indictment alleges that Stevens made false representations in his Senate financial disclosure forms and to federal investigators in an effort to cover up his receiving significant construction services.

Those services came from Bill Allen and the company he founded, VECO Corp, an influential Alaska oil services firm that has been the focus of federal investigators in an ongoing public corruption probe spanning since 2004. The probe has ensnared more than a half dozen public officials, lobbyists and business leaders.

In 2000, Allen oversaw construction on Stevens' house, although Stevens has claimed he paid for all the construction.

In the indictment, officials said VECO built Stevens, among other things, a new first floor to the house, a new garage, a new first- and second-floor wraparound deck, and new plumbing and wiring. VECO also provided him with expensive new vehicles in exchange for his used cars, furniture, household goods, a new tool chest stocked with tools, a brand new gas grill, and other items.

Investigators estimate the value of the material provided to Stevens to be $250,000.

Officials also allege he falsified his disclosure statements between 1999 and 2006, and possibly longer, to cover up his gains.

Prosecutors also said Stevens "took multiple steps to continue" receiving things from VECO and Allen. At the time of the construction, the indictment says, Allen and other VECO employees were soliciting Stevens for "multiple official actions .... knowing that Stevens could and did use his official position and his office on behalf of VECO during that same time period."

VECO's requests included funding and other aid for the oil services company's projects and partnerships in Pakistan and Russia. It also included federal grants from several agencies — as well as help in building a national gas pipeline in Alaska's North Slope Region, according to the indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Washington.

Nearly one year ago to the day, federal investigators raided Stevens' Alaska home. Investigators also secretly taped conversations between Allen and Stevens.

FOX News' Ian McCaleb and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,393562,00.html

Gift of Parking Garage Explained

2008-07-22T02:22:00.001-08:00

On the September 9, 2007 editorial page of the Anchorage Daily News, a staff reporter wrote “When the Begich administration leased a downtown parking site from influential developer Mark Pfeffer, the city overpaid -- by a lot.”

The Daily News concluded its editorial saying:
“Without subpoena power or wiretap authority, it's impossible to know if the mayor's defense is just a smokescreen. But whether it was favoritism or just an honestly overpriced contract, it turned out to be an embarrassingly bad deal for a mayor who prides himself on his business acumen.”

The editorial was in response to an appraisal I (Ray Metcalfe) wrote on the value of a 67 space parking lot located on the corner of 6th and G in downtown Anchorage. I had reviewed the lease executed between Augustine Development LLC (Owned by Jerry Neeser and Mark Pfeffer, partners with John Rubini in the construction of the new Convention Center two blocks away) and The Community Development Authority, formerly known as the Anchorage Parking Authority, who agreed to lease Mark Pfeffer’s property described as:

Lots 9B and lot 12 of block 53 of the Original Townsite of Anchorage, according to the official plat: Plat number 81-124 of the Anchorage Recording District, and I have made the following observations, value estimations and conclusions.
The Community Development Authority is a quasi-privately operated subsidiary of the Municipality of Anchorage (MOA). Possession of the leased property has been delivered over to the Anchorage Parking Authority — ostensibly for the purpose of operating a 67-space public parking lot.
The closest comparable property is a seventeen space parking area in the same block, adjacent, and immediately west of the subject property. It shares a property line with the subject property; and there are no obstructions to prevent drivers from driving between the two adjacent parking areas.
Augustine Development, LLC owns both the subject property and the 17 space comparable property next door, which is within the same ½ block as the subject property and was part of the property he acquired with the purchase of the Inlet Inn.
At the time Augustine Development, LLC, owned by Mark Pfeffer, purchased the Inlet Inn, February 2nd, 2007. At the time, Diamond Parking, a privately owned parking lot operator, was leasing the 17-spaces of paved parking area on the 6th Avenue side of the Inlet Inn, (approximately 5,700 square foot and part of the Inlet Inn’s property) paying approximately $47 per parking space per month, to the owners of the Inlet Inn. Diamond Parking then retailed the spaces, which it acquired at wholesale prices, to the general public, retailing it for a profit, averaging around $150 per month in gross retail revenues per space.

The Anchorage Parking Authority, owned by the Municipality of Anchorage, now also known as the Community Development Authority, initially leased the 67-space (24,511 square foot of property adjacent to the above referenced 17 spaces,) from Mark Pfeffer’s Augustine Development, paying Mark $29,000 per month, or $432 per space.
The City of Anchorage agreed to pay Mark Pfeffer’s Augustine Development over nine times as much as an adjacent private lessor agreed to pay to a private lessee in an arm’s length fair market transaction. There is no question that Mr. Pfeffer was aware of the wholesale and retail values attributable to the adjacent property because Pfeffer had purchased the Inlet Inn’s interest in the lease agreement between the Inlet Inn and Diamond Parking. Pfeffer had also been negotiating with Diamond parking prior to Mark Begich’s instruction to the Anchorage Parking Authority, to make what turned out to be a vastly superior offer. The Parking Authority needed look no further than across the street to see that Diamond Parking’s parking lot adjacent to Mr. Pfeffer was 80% vacant almost every day of the week.

Parking facility operators will generally offer private land owners a fixed monthly payment equaling approximately 1/3 of whatever they determine to be the projected likely gross income they could expect to derive from the property, or alternatively, for those land owners willing to share the risk of unexpected shortfalls in income, parking operators will generally offer a fluctuating ½ of whatever the actual parking space rents turn out to be.
According to figures the Parking Authority released after this investigation began, the spaces Begich arranged for the city to rent for $29,000 per month were running about 80% empty and bringing in about $10,000 per month. As demonstrated by the 17 spaces next door, which also run about 80% empty, the industry standard that a private company would have paid Pfeffer for the same deal would have been 1/3 of the anticipatable gross monthly income, or about $3,300 per month. The remaining $25,700 in payments Mark Begich arranged for Mark Pfeffer to receive from the Anchorage Parking Authority was nothing less than a money laundering shell game neither of them thought anyone would notice.
Before the original Begich/Pfeffer fleecing agreement was replaced by the much more clever agreement outlined below, it had funneled seven payments of $29,000 per month, or $203,000 of your city’s dollars into the pockets of Mark Pfeffer and Jerry Neeser.

