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July 3rd, 2008, from the Alaska Democratic Party Release
Stevens Refuses To Answer Tough Questions On His Record
ADP: Stevens Hiding Behind Expensive Lawyers And National Politics Instead Of Answering Questions About The FBI Investigation Or Legal Bills
Anchorage, AK – The Alaska Democratic Party (ADP) reacted today to Senator Ted Stevens and called his recent allegations conspiracy theories. Yesterday, Stevens refused to answer tough questions about his record on oil speculation, which has caused gas prices to skyrocket leaving Alaska families behind. He then accused the ADP of being controlled by outside interests. The ADP issued the following statement in response:
“Senator Stevens continues to refuse to answer Alaskans’ tough questions. Instead, he dodges and distracts the public with conspiracy theories. It’s absurd to think that anyone other than Alaskans run the Alaska Democratic Party. This is becoming a pattern – Stevens hiding behind expensive lawyers and national politics instead of answering questions about the FBI investigation and how he’s paying his legal bills. We expect Senator Stevens to answer hard questions and take responsibility for his record.”
– Kay Brown, spokeswoman for the Alaska Democratic Party.
On July 30, 2007, Stevens’ home was raided by FBI and IRS agents as part of a court authorized search warrant.It has been 333 days since the raid on Senator Stevens’ home and he still refuses to discuss the case or how he is paying for his legal fees.
Here’s our updated round-up of polls on Senate races around the country.
Alaska:Republican incumbent Ted Stevens has a statistically insignificant 46 percent to 44 percent lead over Democrat Mark Begich, the mayor of Anchorage, in a June 16 Rasmussen Reports poll. The margin of error is 4.5 percent. In Rasmussen’s mid-May poll, Begich had a 2 point edge. Stevens is viewed favorably by 51 percent of voters compared to 44 percent, while Begich is viewed favorably by 55 percent compared to 36 percent. CQ Politics rates the race “Leans Republican.”
June 26th, 2008, from the Alaska Democratic Party Release
As Chairman Of Senate Appropriations Committee In 2000, Stevens Allowed Secret Provision To Deregulate Energy Futures
Oil Speculation Forces Alaska Families To Pay More At The Pump
Anchorage, Alaska – As headlines across the country decry oil speculation as the cause for the pain at the pump, Senator Ted Stevens is playing election year politics as he claims to be rescuing consumers by suddenly supporting regulation for energy futures market. However, Stevens has repeatedly done just the opposite. In fact, in 2000, Stevens was Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee when he allowed a provision to deregulate energy futures to be added to his appropriations bill without undergoing the typical committee process. With the current weakening of the housing market, many investors pulled money out of real estate and put it instead into commodities, like oil. This has led to a flurry of unregulated market speculation in the oil futures markets, thus driving gas prices to record highs.Read the rest of this entry »
June 25th, 2008, from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
In what will go down as the supreme wrist-slap for the ultimate case of wreckless drunken driving, the U.S. Supreme Court has slashed punitive damages against Exxon Mobil Corp., leaving the oil giant with obligations equal to about four days’ worth of its profits.
The ruling in a case involving the country’s greatest oil spill, the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster, is the latest gift from an allegedly “conservative” Supreme Court that gave us the Bush presidency.
The case, centered on the fouling of 1,200 miles of Alaska beaches, has gone on since 1994. Read the rest of this entry »
The Air Force has been ordered to investigate whether officials lobbied members of Congress improperly on a plan to merge military bases.
Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England asked the secretary of the Air Force —days before he was forced to resign — to conduct an internal investigation after Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) raised concerns over the Air Force’s actions.
McCain, the GOP candidate for president, believes a provision in the 2008 emergency supplemental sponsored by Sens. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), the leading defense appropriators, was the result of lobbying by Air Force officials. Similar language is in the House bill. Read the rest of this entry »
Bucking tradition, the Alaska AFL-CIO has endorsed Sen. Ted Stevens’ (R-Alaska) opponent for the first time in recent history.
