Dark cloud hangs over Alaska delegation

JUNEAU, Alaska — A government watchdog group filed a complaint Wednesday with the Senate ethics committee over a land deal involving Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

Another GOP member of the Alaska delegation, Rep. Don Young, is under criminal investigation, a federal law-enforcement official said.

Part of the probe involves Young's campaign-finance practices, which would be investigated in Washington, D.C., said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Republican Sen. Ted Stevens had acknowledged previously that he has been told by authorities to preserve records of a house-remodeling project involving an Anchorage-based oil-field service company, VECO.

At issue in the Murkowski complaint is her purchase of prime Kenai River land southwest of Anchorage. She paid $179,400 to a friend, real-estate developer and political supporter Bob Penney, for land that area real-estate agents said could have fetched as much as $350,000.

The National Legal and Policy Center filed a 25-page complaint with the Senate committee.

Murkowski's office declined to comment Wednesday but scheduled a news conference for today.

Penney, who lives two lots from the tract in question, has said he considers the price fair for a welcome neighbor.

Young's spokeswoman, Meredith Kenny, said his office would not discuss the investigation, first reported by The Wall Street Journal. "We don't have a comment right now," she said.

VECO's former chief executive, Bill Allen, held fundraisers for Young every August for 10 years. Public records show Young received $157,000 from VECO employees and its political-action committee during that time.

Young amended campaign-finance filings this year to reflect $38,000 in payments to Allen, which the Journal said had not been reported previously. The refunds were labeled "fundraising costs" in documents filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Young's campaign recently reported that he had spent more than $250,000 in legal fees since putting a Washington law firm on retainer, but his campaign officials would not say why.

Young, 74, and Stevens, 83, have been in office for decades, holding influential posts when their party has been in power. Both are running for re-election in 2008.