Comments (34)

johnnydoughey wrote on August 10, 2007 1:49 PM:

If they wait for awhile, they can probably visit him for free... during visiting hours.

Nelly Bly wrote on August 10, 2007 1:49 PM:

According to its website (link below), the El Capitan considers 20 guests to be a full house. Twenty lobbyists translates to a mere $50k for the coffers of Senator Stevens.

I wonder if there is more to this small klatch of lobbyists and others than just fundraising.

kazoom wrote on August 10, 2007 1:56 PM:

Prince of Wales would be a lonnnnngggg boat ride from Anchorage, or even Seattle for that matter. It's 600 miles from Seattle and I'd guess more than 900 miles from Anchorage. You can get there by small plane from Craig or a 3-hour ferry ride from Ketchikan.

BlueInTexas wrote on August 10, 2007 2:07 PM:

Taking a boat? Must be going to a family reunion with his son and defense lawyer(s).

Nelly Bly wrote on August 10, 2007 2:07 PM:

Kazoom, According to the El Capitan Lodge travel page, guests fly into the Ketchikan airport on a 1-1/2 hour flight from Seattle via jet.

The Ketchikan Airport is on Gravina Island which is where the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere" will be built.

From the airport, guests take a seven-minute ferry ride to Ketchikan where they stay overnight at a local inn. In the morning, a seaplane takes the guests to the El Capital Lodge.

The rate for a three-day stay at the Lodge is $2800.

kazoom wrote on August 10, 2007 2:17 PM:

Yes, Nelly, I know where the Ketchikan airport is (although others here may not). I live in Alaska and the point of my post was that it's highly unlikely that anyone would be taking a boat to Prince of Wales Island, although it's technically feasible.

Also, at the risk of getting dumped on, as an Alaskan, I have to say that there are a number of legitimate arguments both for and against both of the infamous bridges, but being "bridges to nowhere" is not one of them. In the case of Gravina Island, it may only have about 50 residents, but it's where the airport for 15,000 people is (not to mention the many thousands of tourists who come there every year). By Lower 48 standards that may not sound like a big deal, but it's the only way out of Ketchikan other than a very long ferry ride. On another blog, I once saw someone say "then why don't they just move the airport, that would be cheaper." There is no where to move the airport ... Ketchikan is surrounded by mountains and water. ...... Sorry, I digress, but I had to get that out.

Stephen Taufen wrote on August 10, 2007 2:21 PM:

THEY'RE BAAAACCCCKK!

Things are so on the up-and-up at those El Capitan Lodge trips that after major telecom executives and crab boat owners fished there in 2005 with Teddy that later on the pictures were pulled off the website. Ted had brought along some of the Deadliest Catch men to impress his Telecom buddies and lobbyists, so later on a few tough Alaskans finally figured out they were used like cabina boys, actually - only allowed to drink the scotch and fish.

What the trips are really about are 'sneakret discussions' during August recesses to plot thick and thin through upcoming legislation. And ones like to Waterfall Resort years ago with Trent Lott, Dennis Hastert, Don Young et al, fit another part of the aristocracy patternings.

Let's see what oil, telecom, or other sneakret legislation comes up in the next year, and trace that back to the list of attendees at the lodge, and Justice will know exactly where to start the RICO charges.

Advice to K Street and Mahogany Desk Alley good old boys - come on up, and bring your surveillance detection devices with you. This time, also bring a fishing pole.

Code: todos ladrones - as in you are all thieves.

Groundswell Fisheries Movement

Anonymous wrote on August 10, 2007 2:21 PM:

Read up on Gravina island land owners.
Guess What? Murkowskis own a mine there
Bride to their resources!

http://www.sitnews.us/0905Viewpoints/091205_aan_kadx_tseen.html

theswan wrote on August 10, 2007 2:32 PM:

Obviously, beautiful country and a waste of money. But they have money to burn.

Nelly Bly wrote on August 10, 2007 2:36 PM:

Kazoom, What about the ferry service? i just watched a video about it on YouTube (link below).

A $220 million bridge for 15k people sounds high to me. How many people use the Ketchikan airport daily in and out of season?

Yesterday, we had some comments in the TPM MR about the Nome hospital costing $154 million so it could service 9K people.

Do Alaskans understand that the rest of us don't get that kind of money from the federal government?