In an understatement worthy of the Guinness Book of Records, Carma Reed, the former head of the City’s parking agency acknowledged to the Anchorage Daily News that the City was losing money on its $29,000 lease payments. She also said they planned to renegotiate the agreement.
Keep in mind that the City’s act of leasing spaces from Mark Pfeffer doesn’t add one single parking spot to available parking in Anchorage. Mark Pfeffer is perfectly capable of running his own parking lot and collecting the $10,000 it makes each month if Diamond Parking failed to make a management offer that pleased him. Either way, it would not add or subtract one more parking space for the parking public to choose from. However, the Parking Authority did renegotiate. They increased the number of spaces the City was leasing from Pfeffer to 87 spaces. And they reduced the rent per space to $166 per space per month, equaling three times what private industry had previously been paying next door. The net effect was to reduce the payment to Pfeffer from $29,000 to $14,500, thereby continuing to pay Pfeffer about $10,000 per month more than a private company like Diamond Parking would have been willing to pay.

That’s not quite the way Begich described it when he announced his decision to get tough on negotiations, but that was the net effect.

They also failed to highlight one more major addition to the new deal. The new deal gave Mark Pfeffer what, in real estate technical terms is called a leasehold interest. It conveys valuable leasehold interests in Anchorage’s parking facilities, worth tens of millions of dollars, to Mark Pfeffer and his partners over the next 22 years. Mark Pfeffer is effectively being given a City parking garage so he doesn’t have to spend his own money to build the parking he will need to make his building he is building across the street economically viable.
Mark Pfeffer is being given the right to lease 570 parking spaces in the parking garages of the City of Anchorage.
Rather than making parking available to individuals and letting those individuals choose which developer to lease office space from, Begich has chosen to hand over control of Anchorage’s public parking to one developer. A developer he hopes will remember his generosity for the rest of his political career.

The Privately owned Dimond Parking Company leases parking permits in downtown Anchorage, to the public for $150 per month. The publicly owned Anchorage Parking Authority subsidizes the commercial rate by renting spaces to the public at about half the going commercial rate. In this case, the subsidy promised to Neeser and Pfeffer is about $75 per space per month. Begich’s contract with Neeser and Pfeffer allows Neeser and Pfeffer to re-rent their 570 spaces, at the commercial rate, to future tenants in the building they are building on the other side of the street, directly across Sixth Avenue from the parking garage above the bus depot. The net value of Mark Begich's gift to his friends Neeser and Pfeffer calculates to about $40,000 per month over the next 22 years, or a little over ten million dollars in ill-gotten profits cleverly lifted from the pockets of Anchorage taxpayers over time.

The above described actions are what some politicians call “Salting the System.” Ted Stevens has been doing it for forty years. Ted has imbedded an army of beholding foot soldiers throughout the business community and inside of the bureaucracy that regulates it. It was fear of that army that caused so many people to run for cover when I asked for help in exposing the bribery schemes of Veco and Ted’s son, Ben Stevens.

As for the favors Mark Begich is doing for Mark Pfeffer, future developers may not be so lucky. The individuals they hope to make their tenants will be faced with leasing from Pfeffer or doing without parking. Developers competing with Pfeffer will be faced with testing the waters of the bribability of future Mayors or going out of business and Alaska’s political arena will continue to be dominated by those willing to reap huge rewards at risk of jail time for decades to come.
Unlike the 80% empty parking lot the City took off of Mr. Pfeffer’s hands, the parking garage across the street above the downtown bus depot is about 80 % full from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM five days a week.
At $1 per hour for nine hours per day each space can bring in $9 every business day of the month. Twenty business days times $9 per day equals $180 per month. Subtract 20% to adjust for the fact that on average, each space is occupied only 80% of the time between 8 and 5, and each space has the potential to generate an average of $144 per month. Subtract $75 per space for the base lease that Mark Begich has decided to give Mr. Pfeffer, and, Mark Pfeffer prospectively may soon be collecting $69 per month times 570 spaces, or $39,330 per month. Prior to this agreement, Pfeffer’s booty would have gone straight into the city’s treasury. It is now destined for the pockets of a person Mark Begich hopes to draw from for the duration of his political career.

And just in case you missed it, the City is leasing spaces from Mr. Pfeffer on one side of the street for $166 per month, while agreeing to lease to Mr. Pfeffer on the other side of the street for $75 per month. Meanwhile, to cover the losses, Mark Begich authorized the parking authority to raise the charge for parking meters and double the size of your fines for parking overtime. Mayor Begich attempted to explain away this entire ruse by saying the City needed more parking. However as noted above, this scheme doesn’t add one space to the available parking spaces in Anchorage.
No doubt excuses will be made and the shell game will continue. There is a big difference between the city meeting its obligation to make sure parking is available to the general public and giving parking garages to developers. It makes little difference whether unscrupulous developers extract their ill-gotten booty through jacking up the City’s parking rents, or through stiff-arming competing developers who have no parking, while Pfeffer charges higher rents because he does.

Ted Stevens is now considered vulnerable primarily because of similar corrupt little shell games that I exposed. His shell games are under investigation the U.S. Justice Department and my bet is several of the participants are going to jail before it is over. The only thing that will change if Alaska simply replaces old corrupt politicians with younger ones is who gets the graft.

Last year, the U.S. Justice Department charged Pete Kott with four felonies. One of the charges he was convicted of was violating the federal statute requiring public officials to provide “Honest Services,” and another was conspiracy. Kott was convicted of both and I can’t think of a single reason why the same principles would not apply to the above.

Ray Metcalfe

metcalfe4senate.com

John Cowdry, come on down! Your the next indictment!

2008-07-11T23:40:00.001-08:00

Senator Cowdry Indicted

2008-07-11T23:37:00.000-08:00

Follow the Money

2008-06-20T16:27:00.002-08:00

Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK)

Accepted $177,890 from the oil and gas industry since 2000.
Supported the industry in 100% of selected votes.

Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)

Accepted $209,913 from the oil and gas industry since 2000.
Supported the industry in 100% of selected votes.

Representative Donald Young (R-AK)

Accepted $413,300 from the oil and gas industry since 2000.
Supported the industry in 89% of selected votes.

Source: Truemajority.org

2008-04-19T02:34:00.001-08:00

Oil Company Bribery of Alaska's Public Officials 1981 to 2008 - Chapter One

2008-02-18T02:29:00.001-09:00

By Ray Metcalfe
February 17, 2008

ConocoPhillips President Jim Bowles just can't seem to get Palin's attention. He said she just doesn't understand the economics of it all. Maybe he should just try the same old fashioned economics his predecessors at ARCO used with former Governor Tony Knowles. Just write her a big check. Click here (PDF) to see what I mean.

