Ted Stevens: Radioactive

The Northern Lights Political Action Committee, a political vehicle of Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, has for years been a wellspring of campaign cash that made Republican candidates salivate.

With Stevens’ indictment, however, Republican senators up for re-election — and presidential nominee-in-waiting John McCain — are rushing to divest themselves of Uncle Ted’s campaign dollars.

McCain announced that he is giving $5,000 of Stevens’ money to the Flight 93 National Memorial. The $58 million memorial, in a southwest Pennsylvania field, will honor passengers who tried to take back control of United Airlines’ flight 93 from hijackers on Sept. 11, 2001.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, recipient of $20,000 from the Northern Lights PAC, has ordered the money distributed to several different charities in the Bluegrass State.

After prodding from his Democratic challenger Jeff Merkley, Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Oregon, announced that he was giving $10,000 to charity. Smith has received $39,000 from Stevens’ PAC in recent years.

Other senators with a sudden urge to make charitable contributions include Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, John Sununu, R-New Hampshire, and Elizabeth Dole, R-North Carolina. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, a member of the Senate Ethics Committee, has also announced he will donate to charity.

The Stevens connection already burned a Washington political hopeful — big time.

Seeking revenge against Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Stevens staged a big Anchorage fund-raiser in 2006 for her Republican challenger Mike McGavick. Cantwell had blocked Stevens’ backdoor bid to open Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling.

The fund-raiser’s sponsors included top executives of VECO, the oil-field services company whose top executives provided the $250,000-plus in favors that Stevens is accused of lying about.

As news broke that VECO was under federal investigation, McGavick’s campaign had to return more than $14,000 in donations from the Anchorage event.

John McCain, welcome to the club!

Posted by Joel Connelly at August 6, 2008 2:49 p.m.