Citizens for Ethical Government

Anchorage Daily News (AK) - July 13, 2007….. Until this year, Bill Bobrick was the busiest lobbyist in the city….. Begich was the best man at Bobrick’s wedding in 1998 and the two have known each other for decades. Thursday, Begich said he never pushed anyone to hire Bobrick. In fact, people don’t really need a lobbyist to do business with the city, he said……Bobrick’s conspiracy conviction involved passing bribes….

In March of 2005, I placed the bribery of Ben Stevens and Veco under a spotlight that was impossible to ignore until the FBI raided their offices eighteen months later. In that time between my initial accusations and the FBI’s raids, I was accused of making frivolous accusations by numerous politicians and newspaper editors.

Today Mark Begich accuses me of making frivolous accusations again, as I spotlight the fact that he and Ted Stevens, both concealed large gifts from supporters while using their elected offices to deliver multi-million dollar favors at taxpayer expense… to those who gave them their gifts. The biggest single difference between what Ted has done and what Mark has done is that Ted Stevens has been indicted for his actions and Mark Begich has not.

When Jon Rubini gave Mark Begich an interest in two midtown office buildings, Mark Begich concealed that gift for four years. When Ted Stevens received a free remodel of his Girdwood home, he concealed that gift for six years and that is what he has been indicted for. When Ted Stevens was asked about his gifts from Veco, he lied about them. When Mark Begich was asked by Anchorage Daily News reporter Kyle Hopkins why Jon Rubini gave him an interest in two mid town office buildings, Begich also lied.  

Begich lied when he told Kyle Hopkins that he had “negotiated down” to make the deal happen, taking a smaller than normal commission, saying he had only received $22,500, on a large sale. Attached is a copy of the page from the closing statement showing the commission. By viewing the attached you will see that Realty Executives, the company Begich worked for, received a $50,000 commission. You will also find the quotes of Begich telling the Daily News he compromised his commission to $22,500.

Begich later said Rubini gave him an interest in the two buildings to make up for the small real estate commission he had earned four months prior.

I am a commercial real estate broker. I have reviewed the closing documents of the transaction to which Begich attributed his gift. There is no mention of the interest in the office buildings or additional commissions due in the closing statements, which makes his explanation highly unlikely.

Begich’s $50,000 commission was for the sale of the north half of the city block, between 5^th and 6^th where, after the sale, the National Park Service Building was built by Jon Rubini. At that time both Mark Begich and Ted Stevens were business partners with Jon Rubini.

A different agent sold the south half of the block that is now used as a parking lot and that agent also got a $50,000 commission which was paid at closing. His commission is shown on a separate closing statement that deals with the south half of the block.

Bond Stevens and Johnston listed the property and received a listing commission for both the north and the south half equaling approximately the same as the two selling agents were paid. There is nothing about the commissions paid in this transaction that was compromised to, as Make Begich has said, “to make the deal happen.”

John Rubini has a track record of giving politicians sweet deals on real estate and then buying them back out of the same deals as he collects multi-million dollar favors at taxpayer expense. Rubini let Stevens buy into a real property development for $50,000 and then bought him out for a million and fifty thousand dollars a few years later. He gave Mark Begich an interest in two properties free of charge and then bought him out four years later for $52,000.

In the meantime Begich helped Rubini secure a four million dollar per year tax break on real property he owns and helped him double his money on a piece of property he picked up for $1,500,000 and sold to the federal government one year later for $3,500,000.

At first Mark hid the gift Rubini gave him. When he got caught hiding it he lied about its amount, and has yet to comply with his promised open book policy by producing the records necessary to answer the question of whether he reported it to the IRS as a gift, or a commission as he now claims it was. He has also failed to ask his former broker to produce the paper trail that has to exist, if it were in fact a commission.

Attached is proof that Begich has lied to the Daily News about some of the facts surrounding his gift from Rubini. I have been a commercial real estate broker for 34 years. Begich’s explanation of the remaining parts are so far removed from how things work in real estate, the entire explanation defies believability. (http://citizens4ethics.com/docs/Begich_Bobrick_Weimar_3-Peas.pdf)

Without subpoenas or reporters curious enough to inquire why Begich lied to the Daily News, all I can do is weigh a preponderance of the best evidence available. From it I conclude that Begich concocted a not so clever scheme to mask a bribe as a commission. Whether he is elected or not, I intend to pursue this matter with the same vigor I pursued Ben Stevens, Veco, and the bribery of our Legislature.

