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Ted Stevens' Friend Testified Before Grand Jury
If you're a CEO looking to help preserve fish habitats and catch a 60 pound salmon in one weekend, Bob Penney is your man.
He is also old friends with Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK). The Anchorage Daily News reported this weekend that Penney testified before a grand jury in Alaska a few weeks ago as part of the ongoing federal inquiry into corruption in the state.
Penney is a fresh face in the probe that has grabbed Stevens, and had already touched the senator's son, Ben Stevens; several other state lawmakers; and two top oil services executives at Veco, both of whom have pled guilty to federal corruption charges.
The longtime Alaskan entrepreneur is known for founding the Ted Stevens Kenai River Classic over ten years ago to help protect the sports-fishing river that is home to a wild salmon run. The weekend event now draws politicians from as far away as Washington and executives from donors like Veco, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Shell.
Here is a description of the 2002 tournament from the Anchorage Daily News (via Nexis):
Ashore, people flowed around Bob Penney's big riverfront house Monday evening, headed for the broad expanse of paved driveway that runs down to it. There, flanking a sound system, stood a couple of hefty trophies topped with fiberglass king salmon. The opening ceremony of the ninth annual Kenai River Classic was about to occur.In the river of people were United States senators, the secretary of labor, the governor, most of the hierarchy of the Department of Fish and Game, a couple of state legislators, the mayor of Anchorage, the president of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly, the president of the University of Alaska, a soft-spoken former astronaut, a retired famous college basketball coach, a few entertainers, a writer with a new book about Alaska and executives from many, many companies. They constituted, as they do every year, the greatest concentration of political and economic power in Alaska.
Though officially meant to raise money to preserve the river, Stevens breaks down what the event is really meant to do:
''We invite people we think can afford to put a contribution into the till,'' [Stevens] said, ''and people they want to meet.''Many of those in his audience had paid $6,000 for themselves and a guest to attend. Along with corporate sponsorships -- the opening dinner was put on by Alaska Communications System and Veco -- and the proceeds from an auction, the fees meant the tournament could gross $1 million, as last year's did.
Penney declined to tell the Anchorage Daily News what he said in his testimony. So far he has no obvious ties to Stevens' infamous home remodeling project, which has caught the FBI's eye.
Comments (17)
rusty wrote on June 19, 2007 2:48 PM:wow. looks like this one is picking up steam... i couldn't help but think of lewis (r. california) when you mentioned the GJ in washington. i wonder if we would be seeing any more action on that front if he was being investigated from with the california federal gov. they sure had an inoovative way to get that lawyer off his tail. let's hope senator tubez doesn't slip away too.
Mike Valentine wrote on June 19, 2007 2:57 PM:Ted looks pretty dapper.
He'll look good in a starched inmate uniform, you know with the creases and all.
Perhaps he could hurry it along so he can be pardoned with the Scooter and Delay and Cunningham and .......
code word white: Get you're red hot, white collar crime pardons, before the Bush man is impeached because congress is heating the boiler to get that train underway. (I hope)
Mike Valentine wrote on June 19, 2007 2:58 PM:Ted looks pretty dapper.
He'll look good in a starched inmate uniform, you know with the creases and all.
Perhaps he could hurry it along so he can be pardoned with the Scooter and Delay and Cunningham and .......
code word white: Get you're red hot, white collar crime pardons, before the Bush man is impeached because congress is heating the boiler to get that train underway. (I hope)
Mike Valentine wrote on June 19, 2007 2:59 PM:Ted looks pretty dapper.
He'll look good in a starched inmate uniform, you know with the creases and all.
Perhaps he could hurry it along so he can be pardoned with the Scooter and Delay and Cunningham and .......
code word white: Get you're red hot, white collar crime pardons, before the Bush man is impeached because congress is heating the boiler to get that train underway. (I hope)
roland weary wrote on June 19, 2007 3:11 PM:rusty
If senator tubez can slip away by shaking the lawyer off his tail like Lewis (R. California) did, he won't have any trouble winning reelection in Rethug-controlled Alaska, even if voters overwhelmingly choose his opponent. The outfit that performs the count can give Stevens as many votes as he needs to win, and no one will ever be able to see how those results were generated.
http://www.jacksonville.com/apnews/stories/061807/D8PRGM2G0.shtml
Mrs Panstreppon wrote on June 19, 2007 3:11 PM:Maybe the feds are interested in the Ted Stevens Kenai River Classic because it has lost money in 2003, 2004 and 2005, according to 990s online at the Foundaton Center's 990 Finder. Search "Kenai River" - link below.
