It's Getting Warmer In Alaska ...
...at least for Senator Ted Stevens. An AP report published in yesterday's Sacramento Bee indicates that the Justice Department is looking into a home renovation project in 2000 overseen by a man who has already pleaded guilty to bribery.
Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator and once the chief power broker for dispensing federal dollars, says he's worried that a corruption investigation "could cause me some trouble" in running for re-election next year.
The 83-year-old Alaska Republican has drawn Justice Department scrutiny over a renovation project in 2000 that more than doubled the size of his home in a resort town surrounded by glaciers.
The remodeling was overseen by Bill Allen, a contractor who has pleaded guilty to bribing Alaska state legislators. Allen is founder of VECO Corp., an Alaska-based oil field services and engineering company that has reaped tens of millions of dollars in federal contracts.
This particular incident appears to be only the tip of the iceberg for Mr. Stevens, however. The article makes it clear that the Republican senator improved his personal financial worth considerably while serving in the Senate:
In 1997, his largest assets were his savings in the Senate Credit Union, worth between $100,001 and $250,000 and three $50,001-$100,000 investments. One was in JLS Properties, which owned two properties in Alaska.
But after 1997, the year that Stevens became chairman of the Appropriations Committee, he began to leave the Senate's poorhouse.
Stevens' business partners in JLS were Alaska developers Jonathan Rubini and Leonard Hyde. The partnership initially invested in an office park near the Anchorage airport and a two-story office building. ...
While Stevens says he was a passive investor in JLS, his assets - including high-rise office buildings - soared.
In 2004, Stevens made a change that hid many of his assets. He sold JLS investments and other assets, and placed most of them in a blind trust worth between $1 million and $5 million. [Emphasis added]
That's certainly a nice return on his investments over a seven year period. What is equally troubling, however, is Sen. Stevens response to this latest investigation:
"The worst thing about this investigation is that it does change your life in terms of employment potential," Stevens said in an interview with The Associated Press. "It doesn't matter what anyone says, it does shake you up. If this is still hanging around a year from November, it could cause me some trouble.
From your lips to your constituent's ears, Senator.
Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator and once the chief power broker for dispensing federal dollars, says he's worried that a corruption investigation "could cause me some trouble" in running for re-election next year.
The 83-year-old Alaska Republican has drawn Justice Department scrutiny over a renovation project in 2000 that more than doubled the size of his home in a resort town surrounded by glaciers.
The remodeling was overseen by Bill Allen, a contractor who has pleaded guilty to bribing Alaska state legislators. Allen is founder of VECO Corp., an Alaska-based oil field services and engineering company that has reaped tens of millions of dollars in federal contracts.
This particular incident appears to be only the tip of the iceberg for Mr. Stevens, however. The article makes it clear that the Republican senator improved his personal financial worth considerably while serving in the Senate:
In 1997, his largest assets were his savings in the Senate Credit Union, worth between $100,001 and $250,000 and three $50,001-$100,000 investments. One was in JLS Properties, which owned two properties in Alaska.
But after 1997, the year that Stevens became chairman of the Appropriations Committee, he began to leave the Senate's poorhouse.
Stevens' business partners in JLS were Alaska developers Jonathan Rubini and Leonard Hyde. The partnership initially invested in an office park near the Anchorage airport and a two-story office building. ...
While Stevens says he was a passive investor in JLS, his assets - including high-rise office buildings - soared.
In 2004, Stevens made a change that hid many of his assets. He sold JLS investments and other assets, and placed most of them in a blind trust worth between $1 million and $5 million. [Emphasis added]
That's certainly a nice return on his investments over a seven year period. What is equally troubling, however, is Sen. Stevens response to this latest investigation:
"The worst thing about this investigation is that it does change your life in terms of employment potential," Stevens said in an interview with The Associated Press. "It doesn't matter what anyone says, it does shake you up. If this is still hanging around a year from November, it could cause me some trouble.
From your lips to your constituent's ears, Senator.
Labels: Ethics
posted by Diane at 3:41 AM
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