Nelly Bly wrote on August 10, 2007 2:45 PM:

Is this true? The Murkowskis have a financial interest in Gravina Island? Well, doesn't that just change the nature of the debate?

From anon's link (see below):

"...Let's not forget, Governor Frank Murkowski has a 33-acres of family owned land, Goldstring and Goldstone old mining sites just south of Clam Cove on Gravina Island. Governor Frank H. Murkowski has a conflict of interest and hidden motivations to construct a $315 million bridge to Gravina Island VIA Pennock Island to property his family owns at federal taxpayer's expense. It is my own opinion that this is only a payback for years of friendship from Rep. Don Young (Alaska)..."

powkat wrote on August 10, 2007 2:48 PM:

Here's how tired of Republic bull I am: maybe a storm will come in and they'll all drown.

heh wrote on August 10, 2007 3:05 PM:

Nelly Bly,

to wit, does Alaska even send as much money to the feds to expect that kind of kickback? A rural country with low population, well, do the math.

Ted tube Stevens, you need to suddenly retire and pronto.

oldtree wrote on August 10, 2007 3:19 PM:

do they offer pest repellent, disguises, bimbo's, viagra,.....
sorry, thought you said Cunningham

Ed*ard Teller wrote on August 10, 2007 3:19 PM:

They've been doing this POW Island event since at least the mid-90s. When my son was 7, he tied some flies for Stevens, and after the August POW fishing trip, he sent my son a pic of the Cutthroat trout he caught with a royal coachman with a "Thank You" note.

Re the Murkowski property on Gravina Island - most people in Ketchikan have known this for years and years.

Anonymous wrote on August 10, 2007 3:29 PM:

Can't you just hear the click of FBI cameras as people line up on the tarmac and dock to become the future indicted?

You'd have to be an idiot to be caught within 100 miles of this event.

Fish? More like 'Fish is a Barrell'.

Scurity code: judge ...c'mon this one is just too easy.

SVH wrote on August 10, 2007 3:32 PM:

Can't you just hear the click of FBI cameras as people line up on the tarmac and dock to become the future indicted?

You'd have to be an idiot to be caught within 100 miles of this event.

Fish? More like 'Fish is a Barrell'.

Scurity code: judge ...c'mon this one is just too easy.

Anonymous wrote on August 10, 2007 3:44 PM:

Re: the Murkowski property on Gravina Island - most people in Ketchikan have known this for years and years.

the mines value rises greatly with lower transporation costs especially those financed by Federal taxpayers

No MSM picked this up in the 'Bridge to Nowhere" frenzy

Now in the context of Murkowski's Kenai land deal and road to the area do you see why they get the Feds to pay for roads and bridges? Local government are cash strapped. Feds? who cares

organized crime plain and simple

Shawn Dochtermann wrote on August 10, 2007 3:54 PM:

A racketeering party for Stevens and his posse at a quaint little lodge removed from surveillance, I would presume. Since I am a 20 year veteran of the Bering Sea crab fisheries, why didn't I get an invitation? Are they scared to have someone with integrity sharing the booze and telling their stories later?

Anyone who professes that we need a bridge to Gravina Island to get to the airport are likely to vote for the three congressional crooks again, assuming that TS,DY,& LM will run on the "I'm not corrupt" campaign. If Alaskans have any sense, they'll draft Ray Metcalfe, Ethan Berkowitz,& Mary Nelson for our next Congressmen in DC, as they all pass with flying colors in the integrity test.

Nelly Bly wrote on August 10, 2007 4:01 PM:

This is kind of fun. The US Geological Survey referenced Murkowskis' Goldstone and Goldstring mines in a Ketchikan mining survey.

I linked to the USGS report below. See pps. 159-163.

I know very little about minerals so I don't know how to interpret the report or determine if the property has value as a mine.

Shawn C. Dochtermann wrote on August 10, 2007 4:19 PM:

A racketeering party for Ted and his posse at a quaint lodge removed from surveillance is what it sounds like to me. I’m a twenty year veteran of the Bering Sea crab fisheries, so where’s my invitation? Are they scared to invite those with integrity to share the booze and sports fishing because we might have loose lips and sink their big ships later?