In what the union described as an unusually early decision, the 60,000-member organization voted this week to endorse Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich (D) instead. Read the rest of this entry »
Yes, let’s stipulate that the Republicans are having some extraordinary troubles in what we in the Greater Northwest call our Back 40 (otherwise known as Alaska). The state’s senior senator, Republican Ted Stevens, is caught up in a corruption investigation and for the first time in this geologic age faces the real prospect of losing re-election. Read the rest of this entry »
The guy running for re-election to the Senate from Alaska is a cantankerous bully who seems to be accused of everything except tossing someone in the snow on Christmas Eve. One guy running against him already did that.
A Democratic-funded poll out of Alaska suggests that Barack Obama’s pledge to expand the traditional Electoral College playing field this fall may well find fertile soil in places that haven’t seen a competitive presidential race in decades.
John McCain leads Obama 44 percent to 42 percent in Alaska, with Libertarian nominee Bob Barr taking 3 percent, according to the Global Strategy Group survey, which was conducted for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and obtained by The Fix.
June 17th, 2008, from the Alaska Democratic Party Release
Anchorage, Alaska – U.S. Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) voted against legislation today which would have provided tax relief for Alaska families and communities as well as support for Alaska families and communities looking to cut energy costs. [Roll Call Vote #150] This is the second time in two weeks that Stevens has voted against this measure. Read the rest of this entry »
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens owes the law firm of Williams & Connolly as much as $50,000 for legal work connected to the federal investigation into renovations at his home in Girdwood overseen by a company whose executives have pleaded guilty to bribing state lawmakers. The debt to the Washington, D.C., law firm shows up in Stevens’ annual financial disclosure form, where it’s listed as ranging between $15,000 and $50,000. Stevens wouldn’t disclose the exact amount he owes the law firm, which hasn’t been paid yet. It is considered a personal debt, like a mortgage or a credit card bill.Read the rest of this entry »
Originally published Friday, June 13, 2008 at 11:48 a.m. Updated Friday, June 13, 2008 at 5:40 p.m.
JUNEAU — Legal bills are nibbling at U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens’ finances.
In a 2007 financial disclosure report released Friday, the Alaska Republican reported owing up to $50,000 to a Washington law firm, Williams & Connolly — the result of a Justice Department investigation into repairs made to his home in Girdwood.
Stevens and his son, former state Sen. Ben Stevens, have been subjects of a broad ranging corruption probe. Read the rest of this entry »
June 12th, 2008, from the Alaska Democratic Party Release
MEMORANDUM
TO:Reporters; interested parties FR:Alaska Democratic Party RE:Senator Ted Stevens Record On Energy DA: June 12, 2008
Rising energy prices have made it difficult for Alaska families to stretch their household budgets. The average retail price per gallon of gasoline in Alaska is up nearly a dollar from June of last year, and over the past year has consistently been above the national average. [American Automobile Association.] As energy prices continue to rise, Alaska families are being left behind. In light of votes in Congress this week on energy, the AGIA discussions in the Alaska State Legislature, and Mark Begich releasing his energy plan, below is Stevens record on energy. Read the rest of this entry »
WASHINGTON — Republicans are bracing for double-digit losses in the House and the prospect of four or five losses in the Senate, as they fight to hold a wide range of districts and states normally seen as safe for them, from Alaska and Colorado to Mississippi and North Carolina.
The feared setback for Republicans, coming two years after their 2006 drubbing, is unusual for several reasons. It is rare for a party to lose two election cycles in a row. And many expect losses even if their presidential candidate, John McCain, captures the White House. Read the rest of this entry »
The Senate today failed to invoke cloture, 50-44, on a nearly $120 billion tax bill extending a host of expiring provisions like the research and development credit and boosting incentives for wind, solar, biodiesel, clean-coal and other projects to help spur alternative energy development. The bill would provide a one-year patch for the alternative minimum tax as well. While that provision was not offset, the rest of the bill would be largely paid for by scaling back two tax breaks deemed relatively non-controversial by many in the business community. “This vote is about jobs, energy and paying America’s bills,” said Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus. Read the rest of this entry »
June 10th, 2008, from the Alaska Democratic Party Release
Stevens Goes Back To Washington To Block Gas Relief Bill & Tax Relief Bill
Anchorage, Alaska – U.S. Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) blocked legislation today which would have included a provision that allows plaintiffs of the Exxon Valdez oil spill to average any settlement that they receive in connection with pending litigation in the federal courts over three years for federal tax purposes and allow these individuals to use these funds to make contributions to retirement accounts. Today, with the help of Stevens, the Senate failed to pass a gas relief bill and a tax relief bill. [Roll Call Vote #146, Roll Call Vote #147]Read the rest of this entry »
A new Alaska poll finds long-time Republican incumbents, Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young, trailing against their likely opponents this November.