Did you look? If you did, ask yourself three questions. Do you remember any time in state history when it was legal to contribute more than $1000 to an elected official or a committee formed for his election or other benefit? Do you remember a time at all when it was legal to write a check to an elected official even though all of his former campaign debts were paid and he or she wasn't running for office? Better yet, do you remember a time when it was legal for corporations to write $15,000, $20,000 and $30,000 in checks to an elected official for any reason?

On second thought, I suspect that if Jim Bowles tried with Palin what worked so well with Knowles, she would soon take steps to provide him with a matched set of metal bracelets.

Read the complete article here...http://alaskareport.com/metcalfe/m91113_tony_knowles.php

Alaska Suffers From Institutionalized Corruption

2008-02-14T07:55:00.001-09:00

Corruption in Alaska involves more than just a few bad apples. It’s as institutionalized as Jim Crow laws of the 1940’s.

The Daily News described crooked land deals in Seward. What the Sealife story didn’t say was that the city manager who refused to spend Senator Stevens’ earmarks as directed was fired for his integrity.

Seward’s city manager’s refusal forced Ted Stevens, Trevor McCabe, and Brad Gilman to re-route their scheme through the Sealife Center where they found willing partners in a majority of the board.

That’s what I mean by more than just a few bad apples. Seward’s City Council fired their manager for having the integrity to say no, while the Sealife Center went along to get along, even though members of both knew that Gilman, McCabe, Ben and Ted Stevens all have a history of close ties.

The Seward scenario provides a snapshot of how the “Good Old Boy System” works. An image of favoritism and bribery that dominates Alaska’s politics.

Oil industry bribery has cost Alaskans a couple billions dollars every single year since we began pumping oil from Prudhoe Bay.

Cleaning up corruption in Alaska will require leaders willing to risk retribution and play chicken with some mighty scary people. Fear of a visit from the political equivalent of the KKK causes even the honorable to fear stepping forward.

Metcalfe v McGuire re APOC filings

2007-12-30T01:08:00.000-09:00

Citizens for Ethical Government present the unedited complaint and response to Ray Metcalfe's APOC filing for Lisal McGuire to be brought up on charges of accepting bribes and Lobbying.

http://www.citizens4ethics.com

Ray Metcalfe on KSKA

2007-11-14T20:03:00.000-09:00

KSKA Community Forum: Ray Metcalfe

A production of the News and Public Affairs Department of KSKA
Wed, November 14, 2007
Posted in Community Forum

Former state representative, Ray Metcalfe formed the Republican Moderate Party in 1986 to oppose the influence of the Religious Right over the Republican Party. Public litigant, political gadfly, always a lightening rod for controversy and discussion, Ray Metcalfe, Chairman of the Republican Moderate Party of Alaska is the guest on today’s Community Forum with Nellie Moore.

HOST: Nellie Moore, independent journalist

GUEST:

Ray Metcalfe, Chairman of the Republican Moderate Party of Alaska

LIVE BROADCAST: Wed, Nov 14, 2007 at 2:00 p.m.

REPEAT BROADCAST: Wed, Nov 14 2007 at 7:00 p.m.

This is a repost of the article at KSKA, view the original here

Download the full interview as an MP3 here

Standard Podcast [58:53m]: Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

Come get down and dirty at the Muckrakers Ball Music & Prizes

2007-11-12T18:57:00.000-09:00

Sponsored by Cook Inletkeeper, a citizen based nonprofit group dedicated to protecting Alaska's Cook Inlet Watershed and the life it sustains.

http://www.inletkeeper.org/

Muckrakers Ball will honor Ray Metcalfe for his role in

bringing corrupt Alaska politicians and VECO executives to justice.
Come get down and dirty with Cook Inletkeeper.

December 1, 7:00 PM • Alice’s Champagne Palace in Homer. Live Music by “Work in Progress” and “Elders on Fire” Admission free. Cool Door Prizes!
Cook Inletkeeper Cash Raffle Drawing
($4,500 in Prize Money — tickets available at the door)

Veco, Corruption & Legislators opposing Alaska's fair share.

2007-11-10T14:44:00.000-09:00

Below is a letter to all legislators from a world renowned oil consultant who our legislature employed to advise them on oil tax issues. He makes his living holding seminars around the world teaching government officials how to negotiate with oil companies. Attached is a chapter from his course materials. Alaska's future ability to build roads, pay teachers, and patch potholes depends on how well Alaskans understand the attached.

When he writes about "Government Take," he is referring to the sharing of either the oil produced or the profits derived after the successful bidder has recovered the costs of drilling, production, and shipping.

When he references 85%, 90%, and 95%, he is referring to what the winning bidder offered to pay to the host country if they were awarded the license to develop the block after the winning bidder had recovered costs. (Block meaning leased tract.) (License meaning successful high bidder.)

With Veco's recent in court admission to having secretly provided unreported under the table political contributions to dozens of their favored candidates, Alaskans have reasonable cause to suspect that those still seated legislators who cling to Veco's positions have very likely been willing recipients of Veco's bribes. If we don't get our fair share, I believe a mass recall of several corrupt legislators may be in order.

See Consultant Daniel Johnston's letter below:

Dear Friends,
This unsolicited response is partially inspired by the recent editorial from