The only thing more embarrassing for Alaska than watching Ted and Don go to jail, would be to watch an elected Mark Begich go to jail right behind them.

Most Sincerely,

Ray Metcalfe

This distribution was paid for by the Ray Metcalfe for Ethical Government Committee, PO Box 233809, Anchorage Alaska, 99523.

Political campaign donations contributed between 1998 and 2004 by the top seven VECO executives to Alaska lawmakers. The figures were based on reports to the Alaska Public offices Commission.

• Sen. John Cowdery (R- Anchorage), Senate Rules Committee Chair: $24,550.
• Rep. Pete Kott (R- Eagle River), former speaker of the House: $21,300.
• Rep. Norman Rokeberg (R-Anchorage), House Rules Committee Chair: $18,000.
• Rep. Vic kohring (R- Wasilla), House Oil and Gas Committee Chair : $14,708.
• Gov. Frank Murkowski: $6,500 (excluding donations to past U.S. Senate races)
• Rep. Kevin Meyer (R-Anchorage), House Finance Committee Co-Chair: $12,300.
• Rep. Mike Chenault (R- Nikiski), House Finance Committee Co-Chair: $12,000.
• Rep. Lesil McGuire (R-Anchorage), House Judiciary Committee Chair: $12,000.
• Sen. Con Bunde (R-Anchorage), Senate Labor and Commerce Committee Chair: $11,500.
• Sen. Lyda Green (R-Wasilla), Senate Finance Committee Co-Chair: $9,000.
• Rep. Mike Hawker (R-Anchorage): $8,050.
• Rep. Tom Anderson (R-Anchorage), House Labor and Commerce Chair: $8,000.

THE CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS

Microsoft PAC & Individual
Contributions to the Senate, 1995-00*
Frank H. Murkowski (R-Alaska) $1,000

Ted Stevens (R-Alaska)$2,000

Microsoft PAC & Individual
Contributions to the House, 1999-00*

Don Young (R-Alaska)$2,000

Republican Party Chairman Randy Ruedrich survives a Republican coup attempt by party reformers and Bob Penny replaces Veco.

The first time I met Bob Penny, November 1978, he showed up out of nowhere with the maximum contribution to assist me in retiring my campaign debt and told me how brilliant my campaign had been. He then invited me to a party at his house where I grazed on ice cold shrimp plucked from the first ice sculpture I had ever seen.

The next time I saw Bob Penny he was standing in the hallway in Juneau with his hand out asking me to help fill it with State money.

RM

Investigations ongoing and concluded

Open honest ethical government is the most important missing ingredient in our political system. Lots of people talk about it but very few people do something about it.

Ray Metcalfe, Chairman of Citizens For Ethical Government, is one of those few that took action and did something about the corruptions in Government he had found and brought about one of the most widespred political corruption investigations in the history of the United States.

The FBI and IRS raid the home of Republican Senator Ted Stevens following investigations into dealings with the Bill Allen of VECO Corporation

Senator Lisa Murkowski reports she will sell back land purchased in a sweetheart deal, following close scrutiny of the shady transaction

ARRESTED

Alaska Rep. Victor Kohring, R-Wasilla, is led into the Federal Court Room for arraignment in Juneau, Alaska on Friday, May 4, 2007.

(AP Photo/Chris Miller)

Prosecutors allege the scheme unfolded as lawmakers weighed a new petroleum profits tax structure and a new contract for a natural gas pipeline last year.

Kott explicitly linked his support of the pipeline and the company’s preferred version of the tax proposal to benefits during a teleconference with company officials, according to the indictment.

“You’ll get your gas line, the governor gets his bill, and I’ll get my job in Barbados,” he told company executives, the indictment states.

April 2006

Alaska’s Legislature hired one of the world’s top oil consultants to advise it’s members. Unfortunately, they don’t appear to have heard a word he said.

