Congratulations, Senator-Elect Begich!

by: Dean Barker

Tue Nov 18, 2008 at 20:58:36 PM EST

One less friend for Holy Joe. And with John E. and The Hulk gone, what will become of the Kenai fishing trips?

Gold Coins and Vodka. But There's Nothing to See Here

by: Dean Barker

Tue Oct 14, 2008 at 06:05:17 AM EDT

John Sununu used your tax money to pay for a fishing trip in Alaska with his buddy, now indicted Senator Ted Stevens, and his buddy, disgraced VECO chief Bill Allen.

For a "fishing trip" where guests were presented with gold coins and vodka from oil lobbyists.

And when asked earlier to explain how he paid for the trip, his people cited a non-existent PAC.

And the fig leaf for using your tax money was to attend a field hearing for a senate committee on which Sununu does not sit.

How is this not the top story in every paper and news show in our state?

Oh, right, I forgot. This is New Hampshire, where if you are a Republican with a well-known name from your father, you get a free pass.

(NHDP release documenting the details of this developing story below the fold...)

John E. Sununu and the Ethical Tin Ear

by: Kathy Sullivan

Sat Oct 11, 2008 at 20:55:50 PM EDT

"I think the report said she acted completely within the law," said Sununu.

No, that was not the report said. The report said she had the legal authority to remove the public sfety commissioner, but that her efforts to get her former brother-in-law fired broke a state ethics law that bars public officials from pursuing personal interest through official action.

John Sununu's latest case of ethical tin ear should not be a surprise to any of us.

Sununu Sidekick Selling Stevens

by: Kathy Sullivan

Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 19:05:04 PM EDT

New Hampshire operative Dave Carney is in Alaska working for Ted Stevens's re-election bid, as the senior senator sits on trial for corruption.

Carney said the campaign is "Great. Going to win." (For now, polls show Anchorage mayor Mark Begich holding a slim, two-to-three point lead, according to pollster.com.)

Carney headed up the draft Sununu effort in 2002, and also has headed up Amercians for Job Security, which has a penchant for spending hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking Jeanne Shaheen.  He worked with Sununu's father in both New Hampshire and in the first Bush White House.  

Senator* Sununu's close relationship with Ted Stevens has been discussed here at BH. See, inter alia, Where Was Ted Stevens' Protege John E. Sununu? and  What Do Senator* Sununu, Ted Stevens, VECO, and $50,000 Have in Common?

John Sununu & Sarah Palin: VECO BFF

by: Dean Barker

Wed Sep 03, 2008 at 00:00:00 AM EDT

In the fundraising corruption probe, VECO founder Allen is cooperating in an FBI investigation that has already sent several state political figures to prison. He is expected to be the Justice Department's star witness at Stevens' trial later this month when he testifies about home renovations and other gifts he provided the longtime senator - gifts Stevens is charged with concealing on Senate documents.

Palin received $500, the maximum amount allowed by law, from Allen and VECO vice president Rick Smith. Several other VECO managers, including Pete Leathard, who came up with the idea for the special bonus program, also donated the maximum. Allen's son, a VECO employee, also donated $500. All the checks were donated the same day, except for Leathard's, which was dated two days after the rest.

Oh yeah, those were some of John E.'s donors in 2002 too:

June 29

$1,000 -- Steven J. Leathard, VECO Corporation

June 30...

$1,000 -- Bill J. Allen, VECO Corporation (fishing trip buddy)
$1,000 -- Mark J. Allen, VECO Corporation
$1,000 -- Peter Leathard, VECO Corporation
$1,000 -- Richard L. Smith, VECO Corporation

I'll give Palin one thing: at least for her, the money was in-state, unlike Sununu, who has to be propped up by Big Oil interests from afar.

Stevens & Palin: "Singing from the Same Sheet of Music"

by: Dean Barker

Fri Aug 29, 2008 at 22:42:59 PM EDT

Sure enough, when I went to search for connections between Ted Stevens and Palin on her gubernatorial website, I found that the links to her press releases go dead starting from the middle of July 2007 and all preceding.