Representative Jay Ramras. Some of you may recall that (prior to his recent
editorial) Jay had questioned my credentials because I was from New
Hampshire. Ben Stevens also used to beat this drum. It always surprised me
that that logic managed to gain traction and was used so often. Jay did
partially explain his statement to me when I was in Juneau last month. Thank
you Jay, but I am still scratching my head over that one.
For those of you who had to suffer through my testimony the past two years
you will recall numerous references to risky places like Libya, Kazakhstan,
Algeria and Russia where the government share of profits ("take") was in the
high eighties i.e. around 85+%.
So now Alaska is considering a change to the petroleum profits tax which
will add another 1% or so to Government take. Yawn. As I mentioned the last
time I testified, by the time I arrived on the scene the debate had already
zeroed-in on a tax rate of from 20 to 25%. That spread equated to a spread
in "take" of only about 2 percentage points.
Now, Libya is considering a change of its own. The first of the big license
rounds in Libya (which I have often referred to as "feeding frenzies") was
only just recently -- 2005. While the average government take of the various
licenses awarded in 2005 was only around 85% or so some of the high-interest
blocks went for a nearly 95% take. These blocks had up to 15 bids per
block!!! Now even for those licenses the take is going to change according
to the press release below.
I have included a copy of the article I published last year about the
licensing activity in Libya. Sounds like my article will soon be obsolete.
The rhetoric about greedy Alaskan's is a joke. It is also a joke to think of
Alaska as a basked case of instability. Give me a break.
AND, I caught some grief for mentioning "the cloud" of corruption in Alaska
when I testified and I had to listen to an endless trail of statistics
regarding voting records of Kott, Kohring and others. And when did Pedro
have time to research the voting records of these guys? Who spoon-fed Pedro
those statistics?
As far as destroying the investment climate in Alaska? Sorry, the modest
change recommended by the new Governor will hardly even register. Relax. The
same rhetoric that is being used to bludgeon Alaskans on this issue is
standard fare and I don't blame the oil companies for trying. That is their
job.
But I have seen and heard it before. The modest changes proposed do not even
come close. And in fact I am still depressed that what little bit of
progressivity you had is watered down with the Governor's proposal. Damn.
I am in Vancouver at the moment on my way to Turkmenistan where e-mail and
other communications are not exactly user-friendly. That is why I felt the
need to say something-now. I am awfully proud of you guys. Hang in there. I
read about 5 Alaska newspapers every day and follow as best I can every
ounce of news. But for the next week I will likely be a bit out-of-touch.
Good luck and may God bless you all.
Sincerely,
Daniel

PETROLEUM INTELLIGENCE WEEKLY
IOCs Come to Terms With Libya’s New Deal
Monday, November 5, 2007

Summary
Libya’s state National Oil Corp. (NOC) is renegotiating contracts with all
of the country’s current oil and gas producers with the aim of tightening
fiscal terms to increase the government’s take in line with higher prices.
The goal is to reshape all concession agreements and earlier Epsa-2 and
Epsa-3 contracts to the Epsa-4 model used in Libya’s last four bid rounds.
Under the new deals, NOC will seek a bigger share of production.

daniel@danieljohnston.com
www.danieljohnston.com
Phone: (603) 525-9330
FAX: (603) 525-4218
60 Shady Lane
Hancock, New Hampshire U.S.A. 03449

Veco’s Dirty Dozen

2007-10-22T12:53:00.000-08:00

By Ray Metcalfe
10/21/2007

The following twelve legislators all have four things in common:

1. Every one of them has taken more than $10,000 from Veco.

2. When Veco owner Bill Allen asked to be relieved of his requirement to register as a lobbyist, they crafted and passed legislation ending Bill Allen’s requirement to register.

3. When presented with hundreds of pages of evidence of Veco’s bribery, each of them refused to respond.

4. When asked to admit or deny under oath whether or not had taken advantage of the illegal polling, services that Veco’s Vice President Rick Smith admitted having provided to over 100 of their favored candidates, every one of the still seated legislators below refused comment.

1. Mike Chenault, $32,000
2. Ralph Samuels, $10,250
3. Mike Hawker, $21,350
4. Lesil McGuire, $17,550
5. Lyda Green, $18,000
6. Kevin Meyer, $23,350
7. John Cowdery, $45,200
8. Con Bunde, $18,650
9. John Coghill Jr, $10,480
10. Richard Foster, $16,750
11. Fred Dyson, $21,700
12. Gary Stevens, $14,275

Watch closely as they go to bat for everything Veco fought for --- and remember them next election.

Ray Metcalfe

Can you hear me now?

2007-09-21T07:04:00.000-08:00

Disco Ray gets 'er done.

2007-09-21T06:57:00.000-08:00

"There were clear bribery laws that were being broken here. I took it to the state troopers, I took it to the district attorney, I took it to David Marquez, who was the attorney general," Metcalfe said. "I took it to APOC I took it to every single agency the state of Alaska has that's responsible for enforcing the law; 100 percent of them, to the man, said no."

Ray Metcalfe

(He then sent a letter to the FBI and somehow they were able to see what all those Alaska Agencies could not.)

Charges indicate Stevens was bribed by VECO execs

2007-09-21T06:05:00.000-08:00

In 2005, Ray Metcalfe attempted to recall Stevens. The Division of Elections dismissed the recall and Stevens held a press conference calling Metcalfe's charges baseless; nevertheless, he refused to divulge what work he performed for the VECO "consulting fees."

Former state Rep. Ray Metcalfe has fought for years to implicate Stevens in a corruption scandal. He expects an indictment will be handed down shortly.

"It was so obvious that (Stevens) was sitting there at the head of the state Senate clipping coupons from a VECO book of bribery that a caveman could have figured it out," Metcalfe said.

Read the full article here

http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=6487214

Sen. Ted Stevens Bribed With Home Remodel

2007-09-19T06:42:00.000-08:00

September 18, 2007

The longest serving Republican in the U.S. Senate took bribes in the form of a major home remodeling, according to the federal court testimony of an oil company chairman guilty of showering several lawmakers with nearly half a million dollars of “illegal benefits.”

Alaska Senator Ted Stevens has been implicated in the widespread corruption scheme for months but the court testimony--in the corruption trail of state House Speaker Pete Kott--marks the most damaging evidence against the veteran legislator who is also the state’s most powerful political figure.

As chairman of the major oil services company VECO, Bill Allen admitted that he committed extortion, conspiracy and bribery of legislators for giving various politicians and their families more than $400,000 worth of bribes. Among them was doubling the size of the senator’s Alaska home by paying for the labor and materials.

Allen testified that VECO employees performed the work to add a second story to the Stevens residence near Anchorage and the elaborate project took about half a year. A few months ago federal agents raided the Stevens home to gather evidence and take photos and video of the lavish compound.

Although Stevens is the most recognized figure in the statewide corruption scandal, at least six other Alaska lawmakers are under investigation for taking bribes from VECO, which has reaped tens of millions of dollars in federal contracts over the years.

Besides Kott, who is being tried this week, the probe has targeted Stevens’ son, State Senator Ben Stevens, as well as two other state senators (John Cowdery of Anchorage and Donny Olson of Nome) and two state representatives (Vic Kohring of Wasilla and Bruce Weyhrauch of Juneau).

