No, Rep. Don Young (R-AK) didn't just raise a million dollars for his re-election battle. (A battle which will include a fierce Republican primary as well as a challenge from whichever Dem-who-beats-Young-in-polls emerges from the Democratic primary.) The Corrupt Bastard's legal fees have now hit the million dollar mark!
Why does Don Young have so many legal fees? Read below.
Young's lawyers have been busier than his legislative assistants recently. They've been so busy that he is employing teams from three different firms. Which is understandable. Don Young is enmeshed in so many different scandals that he probably should have as much representation as he and his patrons can afford. A brief list of the Young investigations from the good people at TPM Muckracker:
Coconut Road
...investigators have begun scrutinizing Young's now famous $10 million earmark for a Florida interchange....
Dennis Troha
....Wisconsin businessman Dennis Troha is reportedly cooperating with investigators regarding his contributions to Young and other lawmakers....
Veco
The FBI is also scrutinizing Young's dealings with Alaska oil services company Veco [the firm at the center of investigations into Senator Ted Stevens, his son Ben, and several Republicans in state government.]
Jack Abramoff
Last year, [TPM reporter Paul Kiel] reported on a 1999 Abramoff-organized Congressional junket Young led to the Marshall Islands....Mark Zachares, a native Alaskan and former senior aide on the House Transportation Committee -- during Young's tenure as chair -- pleaded guilty in July to hawking political favors in exchange for perks (like $60,000 in cash and a trip to Scotland) and a future job from Abramoff....Zachares was a Mariana Islands official at the time and Abramoff was the islands' lobbyist and paid $11 million to make sure Congress didn't interfere with wages or immigration -- the two areas under Zachares' domain. Thanks to Young, the reforms were halted.
Click on the link above the blockquote for a fuller explanation (with plenty of links) of allegations against Don Young.
Since Rep. Young is probably hard at work raising money to pay all of his lawyers, now is a good time to get hard at work raising money for a Democrat to take his seat in November. All three major Democratic candidates (Ethan Berkowitz, Diane Benson, and Jake Metcalfe) have fundraising pages at ActBlue, and ActBlue also has a AK-AL Democratic Nominee Fund if you'd prefer to earmark your dollars for the general election rather than a primary fight.
It's time Don Young had more time to devote to paying his lawyers. Retiring him from Congress will give him that time, and ensure that he will not be tempted to sell favors to pay those debts. Of course, giving in to those temptations is the reason he needs all his lawyers, so retiring him from Congress will be a favor to the people of Alaska, and the people of the United States.