So I went to the Wayback Machine.  Some oddities popped up there too.  I couldn't get links to press releases from newer versions of the website, but did manage to track down this page, which lists, in March 2007,

 • Governor Meets with Senator Stevens

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 29, 2003 No. 03-122

Murkowski Announces Grimes as Head of State Troopers

Not to be deterred, I tried a basic google search for "Governor Meets with Senator Stevens." A-ha!  There it is.  Except that long sought after link clicks to a list of releases that does not include the Stevens' one.

Thank goodness for the cached option:

"It is so encouraging to hear again that Senator Stevens and I are singing from the same sheet of music," said Governor Palin. "In his address, he pushed for action this year on a natural gas pipeline. I also have the Senator's assurance that once the state has acted on the AGIA, our Congressional Delegation will do everything it can do to expedite the federal review of the natural gas pipeline project."

And if you're wondering about this natural gas pipeline, it's the same one Dick Cheney was discovered to be personally bullying the Alaskan legislature about on behalf of Stevens (as he himself explained to VECO's Bill Allen).

But that's not really the point.  The point is that this is another example of a possible internet cleansing of Palin's digital history, and if this is indeed a pattern, it ought to be looked into by people who get paid to do journalism for a living. Because it's not like she would be a heartbeat away from the presidency, or anything.

Update: In the comments, Mike C. adds to the evidence that this may be an intentional scrubbing:

Google cache reveals this page was removed sometime after 7:21 GMT this morning.

http://64.233.169.104/search?q...

and here's webcite to preserve the page:

http://www.webcitation.org/5aR...

SO let's see 7:21+5= 12:21 EST?

This page was being cleaned up AFTER the announcement. this was without a doubt cleaned up on the day of the announcement... how vetted does that look to you?

Palin on Bridge to Nowhere: Take the Money And Run!

by: Mike Caulfield

Fri Aug 29, 2008 at 20:41:47 PM EDT

Palin also shares McCain's opposition to earmarks, opposing the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere," a pet project of two titans of Alaska politics, Rep. Don Young and Sen. Ted Stevens.

"I told Congress, 'Thanks, but no thanks' on that Bridge to nowhere," said Palin, who describes herself as a foe of the "good-old-boy network."

Um, not quite. As noted here, Palin supported the project until well after the initial money was siphoned off.

What's worse than taking $200 million  for a bridge to nowhere? How about taking the $200 million and not even building the freaking bridges?

The Republican-controlled Congress still gave Alaska the $452 million it had requested for the two bridges, merely removing the earmark directing where the state should spend the money. Gov. Frank H. Murkowski (R), who was once Stevens's junior colleague in the Senate, intends to spend that money on the bridges.

And after they got the money? Out of the highway bill and into Alaska's treasury?

Oh... bridges? We said we needed it for *bridges*?

"We will continue to look for options for Ketchikan to allow better access to the island," Gov. Sarah Palin said. "The concentration is not going to be on a $400 million bridge."

In other words -- we got the money. We're good.

Wow. Is there room for an addendum in Profiles in Courage?

But hey, I'm sure siphoning off that money to Alaska didn't hurt anybody, right?

Just last month, presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said pet projects could have played a role in a Minnesota bridge collapse that killed 13 people earlier this year.

"Maybe if we had done it right, maybe some of that money would have gone to inspect those bridges and other bridges around the country," McCain told a group of people in a town-hall style meeting in Ankeny, Iowa.

"Maybe the 200,000 people who cross that bridge every day would have been safer than spending $233 million of your tax dollars on a bridge in Alaska to an island with 50 people on it."

With Friends Like These: Ted Stevens and Sarah Palin

by: Peter Sullivan

Fri Aug 29, 2008 at 14:27:11 PM EDT

Palin: McCain will "Evolve... into Supporting ANWR"

by: Dean Barker

Fri Aug 29, 2008 at 13:08:02 PM EDT

Governor Palin, thank you ever so much for coming on. We appreciate it. I want to start with this, it's an oddball question. I mean, Senator McCain says it's too pristine to drill. Senator Obama says the drilling won't work. What is your response to this? How do you fight back?

