Alaska Political Corruption: The Reluctant Alaska Press

Weeks have passed since the federal indictment of sitting Alaska legislators, and a month since some of Alaska's biggest economic and political figures plead guilty to felony bribery and corruption charges. The investigation charges on, with a grand jury in D.C. now likely looking into Senator Ted Stevens, who just this week was prancing around the Paris Air show, undoubtedly going red with fury at small French children who looked at him funny. The corruption story is only spreading, often tied to VECO, which is deeply tied to the oil and gas industry and the Republican Party. And Don Young is all but running a racketeering operation.

And what we get from Alaska press is little more than a painfully slow, dutiful restatement of the federal investigation and some predictable political developments. Reporting is not reading an indictment and rewriting it. You are not bound to wait for the FBI, which by the way works for a clearly compromised Justice Department. Think about this another way: Alaska corruption is apparently so venal that the BUSH Justice Department's political hacks could not ignore it - and this among people who have a strong incentive to limit the damage to the oil industry.

I hate to tell someone else how to do their job. But let me address this to the Alaska press, and to the Anchorage Daily News in Particular.

Here's how to do your job:

Right now, the New York Times is doing your job for you. The Washington Post is scooping you. You should be ashamed. It is time to do Alaska's laundry, which has been festering in the sleaze hamper- to coin an expression - ever since those oil company bulldozers drove a path across the North Slope in 1969. So put on your shoes and get out your notepad and start talking to people in person. Put on a tie or unbutton your blouse an extra button, as appropriate. Meet them in Club Paris or the parking garage or the fishing trip. Flatter them. Get them relaxed. Get them a little drunk. And get them on the record.

1) Interview former lobbyists, legislators, political figures and maybe former reporters who used to do these things called investigations. Go over all the old stories about Bill Allen, VECO, and widespread stories about corruption in Alaska. Get a clear idea of what questions to ask and of whom.

2) Look in depth at Stevens and Young family finances and property transactions, and the personal businesses and finances of all Alaska political figures with the closest ties to VECO over the past decade. You got the ball rolling with these questions over that despicable little sell-out Ben Stevens. Murkowski, elder and I suspect younger, is an obvious target. And do not neglect to press former Democratic governor Tony Knowles, who appointed the Stevens enfant terrible and has always had close oil ties. As a matter of fact, put the "press" back in the word "press."

3) Make a list of all Alaska political figures over the past ten years who received big, consistent VECO contributions. Now check it twice. Who has been naughty, and who has been nice, and who has got a brand fucking new Range Rover on a government salary?

4) Gather the goods and ask uncomfortable questions about why the State of Alaska's prosecutors have done next to nothing about this. Ask uncomfortable questions about each governor's oil ties. Go down the list of current legislators, one by one, and ask each of them about their oil ties, businesses, and campaign contributions. The very fact of asking will shut up some nuts but will shake others loose. Mostly, ASK UNCOMFORTABLE QUESTIONS.

5) Detail the political and economic relationship between B.P., Exxon-Mobil and the other usual suspects and Bill Allen's goons. An obvious, critically important question was whether and to what degree VECO was carrying water for them in bribing legislators overtly and otherwise.

6) As a former military interrogator once noted to me, people will talk just to fill an awkward silence.

(LONG, LONG PAUSE).

Use this. You're not writing a college essay here: you are pulling the truth out of a dark hole. Don't just read, ask. These are living, breathing people - and the corrupt ones are clearly prey to their appetites and to their perception of their self-interest.

What's at the stake? The whole future of Alaska. This ongoing, corrupt third-world style buffoonery will start sinking Alaska's chances to create a post-oil economy, bleeding out good policy and driving away investment. Alaska's politics are a national joke even in the Bush Administration, and the way must be cleared for a new generation. That means accountability. And that means an aggressive Alaska press. And that means NOW.