No money coming to Young’s legal defense

Alaska congressman Don Young (R) is having trouble getting contributions to his legal defense fund.

A document filed with the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct shows “no activity” since the fund was approved by the committee on Jan. 9.

{mosads}The Alaska Republican remains under federal investigation stemming from a state bribery probe involving VECO, a company that services pipelines and builds oil exploration equipment.

As of March 30 Young had already spent $1.1 million of his campaign war chest on his legal defense, according to campaign finance documents.

The campaign cash being spent to defend Young is being diverted from a competitive race against Democrat Ethan Berkowitz. According to a Research 2000 poll, commissioned for the liberal blog Daily Kos and released today, Young trails Berkowitz, 50 percent to 40 percent.

Young spokesman Meredith Kenny told The Hill that the congressional office “cannot address the legal expense fund.”

“Therefore,” Kenny said, “we have no comment on this issue.”