Palin: Well it will work. And Senator McCain is wrong on that issue. He's right on a whole lot of other issues, so thank goodness that he's understanding and evolving with his position on OCS [Outer Continental Shelf]. So that's encouraging. I think he's going to evolve into, eventually, supporting ANWR opening also.

Crowdsourcing the 2004 Kenai Guest List

by: Mike Caulfield

Mon Aug 11, 2008 at 07:30:00 AM EDT

Courtesy of the Wayback Machine, I have put the 2004 Kenai Guest list below the fold.

Part of the reason for doing this is to get this info out of the Wayback Machine and back into a Google-friendly place.

But I'd love some discussion on the list as well (formatted version is here). Notice, for instance, how absolutely brazen the 2004 list is in its original format, separating Senators and VIPs (the main attraction) from the CEO and executive guests. There's no attempt to conceal this is a dating service for CEOs looking for a Senator.

Here's a couple things you can do in the comments:

1) For the bold, just take a minute and run one or two corporation names below through opencongress.org, govtrack.us, or even just the Google [for say Sununu + Fannie Mae], and let us know if you find anything of interest.

2) For the more time-limited: Just scan the list and make an observation. Any observation. The observations don't have to be about Sununu either. I found it amazing how many Administration officials were involved here, and find it particularly interesting they brought the Deputy Secretary of the Interior to this oil-fest.

List below the fold...Thanks in advance for your help. If everyone can pitch in a comment, the effect here could be huge.

Stevens on Kenai: "We invite ... people they want to meet"

by: Mike Caulfield

Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 12:53:42 PM EDT

Sununu spokesman Julie Teer said Sununu's 2004 trip [to the Kenai event] was funded by a joint fundraising committee comprising Stevens for Senate, Stevens' Northern Lights PAC and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski's campaign committee. She said his 2006 trip was funded by Stevens for Senate and said payment for both trips "fully met Senate rules."

That's great, but actually that's not what's being implied here.

What's being implied is not that Sununu was the audience for this event, but that he was the talent.

Here, maybe it'll be clear if Ted "Tubes" Stevens explains the Kenai event to you:

''We invite people we think can afford to put a contribution into the till,'' [Stevens] said, ''and people they want to meet.''

Sununu is "people they want to meet."

And there's nothing wrong with that I suppose. It's like a charity dinner, except it lasts for a weekend. And except that it was run by a guy that has been indicted for corruption. Corruption involving people at the event who paid to see Sununu. Who were some of the same people that donated to Sununu's campaign.

People that are also up on charges of corruption for trading favors to promote more Alaskan drilling.

But hey, keep moving, nothing to see here. I'm sure with Stevens at the helm, nothing untoward happened at the little expedition, right?

When VECO met Johnny

by: Mike Caulfield

Tue Aug 05, 2008 at 17:23:35 PM EDT

On June 24th, 2002, John Sununu was named by the League of Conservation Voters as one of the "Dirty Dozen", one of the politicians with the worst environmental records of any person running for Congress or Senate:

"Republicans and Independents who care about New Hampshire's air and water should know about his votes for almost $6 billion in taxpayer handouts to the air-polluting coal industry, against less arsenic in drinking water and against holding polluters accountable for their actions," said League president Deb Callahan.

That was June 24th.

Here's some donations that came in for Sununu over the next 6 days:

June 25

$5,000 -- Northern Lights (Ted Stevens' PAC)
$1,000 -- Roger J. Chan, VECO Corporation

June 28

$1,000 -- Richard M. Hobbs II, Alutiiq Management Services (Stevens loyalist, I think)
$2,000 -- Jim Jansen, Lynden Inc. (fishing trip buddy)

June 29

$1,000 -- Steven J. Leathard, VECO Corporation

June 30

$2,000 -- Carl H. Marrs, Cook Inlet Region Inc. (fishing trip buddy).
$1,000 -- Bill J. Allen, VECO Corporation (fishing trip buddy)
$1,000 -- Mark J. Allen, VECO Corporation
$1,000 -- Peter Leathard, VECO Corporation
$1,000 -- Richard L. Smith, VECO Corporation

I could be wrong, but doesn't that look like Sununu being named one of the "Dirty Dozen" set VECO's heart aflutter? And convinced Ted Stevens to double-down?