Both Stevens and Young have been swept up in a far-reaching federal corruption investigation, and the scandals are taking a toll on their re-election prospects. Read the rest of this entry »
The latest addition to our round-up of Senate polls has some politically earthshaking news, with Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens looking increasingly vulnerable against his Democratic challenger, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich. Read the rest of this entry »
While Don Young and Ted Stevens await their arrests for bribery and corruption, a new poll shows they’ll have plenty of time to think about it after Alaska’s August primaries. Read the rest of this entry »
May 29th, 2008, from the Alaska Democratic Party Release
Ted Stevens Foundation Takes Unlimited & Anonymous Donations From Corporations And Lobbyists Banned From Contributing To Political Campaigns
Anchorage, Alaska – As the issue of ethics heats up in the Alaska Senate race, the Alaska Democratic Party (ADP) today called for full disclosure of donation and expenditures for the Ted Stevens Foundation. The Ted Stevens Foundation was founded in 2000 with its first event consisting of a fundraiser with lobbyists in 2004. As of 2005, the foundation’s net assets reached $2.3 million. Today, the ADP charged that the Stevens Foundation uses an ethics loophole allowing those who donate to seek favors from Congress. Read the rest of this entry »
May 28th, 2008, from the Alaska Democratic Party Release
MEMORANDUM
TO: Reporters; interested parties FR: Alaska Democratic Party RE: Ted Stevens Record On Veterans DA: Wednesday, May 28, 2008
While Ted Stevens served honorably in World War II, since joining the Senate, he voted against funding for the VA system, including expanding health care, counseling, and mental health programs. Below is Stevens voting record on veterans.Read the rest of this entry »
May 19th, 2008, from the Alaska Democratic Party Release
MEMORANDUM
TO: Reporters; interested parties FR: Alaska Democratic Party RE: Ted Stevens Record On Ethics DA: May 19, 2008
Given the recent discussions of ethics in the Alaska Senate race, Ted Stevens voting record as a Senator should be considered along side any debate on government ethics. Below is Ted Stevens voting record on ethics.Read the rest of this entry »
May 14th, 2008, from the Alaska Democratic Party Release
Stevens Claims To Stand Up For Alaskan Airline Passengers By Trying To Save 50 Cents – Votes Against Bill For Additional Rights For Alaskan Families
Anchorage, Alaska – This week, Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) claimed to stand up to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in the Senate Commerce Committee by trying to save consumers 50 cents rather than implementing security measures. However, last week Stevens and the Republicans in the Senate blocked the Federal Airline Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Bill, which included the provision to give airline travelers additional rights. Read the rest of this entry »
April 22nd, 2008, from the Alaska Democratic Party Release
Anchorage – The Alaska Democratic Party today released a letter inviting Sen. Ted Stevens to point out specific items on RetireTed.com that are inaccurate or distort his record.
On several occasions, Stevens has criticized the site in the media, most recently today in the Anchorage Daily News story on the U.S. Senate race. Stevens asked Mark Begich to request that the Alaska Democratic Party to take down its web site, claiming it “smears and distorts” his record. The site - RetireTed.com - discusses the record of Senator Stevens, who is under federal investigation for corruption. Read the rest of this entry »
April 16th, 2008, from the Alaska Democratic Party Release
Anchorage – Sen. Ted Stevens should answer questions about the legal fees he has incurred due to the ongoing federal corruption investigations, the Alaska Democratic Party said today.Read the rest of this entry »
April 11th, 2008, from the Alaska Democratic Party Release
Anchorage – The Alaska Democratic Party today challenged Sen. Ted Stevens to answer questions about his role in the Republican corruption scandal, and invited him to point out specific items on www.RetireTed.com that are inaccurate or distort his record.Read the rest of this entry »
February 10th, 2008, from the Anchorage Daily News
SEWARD CENTER: Earmark was tailored to McCabe property sale.
