Alaska Gov. Frank Murkoswki — the guy who appointed his daughter to fill the U.S. Senate seat he vacated to run for governor, and whose wife Nancy owns land valued at a quarter million dollars on the small island Rep. Don Young secured $250 million in federal largesse to build a bridge to — wants an airplane.

He really, really wants an airplane. Oh sure, he has unlimited use of two dinky little turboprops. And he can take commercial air for longer flights on the taxpayer dime. But come on. He’s the governor.

So he’s hankering for a sweeter ride, something more befitting a man who’s practically royalty in the Great White North. So he’s been agitating for a deluxe jet to fly about in. He first went to Congress, laughably making the claim that a luxury personal jet for the governor was vital to Alaska’s homeland security. He asked for $2.5 million. Congress rightly scoffed. So Murkowski went to the state legislature, and asked for $1.6 million. They too turned him down.

All the while, the people of Alaska, already pissed at Murkowski’s bald nepotism, were positively infuriated at the governor’s sense of privilege. The boondoggle has been all over the papers in Alaska, and Murkowski’s approval rating has correspondingly dropped into the low 30s, making him the second least popular governor in America, after recently-indicted Bob Taft of Ohio.

Nevertheless, Murkowski persisted. This summer, he simply bypassed the legislature, and instructed his Public Safety Department to begin taking bids for his plane.

A little Alaskan outfit found a plane built in 1980 that met all of the governor’s specifications. Given that Murkowski, Stevens, and Young are always yammering on about how much federal pork does for Alaska’s people, infrastructure, and so on, you’d think an Alaskan company submitting a qualified bid would get the nod.

Oddly, at the last minute, the state re-upped the specs without notice, eliminating the Alaskan bidder and leaving only one successful bid that met all the requirements. The state also barred all of the other companies from changing their bids to meet the newer, suddenly announced specifications.

The winning bid? A North Carolina company run by NASCAR billionaire and GOP backer A. Bruton Smith. The 1984 Westwind II was a full $1 million pricier than the plane offered up by the native Alaskan company, and comes equipped with a stereo system, a divan in cream leather, a private lavatory with flushing toilet, a vanity sink, and a wall mirror. Cost: $2.6 million.

Also, it’s unsuitable for most of the runways in Alaska.

Murkowski took delivery today. A local radio station has dubbed the craft the “Bald Ego.”

This entry was posted on Monday, November 14th, 2005 at 5:19 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.