Friday, August 15, 2008

Who Brought Coconut Road Into The AK-AL U.S. House Race?

The Club for Growth thinks Don Young's unconstitutional Coconut Road earmark insertion into the 2005 Federal Omnibus Transportation Bill is a big thing. So does their guy in Alaska, Light (ultralight) Governor, Sean Parnell.

Actually, Sean thought Coconut Road was two big things at the League for Women Voters/KTUU debate earlier this month. When asked by moderator Jason Moore if he could name five Don Young earmarks he didn't like, Parnell could only come up with Coconut Road. Twice.

What a dimwit!

Back on September 17, 2007, AK-AL U.S. House seat candidate Diane Benson sent the following letter to the two top members of the House Ethics Committee:

I call upon Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio, Chairwoman and Representative Doc Hastings of Washington state, Ranking Republican Member of the United States House of Representatives Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to consider opening an investigation into the conduct of Representative Don Young of Alaska in the matter of the insertion of an earmark for a major Don Young contributor into House legislation after that legislation had passed Congress. This change, unprecedented in nature, appears to be unethical in the most obvious sense of that term.

Under the rules of the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, the general public, and particularly, constituents of a possibly unethical Member may inquire to the committee on matters such as this, and request that you consider the matter, to wit:

Inquiries from organizations and individuals outside the House. The Committee also attempts to respond to inquiries from outside organizations and individuals, whether written or oral. However, the Committee, pursuant to its responsibilities under statute and House rules, must always give priority to inquiries from House Members and staff.

I am requesting at this time that you proceed with determining the background of this insertion so that your committee can then decide whether or not an investigation of Representative Don Young on the insertion of this highly unethical legislative item is the most appropriate course for your body to undertake.

Respectfully,

Diane Benson



Candidate Benson held a press conference on Monday, September 17, announcing her request. Channel 11 News came. APRN interviewed her, as did the Chugiak-Eagle River Star. The Anchorage Daily News, even with three and a half days notice, couldn't manage to get a reporter there.

Jake Metalfe, who was then a candidate for Young's seat, said nothing. Ethan Berkowitz, has never made any sort of formal request, nor has he endorsed Benson's September, 2007 actions.

TPM Muckraker covered the Club for Growth's pro-Parnell ad regarding Coconut Road yesterday. Their article also neglected mention of Benson's forthright 2007 actions. Here's a YouTube of the CfG Parnell ad:

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Phil -- You're right on the mark about Parnell, but I think you're a bit off with Diane.

It's nice that you are trying to give Diane the Woodward & Bernstein credit in this, but if you remember correctly, it was the US Justice Department that made this an issue when they started their investigation of Young around the middle of August.

It looks to me like Diane merely hopped on that train and sent out that (really great) letter to the House Ethics Committee after Coconut Road was already a major issue for Young.