Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Sen. Stevens Muckraked Up

If you spend enough time trawling the bottom, eventually you'll catch some bottom feeders. Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) has been indicted by the Department of Justice. Talking Points Memo has been following Stevens and his trail of questionable dealing for more than a year, and notes that the indictment comes just less than a year after a raid on his house.

The charges themselves all relate to lying/misrepresentation. Bill Allen CEO of VECO performed extensive renovations to Sen. Stevens' house for free. Sen. Stevens failed to disclose this on his Senate disclosure forms. As the indictment alleges, knowingly and willingly falsifying Financial Disclosure Forms is a civil and criminal offense.

Stevens is not being charged with bribery, corruption, or any quid-pro-quo with VECO. This is likely because the evidence against him emerged during an investigation of the Alaska state legislature, following a paper trial including Mr. Stevens' son. Bribery charges are very difficult to prove if you don't have a wire or undercover operation directly showing an exchange. Circumstantial evidence shows that Mr. Stevens accepted favors from companies that had an interest in federal contracts, and that he did "look on them favorably" but without a to do list that includes "pick up bribe money" it's not likely to lead to charges.

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