The 83-year-old Stevens has represented Alaska in Washington since 1968 and is up for reelection next year. The way things are going, it seems that perhaps a prison sentence may prevent him from campaigning.

http://www.corruptionchronicles.com/2007/09/alaska_sen_stevens_bribed_with.html

Testimony: Sen. Stevens' Son Took Bribes

2007-09-14T04:45:00.000-08:00

By DAN JOLING
The Associated Press
Thursday, September 13, 2007; 11:06 PM

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- The former head of an oil field service company admitted Thursday in court that he bribed three Alaska legislators, including the son of a U.S. senator who is the target of a federal investigation.

Former VECO Corp. CEO Bill Allen, 70, testified Thursday in the federal corruption trial of former state House Speaker Pete Kott. Allen and a former company vice president, Rick Smith, have pleaded guilty to bribing lawmakers, and await sentencing.

Allen said he bribed Kott, former state Senate President Ben Stevens and former Rep. Vic Kohring. He also testified that he recruited Stevens in 1995 for work on behalf of VECO, well before Stevens was appointed to the state Senate in 2002, and that Stevens maintained a consulting contract with the company through 2006.

Stevens, the son of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, is under federal investigation but has not been charged.

"Mr. Stevens has consistently said he's not engaged in any of the illegal activity that is alleged by Mr. Allen. He denies it," John Wolfe, Stevens' attorney, told The Associated Press.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/13/AR2007091301889.html

Kott Korruption

2007-09-14T04:44:00.001-08:00

Alaska bribes run the long run

2007-09-05T02:29:00.001-08:00

Uncle Ted still heating things up!

2007-08-17T04:35:00.000-08:00

FBI investigates Sen. Ted Stevens

2007-08-16T02:39:00.000-08:00

FBI investigates link involving Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska

By ERIKA BOLSTAD and GREG GORDON

McClatchy Newspapers

U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, an Alaska Republican

WASHINGTON | The FBI is investigating the National Science Foundation’s award of $170 million in contracts to the oil field-services company that oversaw renovations on U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens’ home, McClatchy Newspapers has learned.

Veco Corp. in 1999 captured a lucrative five-year foundation contract to provide logistics and support for polar research, although it had no previous experience in that field. In the same period, Veco’s top executive managed renovations that doubled the size of the longtime Republican senator’s Girdwood, Alaska, home — raided July 30 by the FBI.

Foundation spokesman Dana Cruikshank told McClatchy Newspapers the FBI had looked into the 1999 award, worth up to $70 million, and a 2004 follow-up contract for as many as seven years that the company values at up to $100 million.

Justice Department spokesman Bryan Sierra and an FBI spokeswoman, Deborah Weierman, declined to comment.

Veco’s founder and chief executive officer, Bill Allen, pleaded guilty in the spring to making $400,000 in illegal payments to Alaska lawmakers, including Stevens’ son, Ben Stevens, then-president of the Alaska Senate. Allen is cooperating in an FBI corruption investigation that also has led to the conviction of a second Veco executive, a lobbyist, and a former Alaska state representative. Three other state lawmakers are awaiting trial on bribery charges. Ben Stevens has not been charged.

Alaska’s sole congressman, U.S. Rep. Don Young, a Republican, is also under investigation for his ties to Veco.

There had been little hint as to how Veco might have benefited from the relationship its CEO had with the elder Stevens, who served for several years as the Senate Appropriations Committee chairman. Stevens also oversaw the foundation on the Senate Commerce Committee.

No evidence has surfaced that Stevens directly steered the contract to Veco, but his aggressive support for increased funding for arctic research coincided with the company’s sudden emergence as a major player in providing logistics for polar scientists.

Stevens, 83, would not comment on the investigation.

Ethics in high places

2007-08-05T01:50:00.001-08:00

Congressman Don "Pork" Young

2007-07-30T03:16:00.000-08:00

Congressman Don Young agrees to give back illegal contributions -- but not all of it

2007-07-28T04:30:00.000-08:00

"Hey, this parts clean now, aint it?" BF

Oil Company in Scandal Gave Outside of Alaska

2007-07-28T04:04:00.000-08:00

VECO executives and employees have contributed $1 million to federal politicians and parties since 1989, Center finds. In Alaska, lawmakers have rushed to dump the money.

By Massie Ritsch

May 09, 2007 | The multinational oil services company at the center of a political corruption scandal in Alaska’s statehouse has been a generous contributor to federal lawmakers as well, the Center for Responsive Politics has found. From 1989 through 2006, VECO, its employees and their families contributed about $1 million to current and former members of Congress from 26 states, as well as to President Bush, political parties, other committees and issue advocacy groups.

VECO has been the top Alaska-based contributor to federal politics for at least the last five election cycles, the Center found. Like most oil and gas companies, VECO is staunchly Republican; 97% of its contributions have gone to Republican interests.

The top recipients of money from the company (shown in a table below) are, not surprisingly, members of Congress representing Alaska. Rep. Don Young, a Republican who is the state’s only congressman, has taken in at least $257,320 from VECO in the last 18 years through his campaign committee and political action committee. VECO has been Young’s most generous campaign contributor over that period, according to CRP’s research.

Alaska’s senior statesman in Washington, Sen. Ted Stevens, has received at least $156,000 through his campaign and committees that he uses to support fellow Republican candidates. Stevens’s son Ben, a former president of the Alaska state Senate, has been implicated in the VECO scandal. He has not been charged and denies any wrongdoing.

Two members of another prominent Alaska political family have also benefited from VECO contributions. The state’s other U.S. senator, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, has received $45,250 from company employees, and her father, Frank, received at least $27,947 while he was in the U.S. Senate. Frank Murkowski appointed his daughter to take his Senate seat in 2002 after he was elected governor.

President Bush received about $24,000 from VECO employees for his 2000 and 2004 campaigns. In addition, the company itself contributed $25,000 toward a 2001 Republican fundraising dinner hosted by the president. The president’s father, former President George H. W. Bush, received $9,000 from VECO employees during his unsuccessful 1992 re-election campaign.

Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye is the only Democrat currently serving in Congress to receive money from VECO ($15,000 in the 2004 election cycle). Sen. Christopher “Kit” Bond, a Missouri Republican, is another out-of-state member of Congress who is a top recipient of money from VECO ($10,516). A number of current members have received $6,000 or less from VECO, and some beneficiaries of VECO's largesse no longer hold federal office. The company’s federal giving peaked in the 2004 cycle, when employees and their families contributed $218,600 to candidates for Congress, president and party committees.

One current member of the Alaska House of Representatives and two former Republican members were indicted last week for allegedly accepting bribes from VECO in exchange for supporting the company’s positions on oil and gas taxes and a natural gas pipeline. They have pleaded not guilty.

