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BETH BRAGG Anchorage Daily News
This conflict-of-interest thing must confuse Ted and Lisa
COMMENT Beth Bragg
Published: August 3, 2007
As yet another fine mess embroils an Alaska lawmaker, you have to wonder:
Why is it so hard for these people to recognize a conflict of interest?
Had either Ted Stevens or Lisa Murkowski asked themselves the most basic of questions before saying yes to offers way too good to be defensible, they'd find it much easier to stay out of the cross hairs of the FBI, the IRS, political watchdog groups, bloggers, comedians and plain ol' ordinary Alaskans.
The questions they should have asked are A-B-C, 1-2-3 simple:
Would ordinary Alaskans be offered similar deals or favors?
Would Bob Penney sell his 1.27-acre Kenai River lot for $179,400 on Craigslist?
Would Bill Allen run a classified ad seeking home-remodeling projects to oversee?
The answer to each is no. Which is why the answer from the senators should have been no way.
It's that simple.
It doesn't matter that Penney has known Murkowski since she was 5 years old or that Allen has been friends with Stevens since the Paleozoic era.
What matters is that Murkowski and Stevens are United States senators, and everything they do must be free of even the appearance of a conflict of interest.
Note the use of the word "appearance." For some reason, lawmakers (and even some ordinary Alaskans) seem to think there needs to be an overt, egregious ethical lapse for something to qualify as a conflict of interest.
Wrong. It's about what looks fishy or oily, not just about what actually is fishy or oily. You don't need an indictment or a conviction for certain behaviors to erode trust.
Whether Murkowski makes decisions that will benefit sport fishing (Penney's domain) or Stevens makes decisions that will benefit the oil industry (Allen's) doesn't really matter.
What matters is, by accepting deals or services unavailable to the rest of us from well-connected heavyweights whose prosperity might be affected by lawmakers' decisions, Murkowski and Stevens give ordinary Alaskans legitimate reason to wonder if the senators can do their job without being compromised.
There's no question both got something the average person won't get. If in doubt, review the previous questions.
Murkowski realized the appearance of a conflict was significant enough to give up the land she and her husband bought from Penney. Her cry-me-a-Kenai-River-lament that criticism of the deal cost her family the Alaska home they deserve is shameful. She never should have taken the deal in the first place. She deserved every bit of scrutiny she received. She and her husband should have shopped for land the same way other Alaskans do, or at least those Alaskans who don't have cozy relationships with the rich and powerful.
When you're an elected or appointed official, ethics trump friendships. You must avoid the appearance of conflict in matters both professional and personal. Simple as that.
Problem is, Alaskans have long enabled the pervasive mentality among lawmakers that it's OK to cash in on their office and influence, that it's OK to take consulting jobs they wouldn't get if they were merely cabinet makers, that it's OK to let oil-industry bigwigs like Allen dictate lobbying laws.
Juneau insiders say they've long been aware of the culture of corruption at the state level, but it took federal investigators to kick over the stone and expose the Tom Andersons of that world. And most Alaskans sat by quietly as majority lawmakers delayed fixing state ethics laws that had allowed a former attorney general to take a lead role in a project that could have steered business to a company he owned more than $100,000 worth of stock in.
The other day I heard a woman talking about the scene in "The Simpsons Movie" where Homer learns Alaskans receive annual checks for "letting the oil companies ravage" the state's natural beauty. "I always wondered why we got them," she said, not considering for a minute the line was a commentary on the state's love affair with the industry that helped spawn Allen and his dirty deeds.
Lawmakers may be too stupid or too arrogant to recognize obvious conflicts, but ordinary Alaskans deserve part of the blame for letting them get away with it for so long. Even now, people defend Murkowski by saying her long friendship with Penney exempts their deal from criticism and defend Stevens by saying his four-bedroom, three-bath Girdwood home assessed at $440,900 is modest and therefore immune from scrutiny.
Until everyone accepts that the only rewards lawmakers deserve is their salary, their considerable power and influence, and perhaps their re-election, we're stuck in this fine mess together.
Anchorage Daily News
Interests
Former DOT head Niemiec leading Knik bridge project . . .
FAIRBANKS DAILY NEWSMINER By Chris Eshleman . . .
ceshleman @ newsminer.com Published August 3, 2007 . . . . . .
A former Fairbanks-area transportation official who left state government following a drunken driving arrest is now helping to lead a well-known transportation project in Anchorage. . . . . . .
Andrew Niemiec was named executive director of the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority, which aims to build a bridge spanning the Knik Arm from Anchorage to Port MacKenzie, in May. . . . Niemiec replaced former director Henry Springer, who will head a task force aimed at finding a private organization to finance, build and operate the bridge. . . . .
Niemiec, an engineer and graduate of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, led the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities' northern region office before resigning this winter. . . .
The resignation came shortly after . . .
Niemiec was arrested on charges of drunken driving and assault after crashing his car into a guardrail and allegedly fighting with troopers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Niemiec was hired by the bridge authority's board of directors, a group that includes former Anchorage Mayor George Wuerch and state Transportation Department Central Regional Director Gordon Keith. . . . . . . . . .
... With his recommendations and credentials, Andrew was well known and well respected, ... board vice chairman Darcie Salmon said. ... With his criteria laid before us and high commendations . . . . . . . . .
... Andrew rose to the top like cream. ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Alaska Legislature created the Knik Arm authority in 2003 to build the bridge. A 2005 congressional earmark that promised to bring Alaska $231 million to help start the project was met with national scrutiny and ridicule. . . . . FAIRBANKS DAILY NEWSMINER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BRIDGES TO NOWHERE
