`Uncle Ted' Stevens's Corruption Probe Imperils Aid for Alaska

[one...two...tree 2,762]

By Julianna Goldman

Aug. 2 (Bloomberg) -- The federal corruption investigation of U.S. Senator Ted Stevens not only threatens the career of the longest-serving Republican in Senate history, it also puts at risk the billions of dollars that ``Uncle Ted'' steers to Alaska.

``Republicans, Democrats, everybody still hopes that nothing has gone wrong here, since he's so important to the state,'' said Republican State Representative Ralph Samuels, the majority leader in Alaska's House.

Stevens's ability to deliver for Alaska may be what has gotten him in the crosshairs of investigators in the first place. Among the issues the FBI is examining is whether a $1.6 million appropriation that Stevens endorsed helped his son's business partner, the Washington Post reported yesterday, citing unidentified people familiar with the probe.

Stevens, 83, who has said he will seek re-election in 2008, is known as ``Uncle Ted'' among Alaskans, in part, because of the money he has gotten for the state. Alaska's coffers stand to lose the most if an FBI raid on his home earlier this week leads to his departure from the Senate.

Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service agents searched his home just south of Anchorage on July 31, at least the fourth time since 2005 the FBI has raided the residence of a federal lawmaker. Stevens is being investigated over his relationship with an oil-field engineering firm.

Stevens's office said yesterday in an e-mailed statement that his record ``speaks for itself, and he will continue to be an advocate for Alaska and an active member of the Senate.''

`Earmarks'

Since 1999, he has directed more than $3 billion in pet projects, or ``earmarks,'' toward the state, according to Citizens Against Government Waste, a Washington-based non-profit advocacy group. The organization calculated that last year, the federal money amounted to almost $500 per person in Alaska, whose population is just 670,000.

Stevens, who has served in the Senate since 1968, headed the Appropriations Committee, which oversees one-third of the federal budget, from 1997-2001 and 2003-2005.

During his tenure as chairman, federal spending in Alaska increased to $8.4 billion from $4.6 billion, including everything from federal grants to road projects and military spending, according to a 2004 report by the Census Bureau, the most recent data available.

Stevens, currently the top Republican on the defense appropriations subcommittee, steered $209 million to Alaska in the 2007 defense appropriations bill, a 127 percent increase from 2006, according to Citizens Against Government Waste.

`Bridge to Nowhere'

``There are 100 senators, and 99 others are looking for those funds, too,'' said Jerry McBeath, a political science professor at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. ``He's just more effective than most of them.''

Stevens's success in securing federal funding is especially key for the state, where 34 percent of the homes in rural areas still don't have flush toilets, McBeath said. The lawmaker has been a ``major force'' in modernizing Alaska, building the critical infrastructure of roads, harbors, waterways and airports, he said.

``Everywhere you look in the state, I think you see Stevens's hand,'' he said.

One particular earmark in 2005, termed the ``Bridge to Nowhere,'' earned notoriety for Stevens and Don Young, Alaska's lone representative in the U.S. House of Representatives. While the funds for the bridge -- which was to connect the town of Ketchikan to an island of 50 full-time residents -- were eventually stripped out of a spending bill, the money became a symbol of excessive spending on special-interest projects.

Stevens, undeterred by the negative publicity, threatened at one point in the debate to resign if the Senate rescinded the money for the bridge.

`Biggest Abuses'

``It was definitely one of the biggest abuses of earmarks in the history of our country,'' said Keith Ashdown, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonprofit group in Washington.

Federal investigators and a grand jury looking into public corruption in Alaska are examining a remodeling project done in 2000 on Stevens's Girdwood home, which was overseen by Bill Allen, former chief executive officer of VECO Corp., an Anchorage-based energy-services company.

The investigation, which began almost a year ago, has led to guilty pleas by Allen and a former VECO vice president, Richard Smith. Both pleaded guilty to providing more than $400,000 in payments to Alaska officials. While Stevens and his wife directly paid contractors working on the house, Allen received the invoices, said one contractor, according to a report in the Anchorage Daily News.

Standing By Him

While outside groups are calling for Stevens to relinquish his post on the appropriations committee, both Democrats and Republicans in the leadership are advising caution.

``We have to be careful about punishing people when they are under investigation,'' said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat. ``Some investigations go nowhere.''

``He's asked us to await all information during this investigation, and I will, while I'm standing by our longest- serving colleague,'' said Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican.

In an interview with the Associated Press last month, Stevens voiced concern that the investigation could cost him his Senate seat in next year's election.

``If this is still hanging around a year from November,'' he said, ``it could cause me some trouble.''

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[almaty 19]

Stevens has been a chopf##k and a corrupt asshat ..the king of pork...

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Stevens has been a chopf##k and a corrupt asshat ..the king of pork...

Dear sweet uncle...