VECO’s chief executive, Bill Allen, and Rick Smith, a vice president who served as the Anchorage-based company’s chief lobbyist, appeared in federal court Monday to plead guilty to paying off state legislators. In all, Allen and Smith have contributed nearly $270,000 at the federal level since 1989, the Center found. In addition to making contributions in his own name, Allen acknowledged rewarding VECO executives with bonuses as repayment for campaign contributions, which is illegal. It is unclear whether the politicians who received these contributions were state or federal officeholders.

Other than Allen’s admission that he illegally rewarded employees who made contributions, no evidence has been presented publicly that VECO’s donations to particular members of Congress were illegal. But no politician wants to be even tangentially associated with a corruption scandal. Several Alaska lawmakers have already dumped contributions they received from VECO, opting to donate the money to charity to avoid its taint. Members of Congress may follow suit, as they have in other scandals involving presumably legal contributions. Recipients of campaign donations from the corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his clients returned or donated more than $700,000 after Abramoff pleaded guilty to bribing officials.

Federal Recipients of VECO Contributions, 1989-2006

Recipient	Grand Total
Don Young (R-Alaska)	$257,320
Ted Stevens (R-Alaska)	$156,000
Republican National Cmte	$133,450
National Republican Senatorial Cmte	$75,000
Republican Party of Alaska	$60,170
Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)	$46,250
Frank H. Murkowski (R-Alaska)	$27,947
2001 President's Dinner Cmte	$25,000
George W. Bush (R)	$24,050
Richard Pombo (R-Calif)	$16,312
William L. Hensley (D-Alaska)	$16,250
Slade Gorton (R-Wash)	$15,000
Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii)	$15,000
Christopher S. 'Kit' Bond (R-Mo)	$10,516
George H. W. Bush (R)	$9,000
Republican Party of Missouri	$8,000
George R. Nethercutt Jr. (R-Wash)	$7,000
Richard Burr (R-NC)	$6,000
Tom Coburn (R-Okla)	$6,000
Norm Coleman (R-Minn)	$6,000
James W. DeMint (R-SC)	$6,000
Greg Ganske (R-Iowa)	$6,000
Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark)	$6,000
John E. Sununu (R-NH)	$6,000
James M. Talent (R-Mo)	$6,000
John Thune (R-SD)	$6,000
David Vitter (R-La)	$6,000
Helen Chenoweth (R-Idaho)	$5,000
Conrad Burns (R-Mont)	$4,000
Arlen Specter (R-Pa)	$4,000
George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio)	$3,750
National Republican Congressional Cmte	$3,300
Rick White (R-Wash)	$3,000
John Ensign (R-Nev)	$2,000
Bob Beauprez (R-Colo)	$1,000
Max Burns (R-Ga)	$1,000
Jennifer Dunn (R-Wash)	$1,000
Steve Pearce (R-NM)	$1,000
Jon Porter (R-Nev)	$1,000
Denny Rehberg (R-Mont)	$1,000
Tony Smith (D-Alaska)	$1,000
Dick Thornburgh (R-Pa)	$1,000
Jim Bunn (R-Ore)	$500
Frank A. Cremeans (R-Ohio)	$500
Barbara Cubin (R-Wyo)	$500
Democratic Party of Alaska	$500
Jim Gibbons (R-Nev)	$500
J. D. Hayworth (R-Ariz)	$500
Rick Hill (R-Mont)	$500
James B. Longley Jr. (R-Maine)	$500
Linda Smith (R-Wash)	$500
Randy Tate (R-Wash)	$500
John S. Devens (D-Alaska)	$350
Larry Craig (R-Idaho)	$200
Bob Dole (R)	$200

Grand totals include contributions to campaign committees, political action committees and parties. Based on data available April 2, 2007 from the Federal Election Commission.

CRP Researcher Douglas Weber contributed to this report.

2007-07-28T04:02:00.001-08:00

And the leg bones connected to the...

2007-07-25T22:14:00.000-08:00

Congressman Don Young, come on down!

2007-06-08T05:25:00.000-08:00

Isn't that just ducky.

2007-05-30T22:47:00.000-08:00

From the news wire

2007-05-30T22:29:00.000-08:00

Alaskan Elephants in crisis

2007-05-28T00:46:00.001-08:00

Ethics addressed finally!

2007-05-19T03:00:00.000-08:00

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...

2007-05-18T08:31:00.000-08:00

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	$209,247.55 $224 9.11.35
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	$108,226.62 $117,124.58
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	$21.575.87 $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	$18,976.75 $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

Some Legislators Still Stumping For Veco

2007-05-18T08:25:00.000-08:00

by Ray Metcalfe, Republican Moderate Party of Alaska

Even though the FBI's indictments of dirty politicians and those who bribe them has begun (just the tip of the iceberg), House Majority Leader Ralph Samuels, Senate President Lyda Green, and about twenty other members of our Legislature who owe their elections to VECO are still stumping for the oilfield services company that is at the center of the ongoing FBI investigation.

Why would any legislator trust those who say the governor's Alaska Gasline Inducement Act is bad for Alaska, when they know those detractors are directly or indirectly associated with those who bribed our legislators?

They are pushing an ethics bill that does nothing, and (for those who haven't already figured it out) our state treasury is now funded by a tax scheme that brings in about half of what it should. It's the same tax scheme referenced in the indictments that VECO bribed our legislators to pass.

To put into perspective what legislators who take bribes have cost Alaska: In March 2005, Exxon Mobil signed an agreement with Qatar to spend $13 billion developing the infrastructure to extract, liquefy, and export, 17.2 million tons of liquefied natural gas to the UK annually. In exchange, Exxon keeps 30 percent of the profits, and Qatar takes the other 70 percent.

Since that deal was made, the competitive market has changed. Exxon Mobil's more recent bid for similar development rights in a Libyan oilfield was outbid by Gazprom. Exxon offered to share the profits - 25 percent to Exxon, 75 percent to Libya. But Gazprom agreed to develop Libya's oilfield for 10 percent of the profits, giving Libya 90 percent.

Alaska now gets a 12.5 percent royalty, plus a 22.5 percent net profits tax, and the feds take about 10 percent, for a total of about 45 percent. In other words, the rest of the world has let the competitive market work to get oil companies like Exxon to develop their oilfields for between 10 percent and 30 percent of the profits. Meanwhile Alaskans are misled to believe they must give up between three and five times as much of their profits, or Exxon and others will leave us for greener pastures.

