Newly released documents reveal depth of Alaska Congressman Don Young's corruption.

Courtesy of the Huffington Post:

 -- Documents released by the FBI show that a source told investigators that an Alaska congressman and his late wife spent campaign money on hunting trips and flights and wrote checks to themselves over years of allegedly profligate spending on his contributors' dime. 

The allegations were not enough to convince the FBI that they could convict Rep. Don Young and the matter was dropped in 2010. 

The documents were released Friday, more than three months after a federal judge rejected the Justice Department's refusal to turn over records of its criminal investigation. 

The source, whose identify was redacted in the documents, appeared to have intimate knowledge of Young's D.C. office and was familiar with Young and his wife's conduct during fundraising trips. 

Congress asked the Justice Department in 2008 to investigate Young's role in securing a $10 million earmark to widen a Florida highway. 

The project would have benefited a developer who helped raise money for Young. The congressman was re-elected to a 20th term in 2010. 

Young's press secretary, Luke Miller, said Saturday that the matter should be considered closed. 

"First and foremost, Congressman Young is not under investigation and any assertion that he is, is utterly false," Miller said. "The reckless accusations made yesterday are part of a larger effort to smear the Congressman. 

"Congressman Young has cooperated with the investigative process every step of the way and nothing was found. Simply put – it's time to move on."

The idea that "Congressman Young has cooperated with the investigative process every step of the way" is laugh out loud funny, but the sad fact is that, due to Don Young's seemingly invulnerability to criminal prosecution, many Alaska political activists HAVE moved on.

You would be hard pressed to find ANYBODY in Alaska who would not admit that they think Don Young is corrupt. And that goes for supporters as well.

However you would also be hard pressed to find anybody who thinks Don Young will either be defeated in an election or convicted for his numerous crimes. Ain't gonna happen.

In 2008 I was actually among those who firmly believed that we were at the cusp of an incredible overhaul of Alaska's corrupt election system, and that, with all of the energy and participation inspired by BOTH Barack Obama and Sarah Palin, Alaskans were finally ready to "throw the bums out."

I watched the election returns that night at election headquarters downtown and was beyond excited to see Young trailing Ethan Berkowitz by a substantial margin early on. Suddenly right before our eyes the newer numbers started coming in from polling places that rely heavily on the Diebold electronic voting machines and by a large margin they started to favor Young. By the end of the night Young was ahead of Ethan by only a few percentage points. However later there suddenly appeared this huge unexpected number of absentee ballots, and by the end Young retained his seat.

It was the clearest case of voter fraud that I had ever witnessed. However when push came to shove, Ethan Berkowitz conceded, and today Don Young remains our "Congressman for life."

It was a very hard lesson to learn, in that it makes NO difference who the voters want, because until the GOP (And their oil company masters) release their death grip on Alaska politics the people's choice will never attain office in this state. Literally the ONLY reason that Mark Begich was able to defeat Ted Stevens is because he had become an embarrassment to the powers that be in Alaska and they allowed him to be removed.

And as for the FBI?  Well my sources tell me that have NO plans to go after Don Young, pretty much ever. ESPECIALLY after the debacle of the Ted Stevens corruption trial.

When members of the Alaska Republicans referred to themselves as "The Corrupt Bastards Club," it was not some tongue in cheek reference to how their political enemies viewed them. It was an arrogant display of how positive they were that they were too powerful and well connected to ever be punished for their crimes.

And in the end, at least in the case of Congressman Don Young and Ted's son Ben Stevens, that arrogance proved to be well deserved.