Anyone who professes that we need the Gravina Island bridge either wants to cash in on it, or would vote for the crooks again, assuming that TS, DN & LS are going to run again. The “I’m not corrupt” campaign will be the platform for all three of our current Congressional delegates. I would like to draft Ray Metcalfe, Ethan Berkowitz, and Mary Nelson for the three seats in DC, as they all pass the integrity test with flying colors in my coloring book. Begich and Knowles are out, as they have some skeletons in the closet that will sink any campaign before it gets started. Land deals and oil payoffs are already part of the Stevens’ array of scandal, and MB and TK know what I am talking about.

The DOJ has started the clean up, now Alaskans need to do their civil duty and vote in those that will hold the public trust, just as a new born babe in a mothers arms.

kazoom wrote on August 10, 2007 4:32 PM:

Nelly --

>>What about the ferry service? i just watched a video about it on YouTube (link below).>A $220 million bridge for 15k people sounds high to me. How many people use the Ketchikan airport daily in and out of season?>Do Alaskans understand that the rest of us don't get that kind of money from the federal government?<<

Again, I agree that seems like an awful lot of money and yes, most of us Alaskans do understand that other states don't get that kind of money. But what I think a lot of the rest of the country does not understand about Alaska is the sheer side of the state (1/5 the size of the rest of the country), the remoteness of most of the state (there are more towns in Alaska that you cannot even drive to than are on the road system), and the basic lack of infrastructure in many of our communities (have you ever lived anywhere where your bathroom in the winter was a bucket inside that was taken out and dumped in a common holding area used by all of the village's residents to be dealt with in the spring?). Don't get me wrong. I love living here, but unless you've lived here, it's hard to understand some of the challenges.

Another thing that seems to get lost in a lot of discussions is that the federal government owns more than 90% of the land in Alaska. I don't know where you live, but if the federal government owned 90% of the land in your state, do you honestly think that your state tax dollars should be footing the bill for all of the infrastructure needed? Also, when you hear the per capita tax dollars that go to Alaska, that includes military and federal employees based in Alaska. Yes, I understand that they are a positive addition to the Alaska economy, but they work for the whole country, not just Alaska.

Larry O'Loane wrote on August 10, 2007 5:19 PM:

Greetings: I live here in Ketchikan, Alaska and can pontificate for longer than you want to hear about the Bridge to Nowhere, state and local politics, and logging on the Tongass National Forest.

The short of it is that trying to put a positive spin on any of the above is simply putting lipstick on a sow ... it's still just pork.

bibimimi wrote on August 10, 2007 6:25 PM:

Stevens, Young and Murkowski, Inc.

"Your Holy Trinity of Corrupt Alaskan Politics" ®

bb wrote on August 10, 2007 8:17 PM:

The getaway, billed as the “Ted Stevens El Capitan Fishing Event,” combines “three days of some of the best salt water fishing you will ever have,” according to the invite, with a fundraising reception expected to net at least $2,300 per person for the Senator’s re-election campaign.

I hope the boat is named S.S. Minnow lil' buddy!

Everybody sing...

"Just sit right back and you you'll hear a tale..."

Alaskan Princess wrote on August 10, 2007 9:05 PM:

Kazoom,
I am a Alaskan as well. Defending the Gravina Is. bridge is bunk. Although we have a huge amount of Federal land, it doesn't matter. Our federal representatives have lined thier pockets albeit the amount of federal land. In fact it is thier excuse they use, that "huge amount of federal land".

Frank the Bank (thats Frank Murkowski to those that don't know) as our ousted govenor got a jet that can't land in 90% of Alaska's airports. He only could fly over all that vast federal land. But this is when he was govenor so it doesn't count, NO. Yet it does lead to the excuse they used "so much federal land". His interest in our state was only lining his and his friends pockets. Screw the amount of federal land.

The same goes for Uncle Ted and Frank the Banks offspring, pretty little Lisa. Forget about the Dom, he is a fish rotting on the beach.

My point is Kazoom, our federal representation, if they had cared at all, well they would be talking to the people of Alaska, instead of trying to raise funds for thier legal fees via expensive, out of touch fund raisers.

aklocal wrote on August 10, 2007 9:40 PM:

kazoom, count me as another Alaskan who thinks the Gravina bridge stinks to high heaven. Sorry folks, K-town can handle seven minutes on the ferry instead of whining about not getting in on the pork train.

