What's Ted's connection?

Ted’s Family

Catherine Stevens

Ted’s wife Catherine is a Washington lobbyist. [Senator’s Way To Wealth Was Paved With Favors, Los Angeles Times, 12/17/2003]

In the 2003 article on Ted and his family, the Los Angeles Times reported that Catherine Stevens made tens of thousands of dollars from a deal involving the stock of an Alaskan communications company that benefited from the senator’s activities on the Commerce Committee. [Senator’s Way To Wealth Was Paved With Favors, Los Angeles Times, 12/17/2003]

Catherine Stevens made at least $47,000 by buying bargain shares of Alaska Communications Systems stock and then selling them a year later. Ted, as a senior member of the Commerce Committee, influenced communications policy that has benefited ACS. [Senator’s Way To Wealth Was Paved With Favors, Los Angeles Times, 12/17/2003]

“Ethics rules require disclosure by a family-owned business, in detail and in the same year a transaction occurs,” the Times reported. Ted Stevens did not report in his 1999 financial disclosure that Chamer Co. — the investment firm owned by his wife Catherine Stevens, her siblings and their mother — bought 42,248 shares of ACS, some of which Catherine Stevens later purchased. [Senator’s Way To Wealth Was Paved With Favors, Los Angeles Times, 12/17/2003]

William H. “Bill” Bittner

Ted Stevens’ brother-in-law Bill Bittner is an Anchorage lawyer and Washington lobbyist.

In 1997, Stevens asked Bittner to seek out potential investment opportunities for him, which led to lucrative real estate investments in partnerships with some of the same individuals involved in the Elmendorf housing Defense Department contract. [Senator’s Way To Wealth Was Paved With Favors, Los Angeles Times, 12/17/2003]

Stevens has taken many other actions that directly benefited Bittner’s clients. For example, Stevens added $9.6 million to a federal bill to pay off the loans of a Bittner client, Hyundai Merchant Marine, a South Korean shipping company. [Senator’s Way To Wealth Was Paved With Favors, Los Angeles Times, 12/17/2003]