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Dispatch Seeks To Ring Bob Bell (UPDATED)
Online news site posts series of stories attacking Republican Senate candidate
By Bill McAllister
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ANCHORAGE - One Senate candidate says a news organization has made him its number one target for defeat next Tuesday.

Bob Bell, a former member of the Board of Game, saw more accusations on Tuesday that he has violated game regulations.

The attack came in the on-line Alaska Dispatch, this time courtesy of former state wildlife biologist Rick Sinnott.

Sinnott bases his accusations on Bell's own book, “Oh No, We're Gonna Die.”

Bell said, "Those books are books of humor that I wrote about hunting trips and fishing trips, etcetera, that I went on over the last 40 years. And I readily admit that we embellished those stories. That was the whole idea. The idea was humor. I mean, the name of the book is, 'Oh No, We're Gonna Die.' Just the name itself is humor."

But Bell doesn't see anything funny about the stream of articles and opinion pieces about him in the Dispatch over the past couple of weeks.

He says the Dispatch tried to create news about a musk ox hunt he went on in 2010.

"They brought it up, they reported it to state troopers, the state troopers investigated and find that we didn't do anything wrong, and what's their response? Well, the state troopers are corrupt, too, because they work for the governor. I mean, it just never stops. I think that they don't have any credibility. I think they're muckrakers, and I think people should just ignore what they have to say."

Bell, a Republican, says he suspects the issue is that the Dispatch favors his opponent, Democratic Senator Hollis French, who defends the oil production tax that Bell says needs reform.

"I'm keeping a positive campaign. I'm not doing a negative campaign. I'm not going to make accusations against Hollis French that I don't know to be true I have no proof that he's part of this, so I'm not going to say he is."

Whatever the motive, the Dispatch is shining a candle on Bell and his book.

Sinnott declined comment.

Dispatch Editor Tony Hopfinger did not respond to a request for comment.

Bell says a recent investigation by the state troopers that was spurred by the Dispatch has been closed and he was allowed to keep a pair of musk ox horns that were at issue.'

UPDATE, Thursday, Nov. 1: CBS 11 News called Bob Bell Thursday morning and gave him five minutes' notice that we wanted to see the musk ox horns he got from an artist in Nome. The Alaska Dispatch and Sen. Hollis French have alleged that Bell removed the horns from the game management unit without destroying their trophy value, which would be a crime because it was a subsistence hunt in 2010 that Bell was on. Bell says he left the horns with the artist and does not know that these are the same ones. Here are three photos of the horns. Watch CBS 11 News Thursday evening at 5, 6 and 10 and check KTVA.com for the full story.