If you read between the lines of Daniel Johnston’s report to the Legislature, he said the Governor’s proposal would bind Alaska to a sales agreement that is 35 percent below what many other oil producers would be willing to pay for Alaska’s oil. According to Johnston’s report, the average host country kept 67 percent of the proceeds when oil was bringing in $20 per barrel. Now that oil is selling at $60 per barrel, oil-producing countries throughout the world keep approximately 92 percent of the sale proceeds.

According to Alaska’s leading oil economist, Richard Fineberg, Alaska’s combined income from the oil, (royalty oil, severance tax, income tax and property tax) add up to a 33 percent taking from a $53 barrel of oil, and the feds take an additional 13 percent, for a total of 46 percent, making Alaska the lowest taxing major oil producer in the world. Effectively, we pay $32.40 per barrel to BP, ExxonMobil and Conoco Phillips for the same service most owner-states pay only $4.80 to obtain. Another way to say it: We pay seven times as much as the rest of the world to get our oil produced. And according to the Wood MacKenzie report to the legislature, the oil company’s claim of higher costs in Alaska is deceptive hype If the Governor’s proposal passes, we will be locked into a deal to pay about five times as much for the next 30 years.

If our Legislature did what it should and doubled our current 33 percent take to 66 percent, and the feds continued to keep 13 percent, we would still remain one of the lowest taxing major producers in the world — with a significantly different effect. The increased state revenue would be sufficient to restore municipal revenue sharing, eliminate 100 percent of all local sales and property taxes, restore power equalization, and pay every man, woman and child in Alaska a $3,000 annual dividend. Do the math.

If the Governor’s proposal is adopted, Alaska will be locked into an agreement for the next 30 years to sell both its gas and its oil at 35 percent below the world average profit retention by oil producing host countries. This would be a mistake that, under the Governor’s proposed “Contract,” future legislatures could not undo.

Alaska’s future well-being depends on the general public’s grasp of the points made in Johnston’s report to the Legislature. It is a publicly owned document. On page 47, you will find a statement in the middle of a chart paging the world average profit retention at 92 percent. As you view the chart, keep in mind that the chart is upside down from an owner state prospective. It was developed to show oil company executives what countries offer the highest return on investments through the lowest taxes. You can reprint and publish it for distribution in any way you wish.

The Governor’s arguments won’t wash with the public if enough people are armed with a reference point by which to measure the Governor’s plan. High taxes? Compared to what? Compared to whom? Without such a reference point, the public is unable to determine whether to support or oppose the plan.

With wide enough recognition of these facts, a tidal wave of opposition to the Governor’s plan might soon hit Juneau. So do it. Do the math.
Ray Metcalfe RayinAK@aol.com

May 2005

If enough Alaskan’s do nothing while Ben Stevens raids the Permanent Fund, Alaska’s Dividend distribution program will soon be history.

The need to stop Ben Stevens from raiding the permanent fund and the need to repeal ELF go hand in hand.

ELF refers to an endlessly increasing series of tax breaks that our Legislature approved for oil producers many years ago.

ELF is a mathematical formula that increases its tax cuts for oil more and more every year. Since the original pre-pipeline severance tax agreement Elf thus far has cut Alaska’s percent of take from North Slope Oil in half.

Our original 15% severance tax on North Slope Oil was the lowest tax of any major oil producer in the world when it started and it has now been lowered to 7%.

If ELF is not repealed, over the next five years, the automatic increases of ELF’s tax cuts will cut our severance tax on North Slope Oil to one-fourth of the pre-pipeline agreement, cutting our severance tax to an unheard world record low of 3%.

The oil companies cannot sustain their automatically and endlessly increasing tax breaks over the next five years, without persuading the Legislature to raid the Permanent Fund and take your dividend to make up for the difference in funding required to cover the costs of services we all demand.

Ben Stevens is the guy the oil companies have hired, to the tune of about $50,000 per year, to make sure the Legislature raids the fund rather than repeal ELF. While pretending to represent you, Ben Stevens in fact doing the oil companies business. He and the oil companies who bought his loyalty are using his position in our Legislature to rob us blind.

If Ben and his buddies get away with what they are up to, they will use the Permanent Fund to clear our roads and patch our potholes until the Fund runs empty. It will run empty just about the same time BP sucks the last drop of oil out Alaska and splits, leaving Alaska about as poor as the coal companies left the hillbillies in Appalachia.

Ray Metcalfe
rayinak@aol.com