It really pissed me off to see Don and Ted like the big proud hogs in the trough raring, snorting and blasting slop all around as they tore up fiscal responsibility and embarassed the more responsible of us. I'm happy to see them take their licks.

badgervan wrote on August 10, 2007 10:05 PM:

kazoom: problem is, your elected representatives are knowingly rigging federally funded ( our taxes ) bills to enrich themselves, their contributors, and their families. The rest of us see this, and wonder why Alaskans re-elect these unethical "patriots" time after time.

kazoom wrote on August 11, 2007 1:04 AM:

OK, all you other Alaskans ... I never said I was defending the bridge. All I said that there were legitimate arguments on both sides, but that being a bridge to nowhere wasn't one of them. In fact, I haven't said whether I supported the bridge or not because I don't live there and I am not in a position to judge the necessity. I just tried to point out that some of the things the rest of the country takes for granted don't exist in much of Alaska. I'm also not trying to defend what our Delegation is doing ... I agree that it's an embarrassment. I love being an Alaskan and I hate how all of this is making us look. But for the record, they didn't get there with my vote.

Nelly Bly wrote on August 11, 2007 11:45 AM:

Kazoom, I'd like to know more about these Alaskans who don't have indoor toilets because that issue seems to get dragged out in every discussion about Alaska. How many Alaskans do not have indoor toilets and why not?

According to Quick Facts at the US Census website, Alaska has an estimated population of 670k and 221k households. 10% or 67k of Alaskans live below the poverty line.

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/02000.html

I assume that everyone above the poverty line has an indoor toilet or if they don't, it is by choice. I also assume that some poor people live in cities where everyone has an indoor toilet.

How many Alaskans and how many Alaskan households don't have indoor toilets?

Nelly Bly wrote on August 11, 2007 12:10 PM:

Kazoom, I visited the Ketchikan airport website:

http://www.borough.ketchikan.ak.us/airport/airport.htm

The total number of ferry passengers were 350k in 2006 of which 191k were walk-ons and 159k were in vehicles. Total number of vehicles was 87k.

If every single ferry passenger drove a vehicle over the proposed bridge, average daily traffic would only be 958 vehicles.

I noticed you and the other Alaskans did not comment about the Murkowskis owning 33 acres of mines on Gravina Island. Are the mines worth anything or is the property good for development with a bridge in place?

Do you think the Gravina Island bridge became a priority because it will benefit the Murkowski family?

kazoom wrote on August 11, 2007 1:06 PM:

Nelly,

You ask a lot of good questions. I'll have to admit that I don't know the answers to all of them, but I'll give it a try and maybe some of the other Alaskans on here can help out. I currently live in Anchorage, but I have lived off the road system up here. However, it was in a town large enough to have a sewer system.

My understanding of homes without indoor toilets is that the issue isn't poverty, it's that they are far enough north that the extreme cold in the winter makes building sewer systems (or even septic tanks, for that matter) extremely difficult and very expensive because of permafrost. Larger towns like Barrow can afford to build the very elaborate systems that are necessary under those conditions. The smaller villages can't. In those villages, as I mentioned earlier, people use "honey buckets" inside their homes and they are regularly hauled to a common holding area that is dealt with in the spring. I just did a google and one source said that 20,000 homes in Alaska use honey buckets.

A comment about the poverty level in Alaska ... many Native Alaskans live a subsistence lifestyle, meaning that they hunt and fish for their food and their economy is not based on money. Although most of them have some income, they fall below the poverty level, but they are not poor in the way that people in the Lower 48 think of poor. But that still means that they can't afford for their villages to have many of the basic services others take for granted. Most of the villages have electricity, but the electric cooperative doesn't take fish for payment.

The only things that I know about the mines on Gravina Island or any ownership by the Murkowskis is what I have read on blogs, so I can't answer those questions.

Anonymous wrote on August 11, 2007 5:33 PM:

If I may:

>If every single ferry passenger drove a vehicle over the proposed bridge, average daily traffic would only be 958 vehicles.

There is absolutely no justification for this bridge based traffic considerations. In fact, for many locals the trip to the airport would take longer over the bridge route than the current ferry (even if you factor in a full half hour wait if you missed the previous ferry run).

One of the fundamental truths of this project is that the bridge impeeds navigation on a heavily trafficked waterway and greatly increases the hazards to navigation for cruise ships and floatplanes. This is a very busy waterway.

>I noticed you and the other Alaskans did not comment about the Murkowskis owning 33 acres of mines on Gravina Island. Are the mines worth anything or is the property good for development with a bridge in place?

