government rulers get special perks. and alaska Governor Frank Murkowski thinks he is one of those special people Original Article Article Last Updated: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 - 11:13:00 AM AKST State to take delivery today of new jet According to the Associated Press, the state will take possession today of a two-and-a-half million dollar jet. The 1984 Westwind-Two is expected to be put to immediate use by Governor Frank Murkowski for state trips and to transport prisoners to Arizona where the state leases jail space. The Department of Public Safety announced plans this summer to buy the jet from a Las Vegas aircraft broker. The plane will be paid for through a line of credit the state has with Key Bank, so the purchase does not require legislative approval. Earlier this year, a state House of Representatives committee removed a budget line item to lease a jet. Murkowski last year was denied a request to buy a jet with federal Homeland Security money. Critics have called the jet's purchase an unneeded luxury item for the governor. The governor's office has said a jet is safer because it flies higher and faster. Public Safety Commissioner Bill Tandeske says they plan to sell one of the department's two King Air propeller planes, either through an aircraft broker or through an Internet auction site. http://www.adn.com/front/story/7183443p-7093513c.html State's new jet could touch down today TURBULENCE: Critics have contended the $2.7 million plane isn't needed. By SEAN COCKERHAM Anchorage Daily News Published: November 8, 2005 Last Modified: November 8, 2005 at 03:14 PM JUNEAU -- Alaskans might want to look up if they hear the sound of a jet airplane in the next few days: It could be the governor traveling in the state's new executive ride. The state on Monday took possession of the $2.7 million Westwind II in Lincoln, Neb. The jet could arrive in Alaska as soon as today, state officials said. The acquisition caps more than a year of political controversy, with Gov. Frank Murkowski insisting on the jet despite widespread opposition from other politicians and the public. Murkowski and the Alaska Department of Public Safety will both use the nine-passenger aircraft. Murkowski spokeswoman Becky Hultberg said she could not say when the governor will start flying on the Westwind. She referred such questions to Public Safety Commissioner Bill Tandeske. "The governor could make use of the aircraft immediately if there is a need. ... It would not be unreasonable to assume he may be on the jet within the next couple weeks," Tandeske said in an e-mail. Tandeske has said his department can use the jet to hightail it to emergencies or, more routinely, to transport prisoners to a private prison in Arizona that houses Alaska's excess inmates. Tandeske said in an interview Monday that the jet will make its first prison run to Arizona soon. But he said that for security reasons he couldn't give specifics on that. Critics have argued loud and often that a corporate jet is too luxurious for convicts or the governor. The 1984 Israeli-made Westwind II has a cream leather divan, burgundy carpeting, a cabin stereo system and a flush toilet -- unlike the state-owned turboprops the governor currently uses. Murkowski has argued it makes sense for a state as big as Alaska to have a jet for public safety as well as to save time as he frequently travels on state business. The maximum speed of a Westwind II is listed at more than 500 mph. Jet opponents, questioning the jet's utility, say it couldn't handle short gravel runways in the Bush. The Public Safety Department said it would fly people to regional hubs where they could get other transportation to smaller locales, just as troopers do now with the turboprops. Murkowski first tried to get the jet last year with $2 million in federal Homeland Security funds. The federal government said no. The Republican governor then included state money to lease a jet in his budget proposal to the Legislature. Republican-controlled subcommittees in the state House and Senate took the money out of the budget, saying their constituents opposed the jet. Murkowski said he would get the jet anyway using his powers to move around state funds. Legislative Democrats tried to get no-jet language into the budget in a final attempt to stop him. But the majority Republicans refused to go that far. The state signed a contract this summer to buy the jet from O. Bruton Smith, a North Carolina auto-racing tycoon. It has been owned by the Land's End catalogue company, among others. The jet has been in Nebraska for renovations and inspections over the past few weeks. The state added police/emergency radio capability and a cold-weather package for the Alaska climate that includes an engine heater, said Dan Spencer, administrative services director for the Public Safety Department. It also added a seat belt for the toilet seat, as required by law for takeoffs, Spencer said. Spencer said the state also made some minor repairs, like replacing rivets. "Rivets are $800 a pop. ... Nothing on a jet is less than $800, as far as I can tell," said Spencer, who is in charge of paying the bills. Spencer said the state has put about $95,000 into the repairs and upgrades. That's on top of the $2.6 million purchase cost and the $97,600 for training four Alaska State Troopers pilots to fly it. The state is paying the jet bills using a line of credit with Key Bank. The state plans to sell one of its King Air turboprops to raise a half-million dollars or so to put toward the cost. Daily News reporter Sean Cockerham can be reached at sockerham@adn.com.