Just when you think the Alaska corruption-Bill Allen-VECO saga could not get any stranger, it does again, as documented by a long, fascinating Seattle Weekly story.
This time, the weirdness is largely centered around Bill's son, Mark Allen, who has managed to stay out of the press after his father began to cooperate with the feds in 2006, bringing down a handful of lawmakers, including the late U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, and thrusting Sarah Palin into the governor's mansion.
According to the Seattle Weekly's story, Mark Allen married Peggy Sue Thomas, who had been his Las Vegas chauffeur in 2006. (His former wife has remarried and changed her identity, the last I checked. And that, definitely, is another story). Allen and Thomas might have had a chance had they stayed in Vegas, but then he had to take her to his Roswell ranch, a divorce ensued, and now Thomas is being charged with the 2003 murder of a man in bucolic Whidbey Island. Bill Allen's nephew, Dave Anderson, once charactierized his own troubles with the Allen clan -- which included threats of murder -- as some "hillbilly shit." Mark Allen's story is more of the same (you just can't make this stuff up). Below is a taste of the Seattle Weekly's story. For more, read the full version:
Contact Amanda Coyne at amanda(at)alaskadispatch.com