New documents have emerged in Seward showing that a $1.6 million earmark in 2005 by Sen. Ted Stevens was engineered so it would lead to the purchase of property owned by his former aide, Trevor McCabe, an Anchorage fisheries lobbyist.
2008 RACE: State’s senior senator says he remains confident about campaign.
U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens hasn’t had a close election contest since The Beatles released the White Album and Vince Lombardi was the winning coach in Super Bowl II.
Stevens has brushed aside all opponents since 1968. That’s the year Gov. Wally Hickel appointed him to the Senate seat that opened when E.L. “Bob” Bartlett died after heart surgery in Cleveland.
It’s long been conventional wisdom that like Bartlett, who served Alaska in the nation’s capital for nearly a quarter century, Stevens would be senator for life. But, for the first time in the lifetime of many Alaskans, there is serious talk “Uncle Ted” could be vulnerable.
An oilfield-services company provided more than $150,000 worth of labor renovating the home of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, according to a project foreman who is cooperating in a federal investigation of Alaska’s senior member of Congress.
November 21st, 2007, from the Anchorage Daily News
The PBS news show “NOW” spotlights the connection between Veco Corp. and Alaska lawmakers in a special report airing Friday at 7:30 p.m. on KAKM Channel 7.
Two state legislators have been convicted in federal court for accepting bribes from Veco, while one more awaits trial. NOW’s Maria Hinojosa reports that more lawmakers are being scrutinized, including Sen. Ted Stevens. The NOW Web site at www.pbs.org/now will feature a Web-exclusive report on the influence big oil has on the U.S. government, including its connection to 2008 presidential candidates.
Senator Ted Stevens comes home and loses his cool after being asked some probing questions.
Senator Stevens has been under FBI investigation for the past several months. No charges have been filed, but it seems the senator’s frustration has hit a boiling point.
ANCHORAGE - Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens lived up to his reputation as irascible Monday when reacting to a question about the ongoing federal investigation into corruption.
On Friday, we noted Sen. Ted Stevens’ (R-AK) vague threats to the media, particularly The Anchorage Daily News. If reporters didn’t stop tying him and his son to the ongoing Veco bribery scandal, then he’d… well, he didn’t say what he’d do. But he’d do something, and those reporters would be sorry.
November 16th, 2007, from the Anchorage Daily News
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens said Thursday he has no fear of a Democratic opponent in next year’s election, and he blamed overzealous reporters for the continued interest in the federal investigation both he and his son have been caught up in. Click here to read more
November 15th, 2007, from the Anchorage Daily News
A Roll Call story posted today says that a $20 million, Ted Stevens-authored earmark included in a new defense spending measure “could be a financial boon for those close to the lawmaker, including several figures in a high-profile federal political corruption probe in Alaska.”
The Capitol Hill newspaper says the earmark penned by the Alaska senator is listed as being for a Navy “expeditionary craft,” but the vessel will be used as a commercial ferry on Knik Arm, linking Anchorage and Mat-Su. “Several current and former members of Stevens’ staff - including Chief of Staff George Lowe and former top aide Lisa Sutherland - as well as Rep. Don Young’s (R-Alaska) son-in-law Art Nelson own undeveloped land on the Knik Arm,” the story says.
In looking at the background of the spending item, the story points out that while the Navy rejected the craft as impractical, Stevens persisted for years in pushing funding for it. Further, while other earmarks in the defense measure were hit with cuts, the ferry earmark remained untouched.
Corruption Scandals Involve Alaska’s Biggest Political NamesANCHORAGE — When the FBI came looking for corruption in Alaska politics, it found an excellent perch in Suite 604 of the Baranof Hotel in Juneau, the state capital. There, a profane septuagenarian named Bill Allen did business throughout a 2006 special session called to set taxes on the oil industry. With hundred-dollar bills in his front pocket for ease of access when lawmakers turned up with their hands out, the oil-services company executive turned in a bravura performance before the pinhole camera that federal agents installed opposite his favorite chair.
“Let me count first here,” Allen said, shushing a former statehouse speaker as he counted out a bribe in video footage entered as evidence in the lawmaker’s September trial, one of several crowding the docket of the federal court here.
On another tape, Pete Kott, the former Republican speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives, crowed as he described beating back a tax bill opposed by oil companies. “I had to cheat, steal, beg, borrow and lie,” Kott said. “Exxon’s happy. BP’s happy. I’ll sell my soul to the devil.”
