House Transportation Committee
Don Young used his power as Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to steer vast sums of public money to his family and campaign donors.
 Young’s Ties to AbramoffMark Zachares’ corruption is the latest to surface in a long line of links between Young and Abramoff. Young’s Aide Zachares Gave Abramoff Inside InformationFor four years, Zachares engaged in a conspiracy to enrich the infamous Abramoff, a Republican Party insider whose corrupt acts entangled several members of Congress and other government officials. The Abramoff SkyboxOn February 2, 2000, Young called Abramoff’s assistant Jennifer Calvert to ask for use of Abramoff’s MCI skybox for two upcoming fundraisers. Mariana IslandsOver the years Young repeatedly acted to aid the government of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a small group of Pacific Ocean islands under U.S. jurisdiction. Abramoff was paid $11 million to lobby for CNMI from 1994 to 2001. Marshall IslandsOn January 4, 1999, Abramoff was hired to represent the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). Abramoff’s main mission was to stop legislation pending in Congress, which would have raised costs of clothing manufacture by the Tan family and other clothing manufacture interests there. Post Office ProjectIn September 2002, Young sought to intervene with the General Services Administration on behalf of Abramoff, who at that time was seeking preferential treatment for a group of his Tribal clients who were bidding on a proposal to develop the Old Post Office Complex site in Washington, DC. Young’s Ties to VECOVECO CEO Bill Allen and VP Richard Smith pleaded guilty in May, 2007 to bribing Alaska lawmakers. Don Young’s WayThe proposed bridge across Knik Arm near Anchorage, otherwise known as Don Young’s Way, became a subject of national ridicule and driver of earmark reform in Congress. Young sponsored an earmark of more than $230 million dollars in the 2005 federal highway transportation bill for the bridge that is to be named after himself. AK or Arkansas?Arkansas, with a population of about 2.8 million, reaped a total of about $2.38 billion in the five-year national transportation bill that Young helped pass in 2005 when he was chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Coconut Road in FloridaThe New York Times reported Young’s connection to a $10 million appropriation he earmarked for Coconut Road in Florida. Trucking legislationAnother example of Don Young taking official action that benefited some of his campaign donors is the passage of legislation that revised truck-hauling rules.The Anchorage Daily News reported that the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office opened an investigationinto a deal involving payments to Rep. Young and other Congressmen by indicted Wisconsin businessman Dennis Troha. Sources of campaign fundsOf Young’s five largest sources of funds in the most recent campaign cycle, two - Veco Corp. and Jht Holdings - are tainted by corruption scandals. Veco is the oil field service company whose executives Bill Allen and Richard Smith pled guilty to bribing Alaska legislators. Since 1989 Young has received more than $200,000 from VECO employees, his largest source of campaign funds. Ties to GOP leadersYoung voted with President Bush 86% of the time and the Republican Party line 94% of the time. Ties with Tom DelayYoung has taken money from Tom DeLay’s ARMPAC, voted to weaken House ethics rules when DeLay proposed doing so, voted to allow the GOP House Leader to continue to serve after an indictment, and voted with Tom DeLay 88% of the time. |
