"Vexation Almost Stops My Breath"

The words of York, in the fourth scene of the fourth act of the first part of Shakespeare's Henry VI. But they could be the words of Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, as he contemplates his political future.

Ray Metcalfe beat Begich to the punch yesterday. He announced his filing with the Federal Election Commission for the Democratic Party Primary contest for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Ted Stevens, Alaska's Patron Saint. This is Ray Metcalfe's second run as a Democrat for a statewide seat in the U.S.Legislature. Last year he lost to Diane Benson in the Democratic Party Primary for Alaska's sole U.S. House seat.

Ray is an almost constant irritant in the political life of Alaska. I use that term in a narrow sense. As in annoyance, discomfort, vexation, piqued, provocative, and so on. When oyster growers introduce irritating sand inside that mollusk, it is to vex the growth of a pearl.

Although it may be easier to describe much of what Ray Metcalfe has disturbed at the mucky depths of GOP politics in Alaska as being related to invertebrates having a soft unsegmented body usually enclosed in a shell, than to compare his writings and complaints to pearls of wisdom, his claims to having been a pivotal figure in the recent changes in Alaska politics resonate.

Ray Metcalfe describes his muckraking efforts at his new campaign web site with this unattributed quote: Ray Metcalfe has done more to eliminate corruption in Alaska than any political figure in state history. He did it while not even holding public office. Imagine what could happen if he were in office.

I' m not sure whether Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich is in town, or in France, right now. Or stopping off in D.C. and NYC to talk to the money folks about the U.S. Senate race. But the odds for Begich filing to run against Ted Stevens might have just gone down. I doubt he looks forward to how a campaign against Ray Metcalfe will play out in the community.

Last summer, as part of Ray Metcalfe's ongoing exposures of business dealings and ancillary benefits to partners and political contributors of the Stevens family, Metcalfe drew Mark Begich out with Metcalfe's claim that Begich had made a hefty real estate commission - Metcalfe initially claimed $100,000 - in the deal. It appears the amount was closer to $20,0000, but the commission isn't the part of the deal tying Ted Stevens and Mark Begich together that will resurface in a Metcalfe-Begich Senate Primary. It is this, as explained last summer by KTUU's Jason Moore:

Ray Metcalfe, a longtime Stevens' critic, has been complaining about the deal and the benefits it reaped Alaska's senior senator. "They rezoned it so the appraisal would go up, so they could successfully sell the property here behind us for $3.5 million, which they purchased one year earlier for $1.3 million," Metcalfe said.

Metcalfe is also sounding off about the involvement of Begich. When Begich was on the Anchorage Assembly in 1998, he helped reject the former owners' bid to rezone the property commercial.

Once becoming mayor, Begich's position changed. He said it was because park supporters also backed the rezone. "The supporters of the Midtown park ... in 1998 they didn't support it because it was a speculative rezone with no sight of what it would be, no special limitations. They came forward with a solid agreement signed by the potential purchases of this property with special limitations and I supported again the Midtown park users," Begich said.

Begich advocated for the zoning change, but at the same time, he too was a partner with Rubini and Hyde in the Calais building. The mayor bought a stake in 2002 and sold it last year for a $20,000 profit. But when the mayor advocated for the rezoning to increase the value for Rubini and Hyde, he did not disclose his business relationship with the two.

Metcalfe said the federal government didn't need the zoning change to build its archives building -- it was only to benefit Rubini and Hyde. "They needed the rezone so the appraisal would go up, but the only reason to rezone it was for the appraisal for the owner," Metcalfe said.

Begich said there was not a conflict of interest on his part. "I would say it's a bunch of bull. The fact is -- and you can see this by my consistency on this -- I have supported the park users on this," Begich said. Park users benefited, too. One of the special limitations on the property they demanded was to share 20 percent of the profits if the land was sold to the federal government.

Another special limitation stipulates that if a construction permit is not issued in five years, the land reverts back to residential zoning. The clock expires in 2009. The Federal Archives are waiting for another federal appropriation to build on the property.

Begich called the omission on his financial disclosure form a simple oversight and notified the clerk's office to amend his report. He also said the zoning change passed unanimously at the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Assembly.

photo - KTUU TV

Update: KTUU featured Ray Metcalfe's announcement in their 5:00 p.m. News yesterday. They have video. The ADN consigned Metcalfe's announcement to below the fold on page B-3 yesterday, but failed to mention the announcement in their on-line edition until 2:17 p.m. today. Ray is being honored by the outstanding watchdog group, Cook Inlet Keeper this evening at their Muckrakers Ball at 7:00 p.m. today at Alice's Champagne Palace in Homer. Their poster for the event is a keeper! Google maps seems to put the event out in the middle of Kachemak Bay. You might want to ask somebody else for directions.

Gotta love this part of the KTUU interview:

Channel 2 News: You might end up running against Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich. If he officially files and jumps into the Democratic primary, how would you beat someone who has proven to be, all in all, a popular politician?

Metcalfe: I think if things play out that the public is going to see that if they want a system that is clean of any corruption and clean of deals that are above board and making sure that there aren't deals going on with people that are a little less than stellar in their business dealings. I think that it will play out that the way to go is to stick with the guy that has shown the track record of cleaning up the system. Dirty deals with dirty developers, I don't have those, and he does.

What a vexing guy, eh?