I had no idea that the League's Dirty Dozen awards were the Miss America pageant for Big Oil. But I'm really not surprised.

Of course, that was merely how they met. Soon their love would blossom:

Between mid October and late November of 2002 Northern Lights' non federal account received a $25,000 contribution from VECO. Northern Light sent the Sununu Victory Fund $25,000.

And all Sununu did in return, apparently, was take a little fishing trip with the people that gave him tens of thousands of dollars, so that they could all talk about, um ... "fish" ...

Ah, young love.
 

Where did that 33 cents go?

by: elwood

Thu Jul 31, 2008 at 18:12:51 PM EDT

We can't all be average, but when New Hampshire is the only state in the continental US that can't support its veterans with a VA hospital, ranking 48th grates on the nerves.

So where do the other 33 cents of every dollar go?

Look at the table again. We're #48 in return on our taxes. The Silver Medal goes to Alaska. They send in $1.00 and get back $1.87. Our extra taxes go to help fund the extra spending there.

Why would our Congressional delegation let that happen?

Well, as shown by their guaranteed 87% return on federal taxes, Alaskans know how to invest wisely. Here are some of the relevant investments by indicted Senator Ted Stevens' Leadership PAC:

1998: $5,000 to Judd Gregg
2002: $10,000 to John E. Sununu
2004: $10,000 to Judd Gregg
2006: $2,500 to John E. Sununu
2008: $7,500 to John E. Sununu

Gone Fishin'...for Over $50 Grand

by: Dean Barker

Tue Jul 29, 2008 at 19:58:11 PM EDT

In 2002, John Sununu of New Hampshire received more than $50,000 from Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska and Stevens' strongest Alaska supporters, including VECO's Bill Allen. The money flowed to Sununu's Senate campaign from Stevens' PAC, his soft money committee, and in a bundle of donations directly from Stevens loyalists.

Six other Republicans in hotly contested races for the Senate received similar support - but none got quite as much cash as Sununu.

...Between mid October and late November of 2002 Northern Lights' non federal account received a $25,000 contribution from VECO. Northern Light sent the Sununu Victory Fund $25,000.

In 2004, Sen. Sununu attended the Kenai River Classic on a fishing trip organized by Sen. Stevens and Robert Penney. Bill Allen, Carl Marrs and Jim Jansen also attended.

But the $50,000 question remains: why did now indicted Senator Ted Stevens and his Big Oil pals take such an acute interest in getting Sununu elected in the first place?

If you like what you are reading on Blue Hampshire, please consider making a secure contribution to our first ever Blograiser to help send Mike and Laura to the DNC convention.  Look for the yellow "Donate" button just below our logo.

Breaking: John Sununu Not Most Endangered Incumbent

by: elwood

Tue Jul 29, 2008 at 12:51:17 PM EDT

Not since Ted Stevens was indicted on seven counts of corruption.

The Incredible Sulk is going down.

What Do Senator* Sununu, Ted Stevens, VECO, and $50,000 Have in Common?

by: Dean Barker

Thu Oct 11, 2007 at 22:47:09 PM EDT

Yesterday, Marketplace explained the budding VECO scandal:

Bill Allen was a big bundler. As the founder and former CEO of an Alaskan oil services company, he encouraged his employees to donate generously to political campaigns. And they did, giving more than a million dollars since the late 80's, according to federal campaign finance reports.

But today, Allen and his former company, called VECO, are at the center of a tangle of corruption scandals. In May, Allen and one of his executives pleaded guilty to bribing Alaskan state legislators. And that wasn't all.

  Melanie Sloan: Executives there have pleaded guilty to crimes including making conduit contributions to politicians -- basically giving employees money to make contributions to politicians.

