The More Oil, The More Alaskan Corruption

SUITE 604 OF THE BARANOF HOTEL in Alaska's capital city, Juneau: Grainy video captures state legislators drinking with executives of VECO Corporation, the state's largest oil-field service company. Then money changes hands.

The corruption of Alaskan politics had long been suspected, but the FBI's hidden camera proved it. Last May, VECO's two top executives pleaded guilty to bribing legislators to pass a favorable oil-tax law. The unfolding scandal has tarred the state's entire congressional delegation, including Senator Ted Stevens (R)--a relentless proponent of opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

VECO officials testified that they paid $243,000 in bogus "consulting fees" to Stevens's son Ben, the former president of the state senate. According to the Anchorage Daily News, the younger Stevens also collected tens of thousands of dollars from fishing companies that benefited from federal laws and funding overseen by his powerful father. VECO also supervised the extensive remodeling of a house belonging to Stevens pere, for which the company seems to have neglected to properly bill him.

The rest of the Alaska delegation isn't faring much better. Junior senator Lisa Murkowski (R) bought some prime Kenai River real estate from a developer for far below its value (returning it once the deal became public), and the Wall Street Journal and McClatchy newspapers report that veteran representative Don Young (R) is under investigation for his ties to VECO and for a $10 million earmark favoring a Florida contributor.

Yet to be determined is whether VECO was fronting for "the three big boys," as BP, ExxonMobil, and ConocoPhillips are referred to on the surveillance tapes. VECO executives mention "producing" for their "clients," and a recorded phone call with the president of ConocoPhillips Alaska raises questions about how much others in the oil industry knew of VECO's bribery.

However the scandals fall out, environmentalists can actually look forward to a cleaner brand of politics emerging up north. Squeaky-clean governor Sarah Palin (R) called the legislature into special session and got a new oil-tax law that raised taxes and tightened loopholes. And a new statewide poll shows both Don Young and Ted Stevens trailing likely Democratic challengers in this year's election.

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