“Well, that will stay in this room,” one lobbyist said as a midnight session wound down.
It did not, of course. Since breaking into public view a year ago when federal agents raided lawmakers’ offices and homes — finding $32,200 neatly stacked in a closet of Kott’s condo — the federal probe has produced four indictments, three convictions, three guilty pleas and a rapt audience keen to see how high into Alaska’s political hierarchy the rot reaches.
Federal authorities investigating Sen. Ted Stevens are trolling the Alaska fishing industry for evidence of whether the powerful Republican pushed seafood legislation that benefited his lobbyist son.
The former head of a major Alaska oil field services company testified Monday that he thought he was being blackmailed by a family member over remodeling services he provided to U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens.
For an object lesson in the distorted values of the United States Senate, consider how that august institution is handling the ethical embarrassments created by Republican Larry Craig of Idaho and Republican Ted Stevens of Alaska.
U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, who also has been drawn into the Veco investigation, has not used any of his campaign money on criminal lawyers, said Tim McKeever, Stevens’ campaign treasurer.
A report released Monday night covers the period when the FBI and IRS raided the senator’s home in Girdwood this summer. Stevens hired Brendan Sullivan, one of the best-known criminal defense lawyers in Washington, but his fees are not coming out of the senator’s campaign money.
Alaska, where seven-term Senator Ted Stevens is battling a federal corruption probe, could prove more challenging. Stevens is under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for taking bribes from Bill Allen, the former CEO of VECO, an oil field services company. Allen and another former VECO employee have pled guilty to bribing state legislators and are cooperating with the investigation into Stevens, who has maintained his innocence.
Over the past 20 years Alaskan oil entrepreneur Bill Allen and people who work for him gave more than $1 million to candidates running for Congress. But his connections gave him another way to gain influence in Washington — fishing. Steve Henn reports.
Marketplace’s Steve Henn continues his report on Alaskan oilman Bill Allen’s illegal contributions to various political campaigns and state legislators.
Before pleading guilty to bribing state legislators, Alaskan oil tycoon Bill Allen very actively spread his wealth around Congress. So far, a lot of his government beneficiaries haven’t given the money back. Steve Henn reports.
Democrats, after years of yielding to the political dominance of Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens, are plotting a serious challenge in 2008. The usually struggling Alaska Democrats are energized by the most serious ethics questions ever faced by the incumbent during a tenure of almost four decades that is the longest for a Republican in the history of the U.S. Senate.
October 4th, 2007, from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Dumped last year after questioning a land deal involving Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, former Seward City Manager Clark Corbridge swept to victory on Tuesday as the town’s new mayor.
For years, while VECO Corp. was flush with oil profits and in a giving mood, Capitol Hill politicians happily accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from the Alaska oil contractor.Click here for the full story.
The details of the 2004 federal appropriations for conserving the Kenai and Russian rivers, steered to the state via developer Bob Penney, blatantly show how earmarking can get carried too far.
The former city manager of Seward, fired last year after he raised questions about a land deal involving Sen. Ted Stevens and the Alaska SeaLife Center, was overwhelmingly elected mayor of the town Tuesday.Click here for the full story.
There’s something about politicians and boats…
But, amid the ruckus that followed the arrest of Senator Larry Craig for allegedly soliciting sex from a plainclothes officer in an airport rest room, little attention was paid to his unusual Washington, D.C., address: 1000 Water Street. There, across the Washington Channel from the Jefferson Memorial, is the Capital Yacht Club, where Craig lives on a forty-two-foot Bertram yacht called the Suz II, named for his wife, Suzanne, who stays back home in Idaho. Craig, a fastidious man who was known to pick up trash around the club, is well liked by his fellow-yachtsmen. (Explaining his behavior in the airport stall, he told the police that he had bent down to pick up a piece of paper.) “He is a creature of habit,†a club member said recently. In the weeks during which Craig pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and then started trying to withdraw the plea, the Suz II floated empty in its slip at D Dock.
