Home

Citizens for Ethical Government Inc. is an Alaskan Non Profit Political Watchdog group based in Anchorage Alaska.

We are watching the States legislators for ethics violations and working to ensure Alaska’s Permanent Fund is not diverted into the pockets of others.

We are the primary cause of the arrests of Bill Allen, Tom Anderson, Bill Bobrick, John Cowdery, Vic Kohring, Pete Kott, Bill Weimar, Bruce Weyhrauch and others and the demise of the

Corrupt Bastards Club

The name “Corrupt Bastards Club” (alternatively “Corrupt Bastards Caucus”) has been widely, if with limited accuracy, used to designate Alaska legislators implicated in the federal corruption (a.k.a., “Polar Pen”) investigation. The nickname originated in the spring of 2006 as a barroom joke among Alaska legislators after a guest article by Lori Backes, executive director of All Alaska Alliance, that ran in Alaska’s three largest newspapers named 11 lawmakers who had received large campaign contributions from executives of the oilfield services company VECO Corporation, which has a long history of making large campaign contributions to Alaska politicians. The article also named Senate President Ben Stevens as having received large consulting fees from VECO.

In her article, Backes detailed the amount of political campaign donations contributed between 1998 and 2004 by the top seven VECO executives to Alaska lawmakers who were in office at the time her article was written. The figures were based on reports to the Alaska Public Offices Commission

  • Senator John Cowdery (R-Anchorage), Senate Rules Committee Chair: $24,550.
  • Representative Pete Kott (R-Eagle River), former speaker of the House: $21,300.
  • Representative Norman Rokeberg (R-Anchorage), House Rules Committee Chair: $18,000.
  • Representative Vic Kohring (R-Wasilla), House Oil and Gas Committee Chair : $14,708.
  • Governor Frank Murkowski: $6,500 (excluding donations to past U.S. Senate races)
  • Representative (currently Senator) Kevin Meyer (R-Anchorage), House Finance Committee Co-Chair: $12,300.
  • Representative Mike Chenault (R-Nikiski), House Finance Committee Co-Chair: $12,000.
  • Representative (currently Senator) Lesil McGuire (R-Anchorage), House Judiciary Committee Chair: $12,000.
  • Senator Con Bunde (R-Anchorage), Senate Labor and Commerce Committee Chair: $11,500.
  • Senator Lyda Green (R-Wasilla), Senate Finance Committee Co-Chair: $28,000.
  • Representative Mike Hawker (R-Anchorage): $8,050.
  • Representative Tom Anderson (R-Anchorage), House Labor and Commerce Chair: $8,000.