Allowing three major oil companies absolute control of both the production and the transportation of Alaska's oil has given BP, Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips a monopoly and kept competing oil companies out of Alaska's oil patch.

The current 45-55 split of the proceeds from this state's oil makes Alaska the lowest taxing major oil producer in the world by a wide margin. The difference between what we get and what we could get if we simply allowed the competitive process to work is about $2 billion per year. That's enough to eliminate all property taxes plus add an additional $1,500 dollars to your dividend check.

If BP, Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips move on to greener pastures, other companies will step in and offer us just as much as they offer other countries. What could be better?

Ray Metcalfe is chairman of the Chairman of the Republican Moderate Party. He may be contacted at Rayinak@aol.com

This article was taken from http://www.insurgent49.com/metcalfe_veco.html

Listen to Juneau

2007-05-17T19:06:00.000-08:00

Gavel to Gavel Audio Feeds

Partners

2007-05-14T02:43:00.000-08:00

And now a word from the webmaster...

2007-05-12T01:23:00.000-08:00

Look at the mess that we have before us now! The FBI raids Alaskan Senators offices (due in no small part to the relentless efforts of a prominent Republican Moderate) and carts off their stuff, then decides that they should go back and cart of some of our Alaskan Politburo.

Rep. Vic Kohring, Rep. Pete Kott and Rep. Bruce Weyhrauch were three of the six legislators whose offices were raided by the FBI last August. former Senate President Ben Stevens, the son of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens was another of those who had their offices raided, but has not as yet been charged or arrested.

"These two indictments allege that the defendants sold their offices in Alaska's State House to an influential energy company in exchange for cash payments, loans, jobs for relatives and the promise of future employment," Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher

If securing "jobs for relatives" is a chargeable offense than shouldn't a Governor appointing a relative be offensive as well? Shouldn't accepting payments for sitting on boards of commissions you have legislative control over be offensive?

I'll be turning over rocks till I can find Disco Ray and see if he has an opinion on this mess that he has created.

Bill Fikes, Republican Moderates of Alaska Webmaster

Setting a foundation for Open Honest Ethical Government.

2007-01-18T04:26:00.000-09:00

Setting a foundation for Open Honest Ethical Government.

Proposed By Ray Metcalfe. January 17, 2007.

APOC IS BROKEN BEYOND REPAIR

APOC NEEDS TO BE DISCARDED AND REPLACED

The shear magnitude of the improprieties of Ben Stevens, VECO, and Fish Marketing Board, which APOC allowed to persist for years, and in some cases defended, makes clear that now it is time to devise a new political watchdog. Think of the proposal below as a new framework for defining and enforcing of the dozens of new ideas that are likely to be proposed over the next few months.

I propose that APOC be discarded and replaced with a new commission. I recommend a new commission, (at a minimum, those who set in judgment of complaints), be created within the Judiciary branch of government. I recommend this for two reasons.

APOC is dependent on funding from the legislators they are expected to police and their funding appropriations are subject to the Governor’s veto. Every time APOC did the right thing, whether the complaint involved the Governor or a member of the majority in the legislature, their funding was either threatened or cut.

Once moved to the Judiciary, the Court would decide what portion of the Judiciary’s budget APOC’s replacement would receive and how much staff they required. I would expect it to include record keeping staff, staff to review and advise filers of incomplete filings, and at least one investigator unless an investigator in the judiciary it is determined to be in conflict with the constitutionally required separations of powers.

Currently, two of APOC's five Commissioners are hand picked by that standard bearer of Republican ethics Randy Ruedrich. Another two are picked by the leaders of the Democratic Party. All but one of the five Commissioners has a vested interest in protecting their fellow party members from accusations of improprieties. Future Commissioners should be picked by a majority vote of the Alaska Supreme Court, from a list of qualified applicants recommended by the Judicial Council.

I propose that all responsibilities currently in the purview of the Legislative Ethics Committee be transferred to a newly formed Commission in the Judiciary and the existing Legislative Ethics Committee also be disbanded.

In May of 2006, the State Senate passed a bill that would impose a $5,000 fine on anyone who talks about filing or intending to file an ethics complaint against a Legislator. Former State Senate President Ben Stevens not only served on the ethics committee, he sat in judgment of himself and he voted in favor of the proposed $5,000 fines mentioned above.

The New Commission should be empowered to address all public corruption in whatever form it takes. I propose that all restrictions concerning what statutes APOC’s replacement has the authority to enforce be lifted.

APOC’s most frequent excuse for not perusing a remedy for Ben Stevens’ obvious fraud was to say “Not My Job.” In example, when I brought clear evidence of bribery to the attention of APOC staff, I was told to take it up with the Legislative Ethics Committee on which Ben Stevens sat.

I propose the creation of an “Anti-Public Corruption Unit” of not less than three “non-exempt” officer positions (non-exempt meaning they cannot be fired for investigating a powerful public official). Such an office should be within the State Troopers and filled by officers trained in the investigation of public corruption.

Reducing public corruption will pay for its cost many times over. Given the opportunity to address an audience willing to listen long enough to understand the issues, I can prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that our failure to police public corruption has cost this state tens of billions of dollars due to unnecessary losses resulting from legislators and former governors who gave away our oil for a pittance of its real value to Alaska.
If the FBI can find enough work cleaning up our act to busy dozens of agents for a couple of years, certainly we can find enough work for three new Troopers.

I propose adding a forty-eighth title to Alaska’s statutes, titled: “Open Honest Ethical Government.”
1. Alaska currently has forty-seven titles in its statutes. Alaska’s statutes currently have a motley assortment of toothless disclosure, ethics, and campaign requirements that are strewn throughout our statutes and selectively enforced, depending on who’s in power and who’s asking for enforcement.
2. Alaska’s statutes need to be rewritten from top to bottom and consolidated under a single easy to understand “Title 48, Open Honest Ethical Government.” Not only do such statutes need to be armed with serious criminal penalties, they need to include workable mechanisms for citizens’ enforcement, to include an abbreviated mechanism of recall for legislators who refuse to comply. (Abbreviated meaning a lower bar for recall. Signatures of 5% of those who voted in their last election, accepting that the question of whether or not they failed to comply should be appealable to the Courts. An abbreviated mechanism should not be available unless noncompliance can be demonstrated.