Working in concert, Ted Stevens, Bill Allen and VECO executives used half a dozen political committees to raise about $25,000 for Coleman's 2002 campaign, and $50,000 for Sununu's. Both Coleman and Sununu are running for reelection this year.

Sununu announced last week he'd donate $2,000 received from convicted VECO employees to charity.

To top it off, Marketplace has a very handy breakdown of where the more than $50K of possibly tainted money came from.  The punchline comes at the end:

July 3  $1,000 -- Robert Penney, Kenai River Sportfishing Association

...In 2004, Sen. Sununu attended the Kenai River Classic on a fishing trip organized by Sen. Stevens and Robert Penney. Bill Allen, Carl Marrs and Jim Jansen also attended.

Larry Craig, Ted Stevens, and Sununu's Out of State $12,500

by: Dean Barker

Fri Aug 31, 2007 at 20:41:42 PM EDT

Campaigns of Sens. Coleman and Collins will each give away $2,500 from embattled Idaho colleague [Larry Craig]; two other Republicans in tough Senate races -- Domenici of New Mexico and Sununu of New Hampshire -- also received funds from Alliance for the West PAC.

John E. Sununu: Gonzales' Waterboarding Water Carrier

by: Dean Barker

Thu Aug 30, 2007 at 20:34:59 PM EDT

New Hampshire Sen. John Sununu, a Republican, did come to see the difference between loyalty and the law and was one of the first to call for the ouster of Gonzales months ago. Sununu said after Gonzales announced his resignation Monday that it was time to change just to get back to work with a new face in place.

"Our country needs a credible, effective attorney general who can work with Congress on critical issues ranging from immigration to investigating terrorism at home and abroad," he said.

You see, maybe I'm just a prima donna or something, but I found it to be appalling and nightmarish that one of the architects of our torture policy was going to be installed as our chief law enforcement officer.  Like very many others, I found it (and still find it) both deeply perverted and frightening.  And a complete betrayal of traditional American values.

That's why I wrote Senator Sununu urging him to oppose the confirmation.  I received a form response identical to this one:

Judge Gonzales advised the President that all detainees should be treated humanely, but as a legal matter, al Qaeda and Taliban fighters are not considered "legal combatants" and are not covered by the Geneva Convention.  This allows U.S. officials to detain, question, and prosecute terrorist suspects; a critical component of the war on terrorism.  This legal position has been affirmed by multiple federal courts across the country, the 9/11 Commission, the Schlesinger Report, and human rights organizations that have been frequent critics of the Administration's policies.

Disgusting on several fronts.  One, because I have yet to find a human rights group that considers abandoning the Geneva Conventions hunky dory.  Two, because the Sprinter is hiding behind legalisms here - essentially using niceties of jurisprudence to mask an inherently abhorrent practice.  And three, most importantly, he, through this letter and his vote to confirm Bush's favorite Fredo, endangered the safety and security of our own men and women in uniform by lowering the standards of  conduct given to detainees in war.

Let's not forget who put Alberto Gonzales there in the first place - waterboarding water carriers like John E. Sununu.

The Ted Stevens - John E. Sununu PAC Yankee Swap

by: Dean Barker

Tue Jul 31, 2007 at 22:57:39 PM EDT

Here's the weird part.  On March 14, 2007, Steven's PAC gave two disbursements of $5000 (one for the primary, one for the general) to Team Sununu, totalling ten grand.  Then, less than a month later, Team Sununu gave $2500 hundred back to Northern Lights. (Click the link, and then go to pages 50 and  28, respectively.)

Campaign finance folks help me out here: is there anything odd about this kind of swap, or is this business as usual?

I will say this: if Stevens' is shown to have been  making funny business with his Benjamins, then John E. had better return the 10 G's.

Senator Sununu Greatly Respected by Republican Leadership

by: Dean Barker

Thu May 31, 2007 at 07:47:59 AM EDT

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, vice chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, voted against the Nelson/Sununu amendment that would have stripped the $25 user fee out of S.1300, the Senate's FAA reauthorization bill, but he secured an exemption for many Alaskan aviators.