Alaskans may not have to pay an income tax to their state government, but there's an implicit arrangement that the constituents have little or no say in comparison to the oil interests that indirectly pays their royalty check every year. The tale of corruption in the giant state to the north is seemingly consuming every politician from Juneau to Nome. The stories uncovered by the FBI is quite a sight to see.
From The Washington Post:
ANCHORAGE -- 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."
"Well, that will stay in this room," one lobbyist said as a midnight session wound down.
Since this is a quote from the WaPo via the FBI, it most certainly did not stay in the room. Alaskans always knew that the government was corrupt, but never to the degree that was uncovered. It paints an ugly image of politics (even for politics) in sub-Arctic state that begs the question, can it be reformed?
Changing the governor's office was a good start last year, but that is only a drop in the bucket for Alaska. Getting rid of the Stevens family among others is vital, but more importantly, the oil industry needs to be corralled, up there, across the country and around the world.
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