Never say never, but there are many abandoned mining sites that the pocket hillsides of SE Alaska. If these claims were valuable there would be activity there and a road dozed down to the tidewater over the privately held land that borders the narrows. There would be a barge landing site to allow movement of equipment and ore concentrates off the island.

To see how this activity is advanced off the road system, seach for Coeur Alaska, Kensington mine. That whole project is worth many long discussions, but the point is that for valuable deposits, capital is available, roads will be cut and access provided from tidewater or whatever other remote site is convenient.

>Do you think the Gravina Island bridge became a priority because it will benefit the Murkowski family?

No, however, the land is one of those things that a family would hang onto and most probably develop and sell at an oportune time. As noted in another post above, privately held land is scarce in Alaska which is why one wouldn't sell unless motivated.

There are numerous anecdotal stories about why this bridge project took on a life of its own, but my favorite is that Ted Stevens landed late one night in the pouring rain and the ferry pulled away just as his car headed down the ramp. Ted sat there for a half hour fuming because they wouldn't send the ferry back over to pick his Lordship up. His comment to one of the local politicos was "I'm going to get you that bridge".

The fact is that the Alaskan economy nosedived in the 90's with the world wide glut of oil and steeply declining oil prices. Remember $1.00/gal?
This dealt a double whammy to the state of Alaska which depends heavily on oil revenues to fund the state operating budget.

With the Republican take over of Congress in 1994, long serving Ted Stevens and Don Young took over chairmanship of important committes, Appropriations and Transportation. Soooee, time to bring home the bacon. The ex-senator Frank Murkowski becomes governor in 2002, oil prices where still relatively low and Frank needs to bring home the bacon to the state, but more importantly to the base of his political roots, Ketchikan. Hence renewed lobbying activity for the bridge, with it commonly being stated "we've got to get it now or we never will".

With the earmark for the the Gravina Access Bridge removed from the Federal budget, the state is no longer obligated to spend the money on that project. With Murkowski's defeat by Sara Palin, who represents the political and economic gravinometric center of the state (Anchorage), the appeal of this bridge lessened greatly as our state legislators salivated over getting this bridge money for other transportation projects in their districts.

Note that Frank has maintained for years that the property on Gravina Island is an inconsequential part of the Murkowski family holdings and would not influence decision making on the bridge. Well, OK sounds solid and upstanding.

As one of his last acts prior to leaving office Frank had DOT make an extremely hurried up award of $23 million to extend a road south from the airport to the island landing site of the bridge. This spot is about a half mile from the Murkowski property, which, if they have access rights, is an inconsequential distance to put in a new private access road. This would now give very easy vehicle access accross the ferry to the southern end of Gravina, all of which is privately held property, and open this area for development.

Make no mistake about it, development of Gravina Island is what this whole thing is about. We are very geographically constrained here on Revillagigedo Island. Undeveloped waterfront property is unavailable and land in general is scarce and difficult to develop. Ketchikan and SE Alaska continues to develop as a tourist destination and sport fishing haven. Access to SE is quick out of Seattle and there is growing demand for both housing and summer homes. Long term, Gravina presents a major growth opportunity locally.

You bet, the local Chamber of Commerce, Real Estate, Construction, Development and Political interests are solidly lined up behind the Bridge to Nowhere.

LOL

cracker wrote on August 12, 2007 1:29 PM:

Indoor toilets are part of the myth
Most people shop at Costco, obese people buy meat at Costco and use high speed Internet. A small vocal minority is addicted to gov welfare in rural areas that will always be economically depressed and depend on pork. Oil money and the Feds has kept them alive without paying taxes like most Americans

Oil money spent in state could have put gold handled toilets everywhere in Alaska. Most Fed & State money flowing to “rural” Alaska goes to contractors from Anchorage who comfortably flush normally at home and work years, a.k.a bleed the Feds of their money, without any improvement to Native villages

If you want to understand Alaska the FBI will soon show you that contractors, real estate developers, politicians, their aides, native corporations, quasi-government agencies, seafood processors and others collectively know as the Good 'Ol Boy network have sucked up most of the profits and “knew” where and when the money was coming before everyone else. Indoor toilets probably won't ever be built because justification for pork spending takes priority over modernity and facts

FBI will tell the story soon enough