Craig’s boat shares D Dock with the Cw S Way, a thirty-eight-foot Chris-Craft out of Valdez, Alaska. That boat’s owner is Senator Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican in the Senate. In July, federal agents raided Stevens’s home outside Anchorage; now the F.B.I. is investigating whether he took illegal gifts from an oil-field-services company. (Stevens denies any wrongdoing.) Craig sponsored Stevens for membership in the club, describing him, on the application, as an “experienced boater, great guy, and longtime friend.â€
Former Alaska Senate president and son of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), Ben Stevens, hasn’t said much publicly since his legislative office was raided last year by federal agents.
September 30th, 2007, from the Anchorage Daily News
In 2004, Alaska state officials came across a puzzling sentence deep inside a bill recently passed by Congress. It said only this: “$2 million is for the Kenai River; $1 million for the Russian River.”
Sen. Ted Stevens, who championed $452 million in federal funding for Alaska’s notorious “bridges to nowhere,” has directed the Navy to build an experimental ferry it once rejected to serve a little-used port in a remote area of his home state.
September 29th, 2007, from the Anchorage Daily News
Former state Senate President Ben Stevens unexpectedly called a local radio show Friday, talking publicly about the Alaska corruption investigation for the first time since the FBI searched his office more than a year ago.Click here for the full story.
The voice of former Senate President Ben Stevens, apparently not heard in public since August 2006, was broadcast Friday afternoon on the Dan Fagan Radio Show.
When he is not at the Capitol, Senator Larry E. Craig spends much of his time aboard the Suz II, the 42-foot yacht that serves as his Washington home. Further down D Dock at the Capital Yacht Club, his friend Senator Ted Stevens occasionally escapes the pressures of a federal investigation aboard his pleasure boat.
September 27th, 2007, from the Fairbanks News-Miner
Sen. Ted Stevens on Wednesday called relations between the congressional delegation and Gov. Sarah Palin “frosty†following a series of public incidents that has revealed a growing schism among Alaska’s Republican leadership.
A jury found former Alaska state House Speaker Peter Kott (R) guilty of taking bribes from former Veco Chief Executive Bill Allen, a decision that may have implications for Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who is under FBI investigation for his ties to Allen.
September 27th, 2007, from the Anchorage Daily News
Alaska Attorney General Talis Colberg said his office assigned lawyers to closely watch former-state Rep. Pete Kott’s trial in federal court over the past two weeks as it revealed other possible criminal acts by politicians and Veco Corp. executives.
Sen. Ted Stevens’ campaign has no evidence a contracting firm paid workers to help run the Alaska senator’s fundraisers, the campaign treasurer said, disputing one employee’s claim that he parked cars and performed odd jobs while on the contractor’s payroll.
The FBI is investigating whether Stevens, the Senate’s longest-serving Republican, accepted inappropriate gifts from Bill Allen, the founder of oil-services firm VECO Corp. Allen has pleaded guilty to bribing lawmakers and said he paid employees to renovate the senator’s home.
September 27th, 2007, from the Anchorage Daily News
A Fairbanks Daily News-Miner story today reports on what it says is the “growing tension†between Gov. Sarah Palin and the state’s congressional delegation. The story — a lengthy one based largely on an interview with Sen. Ted Stevens on Wednesday — says the governor’s decision to redirect highway funding for the Ketchikan bridge project, her call for Stevens to speak up in the federal corruption probe in Alaska, and the lack of communication from the governor on a natural gas pipeline project have contributed to a “frosty†relationship, in Stevens’ view.
Some called it a bridge to the future. Others called it the bridge to nowhere.
On Friday, Alaska decided the bridge really was going nowhere, officially abandoning the project in Ketchikan that became a national symbol of federal pork-barrel spending.
September 22nd, 2007, from the Anchorage Daily News
Gov. Sarah Palin said Friday that she and Alaskans are owed a more thorough explanation from U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens about why he is under federal investigation.
The FBI is so interested in what Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) says to former Veco CEO Bill Allen that they secretly taped his calls to hear. There is no word yet on the content of the conversations.
The FBI has taped conversations between Republican Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska and an oil company executive who has pleaded guilty to bribery, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.
The calls were between Stevens, who is up for re-election in 2008, and Bill Allen, then CEO of oilfield services firm VECO Corp., the source said Thursday.
September 20th, 2007, from the San Jose Mercury News
The FBI, working with an Alaska oil contractor, secretly taped telephone calls with Sen. Ted Stevens as part of a public corruption sting, according to people close to the investigation.
