What's Ted's connection?

Ben Stevens

Ben Stevens was born in 1959 and was appointed to the Alaska State Senate by former Gov. Tony Knowles in 2001. In 2005, he served as the Alaska State Senate President. [Alaska State Legislature Web Site, Retrieved 9/10/2008]

Before his appointment to the State Senate, Ben Stevens worked as a consultant for Veco. Stevens, a former Bering Sea crab boat captain, started his consulting and lobbying business in Washington, D.C., about a decade ago. He kept many of his clients, including Veco, since joining the Legislature.

Ben Stevens had some of his biggest consulting contracts with fishing interests more involved in federal than state politics. He has drawn criticism for the fact that his father, one of the most powerful members of Congress, pushed legislation that helps clients of his son’s, such as the North Pacific Crab Association, a processor group.

The elder Stevens also backed legislation that gave the Aleut Corp. exclusive rights to catch millions of dollars’ worth of pollock along the Aleutian Chain. Adak Fisheries, which stands to benefit from the deal, had a $120,000 contract with the younger Stevens last year. [Consulting work pays off for some state legislators, Anchorage Daily News, 7/6/2004]

Ben’s Consulting Fees

Ben Stevens has refused to publicly account for the more than $250,000 in “consulting” fees Veco paid him while he was a state senator. On the witness stand in the trial of another legislator, former Veco chairman Bill Allen described the money as mainly related to Stevens’ work in the Legislature. Allen has pleaded guilty to bribing legislators.

According to Ben Stevens’ financial disclosure forms, Veco paid Ben at least $343,750 in “consulting services” from 2000 until 2006.

According to Ben Stevens’ financial disclosure forms, he received $1,547,871 in “consulting services” and management fees between 2000 and 2006, and $1,418,359 of that was earned during or after 2001, when Ben was appointed to the Alaska State Senate. [Investigations hang over key Alaska political figures, Anchorage Daily News, 7/11/2008; Ben Stevens Legislative Financial Disclosure Forms]

Ben Paid By Favored Industries While “Serving” In Alaska Senate

Federal authorities investigating Ben Stevens and Sen. Ted Stevens are looking into the Alaska fishing industry for evidence of whether the powerful Republican pushed seafood legislation that benefited his lobbyist son. Among the pieces of Stevens-sponsored legislation being eyed:

A $100 million federal loan program approved in 2000 to buy out Alaska crab boats, trim the size of the fleet and boost prices. The Bering Sea Crab Effort Reduction Fund, an industry group that supported the buyout program, hired Ben Stevens’ company, Advance North, as a consultant.

A $30 million earmark Ted Stevens used to create the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board, which provided federal money to promote Alaska seafood. Ben Stevens was the board’s first chairman and approved grants to companies including those paying him consulting fees.

A $50 million loan program, like the crab buyback, seeking to trim the Alaska salmon fleet in 2004. The Southeast Alaska Seiners Association, a salmon fishing organization, hired Advance North to help push the deal. Ben Stevens is not a federal lobbyist and the salmon fishing group said his business partner, Trevor McCabe, did the lobbying.

A 2003 earmark that gave exclusive pollock fishing rights to Alaska natives in the far-flung Aleutian community of Adak. That meant millions of dollars for Adak Fisheries to manage the catch of pollock, the lucrative whitefish commonly used in fishsticks and fish sandwiches. The company paid Ben Stevens $295,000 between 2000 and 2004, according to state financial disclosure reports. When the earmark went through, Ben Stevens also secretly held an option to buy into Adak Fisheries. [FBI Investigating Stevens’ Fishing Bills, Associated Press, 10/30/2007]

Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board

In 2003, Sen. Ted Stevens created the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board through an appropriations bill, and his son, Ben, was appointed by the secretary of commerce, after being recommended by Ted Stevens, as the board’s founding chairman from 2003 until 2006.

As chairman, Ben Stevens approved federally-funded grants of more than $29 million to processing companies, many of which were “consulting” clients of Ben Stevens and his business partner, Trevor McCabe. These companies also paid Ben Stevens as a consultant either directly, through related companies or through industry groups such as the North Pacific Crab Association. During the time Ben Stevens served on the board, his consulting fees from companies receiving grants made payments to him of more than $250,000, according to Ben Stevens’ financial disclosure statements.

Ben Stevens was also fined by the Alaska Public Offices Commission for failing to disclose his position on the board for two years. [Alaska probe turns from oil to fish, Seattle Times, 10/4/2006; Stevens discloses board work, Anchorage Daily News, 10/29/2005; Salmon jet lures fund questions, Anchorage Daily News, 10/6/2005]

Duane Gibson, a former aide to Ted Stevens, and his brother benefited from AFMB money going to their dog treat company, Arctic Paws. In 2005, Arctic Paws received a $150,000 grant from the AFMB and a second $142,000 grant in 2006 to market its ‘Yummy Chummies’ salmon-flavored dog treats. [Stevens Stops Backing Controversial Board, Roll Call, 5/9/2007]

In 2007, after the Department of Justice targeted Ted and Ben Stevens in a political corruption probe, Ted Stevens abandoned his support for the controversial board. [Stevens Stops Backing Controversial Board, Roll Call, 5/9/2007]

Art Nelson

Art Nelson, Don Young’s son-in-law, is a player in Alaska politics. Nelson is director of the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, which received $80,000 from the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board created through one of Ted Stevens’s appropriations bills in 2003.

Nelson is part owner of 60 inaccessible acres set to rocket in value when opened up to development by the bridge dubbed Don Young’s Way, also known as the Knik Arm Bridge. Nelson owns a 10 percent stake in Point Bluff LLC, which purchased two parcels on Knik Arm on Dec. 6, 2002. Another owner in Point Bluff LLC is Trevor McCabe. Although the bridge became an infamous symbol of waste, Ted fought to keep the money and threatened to resign from the Senate if the earmark were removed. [Stevens Stops Backing Controversial Board, Roll Call, 5/9/2007; Alaska's Friends And Family Plan, Roll Call, 5/14/2007]

Ben Was Paid Over $70,000 By SEMCO Energy, Which Received $2 Million In Earmarked Federal Funds From Ted.

In Late 2005, Sen. Ted Stevens pressed state officials to reserve $2 million in earmarked federal money for a pipeline project being conducted by a gas company that employed Stevens’ son, Ben.
Stevens, Rep. Don Young and Sen. Lisa Murkowski wrote a letter to the Alaska Department of Transportation on Nov. 9, 2005, to “more clearly explain the Congressional intent” of a $2 million earmark in the 2005 highway bill, known as SAFETEA-LU. The letter clarified that the money was intended for the project Ben Stevens’ company was working on, and the company was named in the letter.

Stevens, Young and Murkowski’s letter pointed out the 2005 omnibus appropriations bill set aside an additional $2 million “to allow ENSTAR Natural Gas and ASRC Energy Service to move forward on a feasibility study along the Parks Highway for the construction of a spur line from Fairbanks to Anchorage.” They added: “The intent of the two million dollars in SAFETEA-LU is to continue the Parks Highway Spur study begun under the DOE project.”

ENSTAR Natural Gas is a subsidiary of SEMCO Energy, a Michigan-based energy company. Ben Stevens has served on the board of SEMCO since 2004 and was paid $77,810 for his service in 2006.

The $2 million earmark was not included in the House version of the SAFETEA-LU bill and was added in the Senate, where Stevens chaired the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, which had jurisdiction. [Stevens, Son Press Project, Roll Call, 6/7/2007]