GOP Rep. Don Young had a secret for more than two decades: he owned one-third interest in a California farm he acquired through an inheritance in 1995. But when he finally netted $250,000 from selling it last year, he couldn't keep it under wraps any longer. Nathaniel Herz writes:
In a letter to the House clerk in May, Young, a Republican, admitted his failure to disclose his interest and said it was accidental.
But his ownership of the land was no mystery to him: In 1993 and in 2001, Young and several family members signed oil and gas leases for the property.
Young, 83, reported income from the 1993 oil and gas leases on his financial disclosures at the time and valued the leases at no more than $15,000. He said he received $1,001 to $2,500 in annual rental income before the leases lapsed in the late 1990s.
But the initial disclosure isn’t Young's only oversight. Just after stepping down from serving six years as chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources—which oversees oil and gas on public land—Young reportedly signed a 2001 lease to Kansas-based Slawson Exploration Co.
Slawson is one of the biggest privately owned oil companies in the United States, and it helped pioneer development of the Bakken field in North Dakota. Its executives have donated tens of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates.
Please give $3 to help give Young the boot and give accountability a chance. Let's turn the House blue again.
When Young tried to clear up his initial failure to claim the family farm from 1995-2014 in House financial disclosure filings, he assured the House clerk that his "omission was unintentional" and added, "I hope that this update now fulfills my obligation to amend prior year filings."
Not so much. Looks like he's going to have to go back to the drawing the board on the Slawson deal, says Young's spokesperson Matt Shuckerow.
Shuckerow said in an emailed response to questions that Young would be correcting his disclosures to "update this oversight." The 2001 lease, between Slawson Exploration, Young and five members of Young's family, gave Slawson exclusive rights to look for oil and gas on the farm.
Let's dispense with the "oversight" terminology here and simply call it a wicked blind spot, no?
Young's Democratic opponent this year is former Alaska Public Media CEO Steve Lindbeck, who is also Daily Kos endorsed. While Young’s favorability ratings are under water in Lindbeck’s internal polling, one of Lindbeck’s challenges is name recognition according to polling conducted for Alaska Dispatch News.
Have you donated to Steve Lindbeck yet? Please send him $3 to help him beat Don Young!