The secret recordings suggest the Justice Department was eyeing Stevens long before June, when the Republican senator first publicly acknowledged he was under scrutiny. At that time, it appeared Stevens was a new focus in a case that had already ensnared several state lawmakers.
September 19th, 2007, from the Anchorage Daily News
A construction worker who oversaw renovation of Sen. Ted Stevens’ home said his company also paid him to help run fundraisers for the Alaska Republican, a practice that appears to violate federal campaign finance laws.
Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) released its third annual report on the most corrupt members of Congress entitled Beyond DeLay: The 22 Most Corrupt Members of Congress (and two to watch). This encyclopedic report on corruption in the 110th Congress documents the egregious, unethical and possibly illegal activities of the most tainted members of Congress. CREW has compiled the members’ transgressions and analyzed them in light of federal laws and congressional rules.
Sens. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) are among the biggest winners in the 2008 Appropriations defense bill, according to data gathered by The Hill and the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS).
Senate appropriators disclosed about 936 earmarks worth a combined $5.1 billion in the 2008 defense-spending bill, with top committee members in both parties securing the highest dollar amounts.
September 18th, 2007, from the Anchorage Daily News
Bill Allen, former chairman of Veco, testified last week that he paid for some of the labor and provided some materials for the remodeling of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens’ home in Girdwood.
Sen. Ted Stevens has said little about the FBI investigation into the remodeling, which is part of a wide-ranging corruption probe. He has said only that he paid every bill he was sent.
September 17th, 2007, from the Citizensforethics.org
A citizen watchdog group is asking that Alaska Senator Ted Stevens be removed from his committee assignments in light of the criminal investigations by the FBI and IRS.
September 17th, 2007, from the Anchorage Daily News
From Friday’s testimony in federal court, here’s a quick transcript of former Veco chief Bill Allen talking about how he helped remodel the home of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens.Click here for the full story
The sad history of earmarks features a long list of abuses: earmarks used by congressional leaders to buy votes on other legislation, earmarks sent to political donors, and earmarks used in outright bribery. Such issues continue to arise: As recently as July 30, the FBI raided the home of Senator Stevens in a probe into potential earmark-related corruption. Senator Stevens, who has not been charged with any wrongdoing, will not comment until the investigation is complete. In the face of recent earmark scandals, Congress in early August passed a reform bill aimed at reducing abuses by opening up the highly secretive process. Whether those efforts succeed won’t be clear until yearend.
September 15th, 2007, from the Anchorage Daily News
Former Veco chairman Bill Allen might have been on the witness stand to present bribery evidence against a state legislator, but the biggest shock of the day — perhaps the entire trial — was his assertion Friday that he or his company financed a substantial portion of the remodeling of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens’ Girdwood home.
In the latest sign of corruption problems for Republicans, a corporate executive testified Friday that his employees worked for months to remodel the Alaska home of Sen. Ted Stevens.
Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator, is under scrutiny in a corruption investigation that also is targeting Alaska state officials.
Bill Allen, former chief executive of oil services company VECO, testified that he spent more than $400,000 to bribe state legislators and for work at Stevens’ house in the ski resort town of Girdwood. He said VECO also paid at least two contractors, a plumber and a carpenter, for work on the house. The project in 2000 more than doubled the size of the four-bedroom structure.
I just spoke with Sen. Ted Stevens’ (R-AK) spokesman Aaron Saunders who said they are not commenting on the recent testimony from Bill Allen. Saunders said they are standing by the old statement they put out when Stevens’ home was raided by the FBI. That statement, declaring that Stevens won’t comment on the investigation “until it has concluded,” is below.
September 14th, 2007, from the Anchorage Daily News
For much of Thursday at Pete Kott’s corruption trial, defense lawyer Jim Wendt tried to chip away at the story being told from the witness chair by former Veco chief executive Bill Allen.
… Allen told jurors he already has admitted his guilt in a conspiracy. He testified that he pleaded guilty to bribing three former legislators: “Pete Kott, Vic Kohring and Ben Stevens.”
September 14th, 2007, from the Anchorage Daily News
Ex-Veco Corp. CEO Bill Allen admitted in court Friday that he had company employees work several months on a remodeling project at the Girdwood home of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens.
