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Nowhere Bridge to Murkowski Family's 33 Acres on Gravina Island
If Laura McGann is still in Alaska, she may want to consider a stop in Ketchikan. Might be worth checking property records and the minutes of any meetings of whatever entity constitutes the local economic development authority.
From a 9/12/05 article on the SitNews website (biased and unverified):
"...Let's not forget, Governor Frank Murkowski has a 33-acres of family owned land, Goldstring and Goldstone old mining sites just south of Clam Cove on Gravina Island. Governor Frank H. Murkowski has a conflict of interest and hidden motivations to construct a $315 million bridge to Gravina Island VIA Pennock Island to property his family owns at federal taxpayer's expense. It is my own opinion that this is only a payback for years of friendship from Rep. Don Young (Alaska)...."
(sitnews.us)
The author attributes timber access as the driving force behind the Bridge to Nowhere, I would also consider mining and tourist development.
I have more info on Gravina Island in my notes that I will dig up and post later, time permitting.
Comments (2)
The comments in this 8/10/07 TPM Muckraker post by Laura McGann provide additonal information about the Murkowski property and Gravina Island.
McGann's post was about a Ted Stevens fundraiser at the El Capitan Lodge, a fishing resort on Prince of Wales Island.
According to a travel page on the lodge website, guests fly into the Ketchikan airport on a 1-1/2 hour flight from Seattle via jet.
The Ketchikan Airport, of course, is on Gravina Island which is where the "Bridge to Nowhere" was supposed to be built.
From the airport, guests take a seven-minute ferry ride to Ketchikan where they stay overnight at a local inn. In the morning, a seaplane takes the guests to the El Capitan Lodge.
The rate for a three-day stay at the Lodge is $2800.
September 12, 2008 12:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
The comments in this 8/10/07 TPM Muckraker post by Laura McGann provide additonal information about the Murkowski property and Gravina Island.
McGann's post was about a Ted Stevens fundraiser at the El Capitan Lodge, a fishing resort on Prince of Wales Island.
According to a travel page on the lodge website, guests fly into the Ketchikan airport on a 1-1/2 hour flight from Seattle via jet.
The Ketchikan Airport, of course, is on Gravina Island which is where the "Bridge to Nowhere" was supposed to be built.
From the airport, guests take a seven-minute ferry ride to Ketchikan where they stay overnight at a local inn. In the morning, a seaplane takes the guests to the El Capitan Lodge.
The rate for a three-day stay at the Lodge is or was $2800 and 20 guests is considered a full house.
I wonder if the El Capitan Lodge charged Stevens and the lobbyists the going rate.
Come to think of it, I wonder if Sarah Palin ever attended any of the big GOP shindigs in Alaska. I'm thinking Waterfall Resort here.
September 12, 2008 12:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
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