Rep. Don Young (R-AK) is already facing federal investigations.  He has spent in excess of $1 million [0] on legal fees already -- from his campaign account.  When CREW named Rep. Young one of the most corrupt members of Congress in our report, Beyond DeLay [1], Jack Abramoff was one reason:

Rep. Young’s ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff are the subject of a grand jury investigation. In September 2002, Rep. Young and Ohio Rep. Steve LaTourette sent a letter to the General Service Administration (GSA) urging it to “give preferential treatment to organizations such as Indian tribes” during the development of the Old Post Office Pavilion in Washington, D.C. Mr. Abramoff was representing the tribes hoping to secure lease space in the building. Just weeks after sending the letter to the GSA, Rep. Young’s PAC received $7,000 from Mr. Abramoff’s tribal clients and another $5,000 before the end of 2002.

Members of Rep. Young’s staff have also been linked to Mr. Abramoff. When Duane Gibson left his position as Rep. Young’s chief of staff to join Mr. Abramoff, he recommended that Mark Zachares be given a job with the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which Rep. Young chaired. In April of 2007, Mr. Zachares pleaded guilty to bribery charges. In his plea agreement, Mr. Zachares admitted that his intent was to use his position in the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee to steer clients toward Mr. Abramoff’s firm with the promise that eventually Mr. Abramoff would hire him.

After claiming that he had no relationship, personal or professional, with Mr. Abramoff it was discovered that in 2000, Rep. Young had used Mr. Abramoff’s MCI skybox tickets for two events, which he did not report to the FEC until after the Abramoff scandal broke.

Yesterday, the Anchorage Daily News [2] revealed extensive records showing a close relationship between Rep. Young and Jack Abramoff:

"Abramoff is, and has been, inconsequential to my work in Congress," Young wrote in 2006 in response to a Daily News editorial linking him to the lobbyist. "I have never had any personal or professional relationship with Abramoff."

But as more information surfaces in the Abramoff lobbying scandal, the connections to Young only deepen. Among that new information was a private memo written by Abramoff himself to the governor of the Mariana Islands, expressing concern that Young was being forced by term limits to give up his Resources chairmanship in 2001.

"The loss of Chairman Young's authority cannot easily be measured -- or replaced," Abramoff wrote on Jan. 4, 2001, in crediting Young with blocking reform legislation. "We have lost major institutional memory and friendship."

As we've said before, a close relationship with Jack Abramoff doesn't really bolster one's career as a public official.