September 13th, 2007, from the Anchorage Daily News
More than a year after he emerged as the central figure in the Alaska corruption investigation, former Veco chairman Bill Allen at last took the witness stand Wednesday in the trial of former House speaker Pete Kott and began recounting his version of the last three decades of oil politics.
… Allen took the industry lead in promoting a low profits tax — a much bigger effort than the producers themselves were making. FBI-intercepted telephone calls and conversations at a hotel suite in Juneau show that Kott and Senate President Ben Stevens were his two most helpful soldiers.
The former head of an oil field service company admitted Thursday in court that he bribed three Alaska legislators, including the son of a U.S. senator who is the target of a federal investigation.
Meanwhile, scandals continue to surround other lawmakers concerning appropriations earmarks and alleged bribes. Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, a former chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, is under an FBI investigation for allegedly receiving illegal gifts in the form of an addition to his Alaska home. At least two House members are under similar investigations.
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) is well connected in the state’s scandal circuit. He came up twice yesterday in two separate Alaska cases, one criminal and one civil, that both hinge on the financial ties between public officials and company leaders.
During a secret meeting to discuss what prosecutors say was a dirty deal to keep Alaska oil taxes low, two oil contractors said they had a powerful ally coming to town who could help build support for the plan: Sen. Ted Stevens
Ted Stevens appears to be both a climatologist and a sociopath. All of that insane behavior may just be to deflect attention from his latest earmark scandal.
September 9th, 2007, from the Kennebec Journal Morning Sentinel
…These same leaders have also been silent about the FBI investigation of Republican Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, he who procured the millions of dollars for the infamous “bridge to nowhere” to boost Alaska’s economy. The FBI is exploring allegations that Stevens abused the power of his office for his own personal benefit. But the Senate leaders have sought no ethics probe. Why? He has not been proven guilty as of yet. Wait, isn’t that why one does an investigation?
A string of political setbacks has damaged Republicans’ hopes of regaining the Senate majority next year and increased the likelihood Democrats might expand their razor-thin margin.
The 2008 campaign appears increasingly unpleasant for Republicans a year after unexpected defeats cost them control. Among the factors are GOP retirements in toss-up states, voters’ distress over the Iraq war and a handful of scandals.
Fellow Texas Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison participated in the leadership huddles but has also kept largely mum about Craig, whose troubles are doing little to help a Senate Republican caucus already grappling with the FBI’s raid on Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens’ home and Louisiana Sen. David Vitter’s phone number popping up on the D.C. madam’s list
Democrats may be able to win the seat of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, who has acknowledged he is the subject of a federal corruption probe, Sabato said.
Sen. Ted Stevens has quietly steered millions of federal dollars to a sportfishing industry group founded by Bob Penney, a longtime friend who helped the Alaska Republican profit from a lucrative land deal, according to public records and officials from the state.
The men’s room sex sting involving Idaho Sen. Larry Craig is cracking the unity of GOP senators, sources say. … Craig’s backtracking has upset many of his Republican colleagues, a Republican leadership aide said, because GOP leaders thought they had put the scandal behind them.
Sens. Ted Stevens of Alaska, Jim Bunning of Kentucky and Michael Enzi of Wyoming voiced their dissatisfaction with the response of GOP leaders in the chamber, according to one senator who was at the luncheon and two aides familiar with the meeting.
Stevens, whose home was recently raided as part of a federal corruption probe, stood up to say it’s wrong to prejudge these matters, the sources said.
September 5th, 2007, from the Anchorage Daily News
Responding to criticism that GOP senators who’ve found themselves in trouble this summer have been treated very differently by their peers, the Republican leader of the U.S. Senate outlined why he thinks each should get a “case-by-case” treatment.
Yes. Republicans acted swiftly in this [Craig] case. This sort of cleans up their Mark Foley scandal of 2006. But what about financial corruption, you know? That’s what got them into trouble big time in the 2006 election, and here you have Senator Ted Stevens, a powerful former chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, his house in Alaska was raided in connection with a corruption investigation. If he were a House member, a Democrat or a Republican, he would be forced to step down from his perch now as the ranking Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, but he’s still there. What are they goes to do — what are they going to do about him?
