Corruption in Alaska has always been an open secret, particularly with continual allegations surrounding Sen. Ted Stevens and his family. Now, the federal government has released secret tapes showing how crude and open this corruption is in the state capitol. The tapes shows oil lobbyists handing out cash to legislators after they did the industry’s bidding. In one tape, Pete Kott, the former Republican speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives, bragged that he “had to cheat, steal, beg, borrow and lie” to get benefits for the industry but added “Exxon’s happy. BP’s happy. I’ll sell my soul to the devil.” For the full story, click here Alaskans have been told for years that they were reelecting people who were openly corrupt and selling out the public for private gain. They allowed this culture of corruption to flourish becase people like Stevens promised to cut them in on federal projects like the infamous bridge too nowhere.