My health insurance premiums have not gone up 50% in the last 6 years but my property tax sure did.

It is a bit of a paraphrase but that was a comment made by an attendee at Senator Begich's town hall meeting at Bartlett High School. It seemed completely appropriate after Marky Mark seemed so concerned about the rising cost of health care premiums.

Perhaps it has escaped Begich that housing is a bigger expense for US households than health care. For people with higher incomes, taxes are the biggest expense.

Church of Begich teaching has been to increase housing costs and taxes and often both at the same time.

Can you blame him? He needed all of that extra money to pay off his supporters in the municipal labor unions.

Begich looked for other ways to stick it to Anchorage residents as mayor. Traffic tickets went up from 28K per year to 42K per year in his first year in office.

When judges let too many people go to traffic school Marky Mark and his minions cried foul at the disruption of the revenue stream.

Fees for every permit imaginable were driven higher.

He played with the tax cap moving things out from under it allowing for more money to be collected and be available for his spending habit.

Property assessments were driven to the limit. Dare question it? That process was made more costly and complicated.

In 5 years the municipal budget went from under $300M to over $400M.

Begich kept blaming Wuerch and previous mayors the entire time he was in office.

He often complained he had to reinstate services and correct problems.

He blamed former mayors for the gang problem. Do you think it had anything to do with turning APD into tax collectors on the Glenn and Minnesota?

Early on as mayor, Marky Mark pushed through some sweetheart union deals with big guaranteed annual raises. The only assembly member who voted against the bloated contracts was Dan Sullivan.

His last push was for more generous union deals. He was able to get these through with the aid of Church of Begich loyalists on the Assembly. We later found out there was more to the story.

The future is of no concern to politicians when votes are on the line. Over the top deals with labor unions are sinking governments across the country. Just ask California and some of its cities. Imagine the disaster Alaska would have without oil money.

The secret to political success can be to throw the grenades down the hallway and then make an exit before they explode.

Governments are never asked to live within their means. It is downright blasphemy to live within one's means in the Church of Begich.

Marky Mark faced a difficult situation in 2008. The e-mails in The Wheeler Report clearly show that the Church of Begich knew financial shortfalls were on the horizon. Somehow, he still needed to pay off his political allies.

It is remarkable how different the tone becomes at work meetings and in public releases. Begich was making it sound like Anchorage was immune to the financial problems facing other government entities across the country.

He had to do this because otherwise he would have had trouble passing fat union contracts. It turns out the Department of Justice was busy at work helping his Senate campaign but without the unions he may not have prevailed.

The first person to point out the financial issues was Matt Claman when he was acting mayor. Claman has always been a loyal member of the Church of Begich.

Claman likely could not believe how he got blindsided. If he had done some research he would know this has been the Begich modus operandi for years.

The Assembly deserves some blame. They could have looked deeper. Some questions were asked by assembly members and the rosy answers given by Begich were accepted. It seems obvious from the Wheeler report that even Begich friendly Assembly members were suspicious.

The Assembly could have also stood up for fiscal sanity and not passed deals that led to long term fiscal liability.

The Assembly has no spine. Realistically, they wanted to make the popular decision instead the right one. For all of you liberals out there think about the WMD arguments in you want an analogy.

Marky Mark is already crying that this is a partisan witch hunt. Admittedly, the Wheeler Report reads like a hit piece. However, most of it is supported by Begich administration documents. Nothing convicts like one's own words.

It is hard to draw any conclusion other than Mark Begich misled the Assembly and the people of Anchorage. It was just the last dirty trick of many to take care of his political friends as mayor.

I would urge the Sullivan Administration and the Anchorage Assembly to stop trying to divide the community, deal with the budget challenges they face, and put the citizens of Anchorage above political games.

- Senator Mark Begich

Mr. Begich created this budget problem and Mayor Sullivan has actually been remarkably restrained in not casting blame. Mr. Begich took a shot at George Wuerch in his response today pointing out where things were when he took office. Can he at least wait to produce a second release to become a hypocrite?

Marky Mark raised taxes. He raised fees. He turned APD into highway meter maids. He created unfunded liabilities. He did it all to play political games and solidify the support of your friends.

The only question is how many grenades are still out there waiting to explode.