VECO's Last "Man" Standing Responds to PA's "Deal" Post - Updated

Rep. Mike Chenault (R - formerly from VECO) has responded to a post here yesterday, based on information I received from some credible sources.

Here's Rep. Chenault's full response:


Colberg Resignation and Blogs

I was somewhat shocked by the resignation of Attorney General Talis Colberg yesterday. Mr. Colberg has been nothing but a gentleman in the dealings I’ve had with him who did his best to represent the State of Alaska.

Now there is a blog on the net that is asserting that Senate President Gary Stevens and I have cut a deal with the Governor. The alleged deal is that we will sweep Troopergate and the firing of Walt Monegan under the rug in exchange for the Governor’s promise not to veto capital projects within our districts. Where do people come up with this stuff?

I have not spoken with the Governor since last week when we had a joint leadership meeting, which included leadership from both the House and Senate. No one from the administration approached me about any of these issues. I am on record and will continue to state that the Troopergate investigation is over and it is time to move on. I am concerned however about the legislature’s power to issue subpoenas. I believe those subpoenas should have been honored when they were issued. Of course, those who were issued subpoenas have the right to counsel and other constitutional guarantees but nonetheless, all of the parties should have adhered to them. This is one issue that we need to examine further and if legislation is necessary to strengthen or reaffirm the legislature’s position, then it needs to be introduced.

I usually don’t respond to the rumors that are planted in blogs, but my integrity is under attack. I take great pride in the standing I have achieved within my district, the state and within the legislature and will continue to be a man of my word. I will say this one more time, I had no idea that General Colberg was resigning nor was there any conversation with the Governor about his resignation prior to it occurring.

By the way, looking at this year’s capital budget proposal, there isn’t much to veto from my district. If the Governor feels she needs to veto projects that I believe are necessary and have worked to get into the capital budget, so be it.

I welcome anyone to call me or email me to discuss this issue in the event you need further clarification. I will even talk with the two informants or the source of the blog entry who planted this ridiculous rumor.

I can be reached at 1-800-469-3779 or emailed at representative_mike_chenault@legis.state.ak.us

I will be calling Rep. Chenault tomorrow afternoon. Looking forward to it.

Update - Thursday 1:00 p.m: I didn't have to call Rep. Chenault. He called me this morning, while I was at about Mirror Lake on the Glenn Highway. We talked until the traffic got thick around Eagle River.

I told Rep. Chenault that my Juneau source didn't claim he and Sen. Stevens sat down personally with Gov. Palin and cook up a veto-free deal. My source said that people from either the majority leaders' or their legislative staffs cooked something like that up with somebody from the governor's staff.

Rep. Chenault says he has "no deals" with the Governor on anything.

Rep. Chenault assured me that there isn't much to veto in his package this year, anyway. We talked mostly about the "resignation" of Attorney General Colberg. Rep. Chenault is not ruling out that Colberg was forced to resign. After I told him I felt it is probable that the Governor and her husband appear to have probably committed obstruction of justice in either the Branchflower or Petumenos Report, or in both, and that our legislators are going to look pretty lame if the FBI has to come in and "clean up this mess too, like with Veco," he paused and said he would give that some thought.

It was a pleasant talk, and I wish we could have heard each other a bit better. He said I was breaking up, and I was driving my son's really noisy Outback.