2002 was the only year that the event made money.
Something odd happened in 2001 because the KRAS lost more than $240k on special events which I assume includes the Ted Stevens River Classic.
Rusty wrote on June 19, 2007 3:18 PM:Mrs. P - How many years in a row can a 990 lose money? There should be a specific number, and what do you want to bet that it will either, make money when those years run out, or close (having lost the max. amount possible).
Well, I always say 2 grand juries is better than one,.
Mrs P wrote on June 19, 2007 3:31 PM:Rusty, the Kenai River Sportsfishing Association, Inc. did not lose money in total. It only lost money on special events, one of which I assume is the Ted Stevens Kenai River Classic.
What is it with Alaska politicians and their charity events?
Last year, I did a post at the TPM Cafe about then First Lady Nancy Murkowski's "charity", the Waterfalll Committee (link below)which was being run by John Moseman, CIA Chief of Staff. I wanted to know who was getting the $40k in annual consulting fees.
LOL - I called the Waterfall Committee's phone number listed on the 990, thinking I'd get the CIA. Instead, I got Moseman's wife at home. Who knew the CIA was so accessible?
Nickel wrote on June 19, 2007 3:45 PM:Bob Penney is a master of what has now become quite familiar Orwellian double-speak. His commercial fish guiding organization identifies their efforts with the rhetoric of habitat preservation and sustainability.
Indeed, they have directed some Stevens' money to useful projects. In reality and in sum, however, many locals believe they are killing the once beautiful, now over-crowded Kenai River, pushing development and growth at every turn.
Nickel wrote on June 19, 2007 3:55 PM:A picture of Bob Penney can be found on the National Parks Service website.
Nickel wrote on June 19, 2007 3:57 PM:Hmmm. Html tags get stripped here. Bob Penney picture:
roland weary wrote on June 19, 2007 4:21 PM:http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/norris1/images/fig9-7.jpg
Alaska voters are now being represented In the U.S. Senate by votes of "Absent" by no-count Stevens, as he did in the recent Gonzales no confidence vote. Pretty pathetic representation of a proud region. One would expect that folks in Alaska would insist on better than that.
tiredalaskan wrote on June 19, 2007 5:19 PM:Alaskans close to Ted Stevens are saying he is trying to cut a deal with federal prosecutors to resign in lieu of prosecution. It might work -- they are all Republicans after all.
buckheaddad wrote on June 20, 2007 4:15 AM:Where, Oh! Where, are the righteous Democrats who were going to save us from the dirty "black knight" King George?
All that talk about REFORM. Even Miss Pelosi had to interject her own (and THE ONLY) amendment to the minimum wage bill, in order to protect a BIG BIG BIG CORPORATE ENTITY in her home district!!!!!!!!!!!
NO. . . it can't be so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AND. . . where was/is the PRESS, and the STORIES EXPOSING THESE CROOKS????????????????????
buckheaddad wrote on June 20, 2007 4:15 AM:Where, Oh! Where, are the righteous Democrats who were going to save us from the dirty "black knight" King George?
All that talk about REFORM. Even Miss Pelosi had to interject her own (and THE ONLY) amendment to the minimum wage bill, in order to protect a BIG BIG BIG CORPORATE ENTITY in her home district!!!!!!!!!!!
NO. . . it can't be so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AND. . . where was/is the PRESS, and the STORIES EXPOSING THESE CROOKS????????????????????
buckheaddad wrote on June 20, 2007 4:16 AM:Where, Oh! Where, are the righteous Democrats who were going to save us from the dirty "black knight" King George?
All that talk about REFORM. Even Miss Pelosi had to interject her own (and THE ONLY) amendment to the minimum wage bill, in order to protect a BIG BIG BIG CORPORATE ENTITY in her home district!!!!!!!!!!!
NO. . . it can't be so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AND. . . where was/is the PRESS, and the STORIES EXPOSING THESE CROOKS????????????????????
buckheaddad wrote on June 20, 2007 4:16 AM:Where, Oh! Where, are the righteous Democrats who were going to save us from the dirty "black knight" King George?
All that talk about REFORM. Even Miss Pelosi had to interject her own (and THE ONLY) amendment to the minimum wage bill, in order to protect a BIG BIG BIG CORPORATE ENTITY in her home district!!!!!!!!!!!
NO. . . it can't be so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AND. . . where was/is the PRESS, and the STORIES EXPOSING THESE CROOKS????????????????????