Gloves come off in campaigns for US House
August 6th, 2008
Elbows are flying among Alaska’s U.S. House candidates as the primary election looms.
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Benson came after Berkowitz on campaign contributions, charging him with receiving money over the years from sources including big tobacco, Veco executives and lobbyists.
Berkowitz said Benson is attempting to “make something out of nothing.” He said he hasn’t received any Veco contributions since 2000 and fought the company’s influence when he was the minority leader of the state House.
“I stood up to them on the House floor, as you recall, I was the one who said, ‘This is our floor, no lobbyist is supposed to tell us what to do,” ‘ Berkowitz said.
Benson countered that was after the corruption had taken root and the FBI was already in Juneau.
“Wouldn’t it be more meaningful to stand up when it’s the right thing to do instead of when it’s the most politically expedient thing to do?” Benson said.
Berkowitz’ “this is our floor” speech was in May 2006 — months before the raids on legislative offices that made the FBI investigation public, his campaign said later.
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