(Note: Contrary to Speaker Harris’s assertion that “our current statutes appear to be working,” they clearly are not. When enough signatures had been collected to begin the recall of Ben Stevens, the Division of Elections said we had no proof and tossed our petition. When we challenged the Division of Elections in Superior Court, the State provided Ben Stevens and the Division of Elections with seven attorneys to oppose us. The Court once again said “we had no proof.” When the Superior Court ruled against us, Ben Stevens tried to shackle the volunteers for his recall with his attorney’s fees. (We were not investigators and should not have been held to the proof standard nor should we have been expected to prove our case within the statutory limit of a 200 word complaint. I suspect the eventual proof of Ben Stevens' skullduggery will fill a filing cabinet.

Believing that Ben Stevens' term of office would be over before we could get a ruling from the Supreme Court, we elected to take our complaints to APOC, who tossed our complaints and/or recommended “no penalty” over and over again. When we took our evidence to the Attorney General, his three page reply could have been summed up in three words. “Go Screw Yourselves.” We may have won in the Court of Public Opinion, but had it not been for the FBI, the “Good Old Boy System” may well have saved Ben’s Senate Seat. Clearly our current laws do not work.)

In addition to appropriate criminal penalties for Courts to consider, compliance with “Title 48” needs to be a condition of holding any elected office or appointed position.
It needs to be clear that the New Commission has the authority to remove any elected or appointed official who has refused to come into compliance, or in the Commission’s opinion, attempted to conceal substantive information that should have been disclosed, or if they attempted to deceive the public. This authority should be subject only to a review of the Courts, and in the case of a member of the Legislature, subject to over rule only by the Courts or a majority vote of both houses of the Legislature.
Just as it is a crime for people of authority to remain silent over child abuse, it needs to be a crime for a fellow Legislator to remain silent when he or she possesses knowledge of bribery or other criminal infractions of the newly created “Title 48 Open Honest Ethical Government: AS:48:01-99”

(I provided every legislator with several packets of information demonstrating evidence of Ben Steven’s bribery. I received two responses. (1.) We in the Senate Minority can’t afford to rock the boat; we need to preserve what little working relationship we have with the Senate Majority. (2.) A note from a Member of the House Majority reading “Not in this office Ray”)

I propose a constitutional amendment barring all closed door meetings of the Legislature and all other forms of secrecy in the discussion, and/or conduct of Alaska’s economic interests.
1. As a legislator I was a reluctant to participant in closed door meetings. In hindsight, I cannot think of a single subject we ever debated behind closed doors, that wouldn’t have better served the public’s interest if it had been discussed in the light of day for all to see and hear.
2. Any legislator who says the subjects discussed in closed caucus meetings “are restricted to strategy and procedural questions” is lying.

Ben Stevens Sour Grapes

2007-01-14T23:43:00.000-09:00

Ben Stevens accused of ethics violations

2007-01-14T23:22:00.000-09:00

JUNEAU - Days before he leaves office, state Senate President Ben Stevens is accused of multiple violations of financial disclosure rules.

Alaska Public Offices Commission staffers are recommending thousands of dollars in fines be imposed by the five-member panel, which meets in Anchorage this week.

The commission is tentatively scheduled to take up the issue on Thursday.

Two complaints against Stevens, R-Anchorage, were brought by the Republican Moderate Party, which said the senator failed to disclose income from a consulting business and from his service on the board of directors of Semco Energy. Semco is the parent company of Enstar Natural Gas Co., Alaska's largest utility.

Commission staffers determined that in both cases, Stevens should have reported the income, said Brooke Miles, executive director of the commission.

Under state law, reporting income is required if there is a controlling interest in a company, but the statute doesn't specify what a controlling interest is.

Calls placed to Stevens’ office in Anchorage on Tuesday by The Associated Press were not immediately returned.

Stevens has previously argued that the consulting firm in which he once had part ownership was not required to reveal its income sources because Stevens didn't have a controlling interest.

The company, Advance North, was established by Stevens and Trevor McCabe, a former legislative director for U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, Ben Stevens' father. McCabe now solely owns the company.

Stevens' argument "defies common sense," said Ray Metcalfe, a former state legislator who brought the complaint in 2005 on behalf of the party. He questioned who controlled the company if not Stevens.

APOC apparently agreed.

The commission decided Stevens did have controlling interest and should have reported payments to Advance North.

Alaska law allows a $10 per day penalty for late filings. The staff calculated late filings for 2004-2006 would reach $10,170 and recommended such a fine be assessed.

Stevens and Advance North received hundreds of thousands of dollars in undisclosed payments during that time.

The Republican Moderate Party also claimed Stevens failed to report $74,000 in payments received from Semco Energy two years ago.

Stevens told the commission he had not reported the income because he deferred receipt under a company-offered program.

The commission, however, disagreed saying it qualified as income for 2005, citing the state's disclosure laws.

"Although the compensation could be deferred for IRS tax purposes, staff concludes that it still qualified as income under Alaska's disclosure laws in 2005 when it was earned," according to an APOC report.

APOC's staff recommended a $10-per-day fine for the 63 days that he failed to disclose the income.

FBI's charging documents for Anch RepTom Anderson

2006-12-09T03:08:00.000-09:00

Click here for Anderson Charges PDF

FBI targets corruption in 2006 politics

2006-11-07T02:03:00.000-09:00

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."

Which candidates have VECO's backing. What does VECO want from them.

2006-10-24T03:13:00.000-08:00

The Biggest Permanent Fund Raid Ever Attempted Was attempted at VECO's direction.

I went after Ben Stevens when Ben, at VECO'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 VECOÃ‚Âs 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

Corruption comes in two flavors… Democrat and Republican.

2006-10-18T11:19:00.000-08:00

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. ThatÂs 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

Alaskans, not Exxon, own the resources

2006-10-07T23:09:00.000-08:00

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

The Entirety of Ben Stevens’ Reported Consulting Income From Fishing Interests

2006-10-04T20:12:00.000-08:00

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.

Tony Knowles and VECO Editorial Cartoon

2006-09-20T21:20:00.000-08:00

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.

Did Knowles Forget? VECO owner Bill Allen led his 1994 transition team

2006-09-19T23:59:00.000-08:00

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

Look how fast the dirty money finds a new taker in Knowles.

2006-09-15T07:04:00.000-08:00

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

Read about the raids

2006-09-15T05:58:00.000-08:00

Click here to read the Anchorage Daily News articles about FBI raid on Ben Stevens office.

Click here to read the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner articles about FBI raid on Ben Stevens office.