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Ear to the Ground

Corruption Scandal Rocks Alaska Politics

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Posted on Nov 12, 2007
Kott
AP photo / Al Grillo

Busted:  Pete Kott leaves federal court in Anchorage with Debora Stovern, right, and daughter Pam Kott after being convicted of conspiracy, extortion and bribery on Sept. 25, 2007.

The federal corruption probe that first blew the lid off the Alaskan political scene a year ago with the discovery of $32,200 in cash stashed away in the home of Republican Pete Kott, former speaker of the Alaskan House of Representatives, has since spread like an oil slick, leaving precious few prominent lawmakers unstained.


The Washington Post:

When the FBI came looking for corruption in Alaska politics, it found an excellent perch in Suite 604 of the Baranof Hotel in Juneau, the state capital. There, a profane septuagenarian named Bill Allen did business throughout a 2006 special session called to set taxes on the oil industry. With hundred-dollar bills in his front pocket for ease of access when lawmakers turned up with their hands out, the oil-services company executive turned in a bravura performance before the pinhole camera that federal agents installed opposite his favorite chair.

“Let me count first here,” Allen said, shushing a former statehouse speaker as he counted out a bribe in video footage entered as evidence in the lawmaker’s September trial, one of several crowding the docket of the federal court here.

On another tape, Pete Kott, the former Republican speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives, crowed as he described beating back a tax bill opposed by oil companies. “I had to cheat, steal, beg, borrow and lie,” Kott said. “Exxon’s happy. BP’s happy. I’ll sell my soul to the devil.”

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By Louise, November 13, 2007 at 8:12 pm #

Well I declare.

If I were looking for a good idea for a comic series about dumb, dumber and dumbest, I guess this would be it!

Has to be true. Nobody could make this stuff up!

Bill Allen, former chief executive of VECO Corporation, an Alaska-based oil pipeline service and construction company,  walked happily through the halls of congress handing out hundred dollar bills.

“In one exchange the FBI captured by wiretap:
Allen handed a sexual potency pill and a sleeping pill to Pete Kott, former Republican speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives ... who later phoned, confused and upset, after mixing them up.”

I’ll just bet he was confused and mixed up!
Dang! Slept through the whole thing!

“Not all the indictments rose from oil money.”

Former representative Tom Anderson got five years for taking money from a consultant for a company hoping to build a prison in Alaska. Do people pay bribes to build prisons?

Apparently in Alaska, people pay bribes for everything. Turns out the prison was an FBI scam.

Andersons only other brush with the law came when his girlfriend, a fellow legislator, summoned police as they fought over bowling scores.”

Bowling scores!

“Pete Kott, crowed as he described beating back a tax bill opposed by oil companies. “I had to cheat, steal, beg, borrow and lie,” Kott said. “Exxon’s happy. BP’s happy. I’ll sell my soul to the devil.”

Apparently the devils going rate is pretty low!

Bribes totaling $400,000, went to public officials.  But some residents expressed dismay at the puny size of individual transactions.

Former Rep. Vic Kohring was convicted of taking around $2,000!

“The fact of the matter is, we all want to bribe a politician,” said Mr. Whitekeys, an Anchorage entertainer whose long-running political cabaret is called the Whale Fat Follies. “We all thought it’d take a Mercedes or a Porsche. Nobody knew you could buy a politician for the cost of a used riding lawn mower.”

Like I said, nobody could make this stuff up!

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By Conservative Yankee, November 13, 2007 at 5:23 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

“There’s gambling going on here?  I’m shocked…shocked I tell you….”

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By rowdy, November 13, 2007 at 2:23 am #

i spend too many hours of my day reading internet crap.  i didn’t see one single link to this story anywhere,and it took several minutes to find it at washington post. it’s odd how often this happens,i find a single story i am interested in,and it appears nowhere else. yet idiotic crap stories about mindless celebrities are inescapable.

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By thomas billis, November 12, 2007 at 11:43 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Ted Stevens et al make Louisiana look like the minor leagues.Corruption a game the whole country can play.Beware of people who pay millions for jobs that pay thousands.

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By DennisD, November 12, 2007 at 10:47 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Surprise, surprise, surprise! - Gomer Pyle.

Corruption in our government, in the USofA. Anyone, anywhere in this country would find it extremely hard if not impossible not to find it.

Finding it’s one thing, doing what’s necessary about it is another story.

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By Scott, November 12, 2007 at 8:14 pm #

How quaint, a good old fashioned political corruption scandal.

I guess it’ll get talked about a lot, kinda like the weather. Unlike the weather however we could actually be doing something about this, like making it mandatory for politicians to wear a audio/video wire that is hard-wired to the Internet.

Remember, these people work for us, just like the teller who works for the manager of corner store. By the way, did you ever notice how the surveillance cameras are always aimed at the till?

Think about it.

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