From The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 5/29/07:http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/seattlepolitics/archives/115984.asp

Uncle Ted and the Feds

By Joel Connelly

An extensive FBI-Justice Department probe into political corruption in
Alaska has reached close to the state's most powerful political figure
and the most senior Republican member of the U.S. Senate.

The Bureau and a federal grand jury are examining an extensive
remodeling project at the Girdwood, Alaska, home of Sen. Ted Stevens,
R-Alaska, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

The investigation involves remodeling invoices and top executives of
VECO, an oil services firm whose chairman pleaded guilty to bribery,
conspiracy and tax charges earlier this month.

The FBI has asked three contractors to turn over records from the
project.

One contractor told the Daily News he has testified before the grand
jury.

Stevens has declined to answer questions about the probe, saying in a
written statement that it would create the "appearance that I might
influence this investigation."

Stevens, 83, has served in the U.S. Senate since being appointed in
December of 1968.

The senator's son, Ben Stevens, served as president of the Alaska
State Senate - and is a central figure in the investigation.

VECO chairman Bill Allen and top deputy Rick Smith pleaded guilty to
charges of improperly influencing legislators, and are now cooperating
with the feds.

As part of the plea, Allen and Smith acknowledged that Ben Stevens had
taken $242,000 from Veco for "giving advice, lobbying colleagues and
taking official acts in matters before the Legislature.

Three former and one serving member of the Alaska State Legislature
have been indicted. Ben Stevens has not been indicted.

The remodeling under investigation took place in the summer and fall
of 2000.

It substantially increased the value of the elder Stevens' residence,
which is located near the Alyeska Ski Resort.

The home is Stevens' official residence in the state.

One contractor recently told the Daily News that he was contacted by
Bill Allen to work on the remodeling of Stevens' house, and asked to
send his bill to VECO for inspection.

The contractor said the bill was ultimately sent to Washington, D.C.,
and paid by Stevens and his wife Catherine.

Stevens, Sr., was the object of an extensive investigation by the Los
Angeles Times three years ago.

The newspaper disclosed that the senator has become a millionaire by
investing in projects that benefited from federal contracts.

Stevens is a senior member and former chairman of the Senate
Appropriations Committee.

Stevens is famous in the Senate for earmarking appropriations to
specific projects in his home state.

A master of the legislative process, he once tried to push through an
Environmental Protection Agency to pay for cleanup of effluent at a
Japanese-owned pulp mill in Sitka.

In late 2005, he tried to use a defense spending bill to open the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling.

Infuriated at Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who blocked the maneuver,
Stevens vowed to campaign against her - and made a brief appearance
last year in Tacoma and Seattle.

He and VECO's Allen were major sponsors of an Anchorage fundraiser for
Cantwell's Republican challenger, Mike McGavick.

McGavick later returned more than $14,000 in contributions from VECO
executives when it was learned the firm was under investigation.

Over the years, the Daily News and good government groups have
repeatedly revealed how major projects underwritten by federal dollars
- such as the controversial "bridges to nowhere" - stood to
financially benefit former aides to Stevens, Rep. Don Young, and the
family of former Gov. (and Sen.) Frank Murkowski.

Alaska voters turned Murkowski out of office in last year's Republican
primary.

They have continued to reelect Stevens and Young.

When he last sought reelection in 2002, Stevens collected more than
$250,000 from Seattle-area business interests at a series of
closed-door fundraisers in the Washington Athletic Club.

Young has been in the news due to ties with disgraced Washington,
D.C., lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

He blocked legislation that would have extended the protection of U.S.
labor laws to the Mariana Islands, site of sweat shops run by Abramoff
clients.

Stevens is renowned in Washington, D.C., for his temper.

He wears an "Incredible Hulk" necktie on the Senate floor on days of
debate on pork barrel projects.

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They also call him ole Ted "Bridge to Nowhere" Stevens.

A bridge to nowherehttp://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2005/08/09/bridges/index.html

Harry