MEMO: Stevens: We Have Lots Of Things In Our House That Don’t Belong To UsMEMORANDUM Senator Ted Stevens told Alaskans and the jury today that he has lots of things in his home that don’t belong to him. Stevens explained that gifts would violate the Senate Ethics Manual, but it was okay if it was just a loan. Apparently Stevens hasn’t read the manual in awhile, because it specifically references that loans are considered gifts. “Rule states: [T]he term ‘gift’ means any gratuity, favor, discount, entertainment, hospitality, loan, forbearance, or other item having monetary value.” [Senate Ethics Manual, http://ethics.senate.gov/downloads/pdffiles/manual.pdf] When asked about the $2,695 massage chair given to him by Bob Persons, Stevens explained, “‘It’s just a loan’… [Prosecutor Brenda] Morris then sarcastically asked Stevens if he had other furniture in his home owned by other people. ‘We have lots of furniture in our house that doesn’t belong to us’… Stevens claimed that it was still Persons’ chair even though it has been in his home for the last seven years. ‘It’s not my chair, it’s not my chair,’ Stevens sputtered. ‘It’s his chair, he put it in the house.’” [Stevens gets testy under cross-examination, trial may wrap up on Tuesday, Politico, 10/20/08] And what about the $29,000 bronze fish migration statue sitting on Stevens deck? “The senator also faced questions over his receipt of a bronze statue of migrating fish, which the senator said was meant for his still-unbuilt foundation. But Morris pointed to a 2002 e-mail where Stevens said the ‘sculpture was given to me.’ ‘Your foundation has no building?’ Morris asked sarcastically. ‘I have not died yet,’ Stevens shot back.” [Sen. Stevens ends testimony; defense rests, The Hill, 10/20/08] Stevens’ final day of testimony was full of contradictions. On Friday Stevens’ claimed that Bill Allen, Chief Executive for VECO, simply recommended contractors to work on Stevens home. But today, Stevens told another story, saying that Allen was working on the Girdwood chalet and was supposed to bill the Stevens’s for the work. While Stevens continues to contend that he didn’t want or seek the gifts, he kept everything. He said he hated the rope lights, yet they remained in his tree for six years. Stevens said his furniture was “stolen” and replaced by Allen, but it remains in the Girdwood chalet. However, the Senate Ethics Manual gives Stevens two options if he receives a gift he does not want. The manual says, if a Senator, “…inadvertently receives a gift whose value is over the dollar limit either to pay the donor the market value of the gift, or to return it to the donor without using it.” Stevens could have paid for everything they received, or given everything back, but he didn’t. The case against Stevens is straightforward – he knowingly received gifts from VECO, never paid for them, and refused to disclose them. As a Senator, Stevens was required to report every single gift he received every single year, regardless of if he liked it. Stevens and his wife have yet to answer the critical questions in the case. All gifts, especially from the Chief Executive of VECO, need to be paid for and reported. Asking for a bill is not sufficient. The rules are clear – in order to keep the public’s trust, Stevens needed to disclose. Stevens should have said no, he should have disclosed the gifts, but he didn’t. Stevens took illegal gifts from VECO, and that is inexcusable. |
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