[Washington Examiner] Sen. Lisa Daddy, can I be a senator? Murkowski's write-in candidacy was inspired by, and is funded by, an insular but bipartisan network of lobbyists, corporation and boodlers who have gorged at the public trough through incestuous political relationships that sneer at ethics rules.
These Murkowski cronies are concentrated in a new million-dollar, corporate-funded organization called Alaskans Standing Together.
AST is a "Super PAC" formed last month by a handful of Alaska Native Corporations. These are government-created, for-profit businesses that profit from unique privileges in federal contracting, and they pass much of their earnings on to non-native consultants, subcontractors and back door men. One of AST's early backers, according to the group's Web site, is developer Bob Penney, a former business partner of late Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens (R).
Penney is a longtime donor and family friend who has known Murkowski since she was a small child. But Penney's biggest gift to Murkowski may have been a deep discount on a waterfront property he sold her in December 2006.
Murkowski did not disclose this asset in her financial disclosure forms, but under media pressure she later said she paid $179,400 for the land, which was exactly the local government's assessed value of the land -- and well below market value according to most accounts. The Anchorage Daily News wrote in an editorial, "Anyone who sells Kenai River real estate at the assessed value is either a fool or doing somebody a favor. Anybody who buys it at assessed value knows -- or should know -- she is getting a sweet deal." |