History Forum / General / British History / July 2008

DSH
Lux et Veritas et Libertas
Vires et Honor
Veni, Vidi, Calcitravi Asinum
------------------------------------------------

Alaska Sen. Stevens charged with hiding gifts

Tue Jul 29, 2008
By James Vicini and Thomas Ferraro

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Veteran Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens was charged
on Tuesday with concealing more than $250,000 worth of gifts, including home
renovations, that he received from an Alaska oil services company, the
Justice Department said.

The Alaska politician, who has served 40 years in the Senate, was charged in
a federal grand jury indictment with seven counts of making false statements
on his Senate financial disclosure forms from 2001 to 2006, the department
said.

Stevens denied the charges but said he stepped down as required by party
rules as top Republican on the Democratic-led Commerce Committee,
Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense and Homeland Security subcommittee on
Disaster Recovery. He gave no indication he planned to resign from the
Senate.

"I am innocent of these charges and intend to prove that," Stevens said in a
statement. "I have never knowingly submitted a false disclosure form
required by law as a U.S. senator."

There was no immediate indication that Republicans would try to pressure
Stevens to resign, but it was "unclear how things will develop," a
Republican aide said.

Patti Higgins, chair of the Alaska Democratic Party, said Stevens "should
step down." She said, "Alaskans need representation in the Senate that they
can trust."

In the event Stevens resigns, Alaska's governor cannot appoint a successor
and a special election would be held between 60 and 90 days of his vacating
his Senate seat, according to Alaska state rules.

Stevens is accused of receiving substantial improvements to his Alaska home
that included a new first floor, a finished full basement, a wraparound
deck, and plumbing, electrical and heating work.

The indictment also charged that he received a new vehicle in exchange for
an older one worth far less, and household goods such as furniture and a new
gas range, the Justice Department said.

The charges followed a wide-ranging corruption investigation in Alaska
coordinated by the department's Office of Public Integrity that began in
2004, officials said.

The senator faces a tough campaign for re-election in November. Democrats
view Stevens as highly vulnerable as they seek to expand their Senate
majority, now at 51-49.

Democrats won control of Congress in the 2006 elections after a number of
Republican scandals, many of them tied to now-imprisoned lobbyist Jack
Abramoff.

The indictment said Stevens, 84, received the gifts from VECO Corp, formerly
a multinational oil services company based in Stevens' oil-producing state,
from its one-time top executive Bill Allen and others.

It accuses Stevens, a former chairman of the powerful Appropriations
Committee and the longest-serving Republican senator ever, of using his
position and office in the Senate on behalf of VECO between 2001 and 2006.

The 28-page indictment said Stevens provided false information in financial
disclosure forms filed with the Senate that required him to report items of
value he had received.

"Stevens ... knowingly and intentionally sought to conceal and cover up his
receipt of things of value by filing financial disclosure forms that
contained false statements and omissions concerning Stevens' receipt of
these things of value," the indictment said.

INFLUENCE PEDDLING

The Alaskan investigation covered suspected influence peddling by officials
at VECO, then the state's largest oil-services company and a major patron of
Alaska Republicans.

Stevens was the 10th person to be charged. Last summer, agents from the FBI
and Internal Revenue Service searched his home in the ski resort of
Girdwood, south of Anchorage.

The senator, who has a reputation for being hard-driving and having a hot
temper, was first appointed to the Senate in 1968 to fill a seat vacated by
the death of Democratic Sen. Bob Bartlett and has subsequently been
re-elected by wide margins.

Stevens is nicknamed "Uncle Ted" because of his long record of steering
billions of dollars in federal funding to Alaska. In 2000, a civic
organization and the state Legislature honored him by naming him "Alaskan of
the Century."

Word of the indictment raced through the state Capitol in Juneau, where
lawmakers were holding a special session on energy issues.

"It's a long way from a conviction, but just the idea that the Alaskan of
the Century has been indicted on federal charges sort of tilts the earth,"
said state Sen. Hollis French, an Anchorage Democrat.