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Today's Must Read
Two dozen FBI and the IRS agents took a close look yesterday at the infamous remodeling job overseen by Veco Corp. that doubled the size of Sen. Ted Stevens' (R-AK) home, snagging him in the widening probe into Alaska political corruption .
The Anchorage Daily News has the colorful details.
The agents were at Stevens' improved home in the small town of Girdwood with curtains drawn well into the night -- collecting evidence and shooting photos and video of the house and neighboring property. The FBI and IRS declined to comment on the raid, but a reporter perched outside Stevens' home got a pretty good idea of what was going on:
The agents were obviously cataloging the house and its fixtures, from light switches and electrical outlets to a big stainless steel barbecue grill on a second-floor deck that neighbors said was hoisted there with a crane. At one point, agents climbed on the pitched metal roof to take pictures of heat tape in the gutters.One agent carried a full large black garbage bag out of the house and put it in the white truck.
Stevens, who is the most senior Republican in the Senate, sits on the Commerce, Science and Transportation and Appropriations committees. Known for his aggressive earmarking, watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense will ask Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to temporarily remove Stevens from his posts until the federal investigation ends, according to Roll Call (sub req.):
According to a source with the group, this will be the first time TCS has ever made such an appeal. But the organization will argue in a letter to McConnell that given the current public concern with Congressional ethics, he should take a path similar to one the House GOP leadership has followed and request that Stevens relinquish his seats on the two powerful committees until the investigation is completed....In the letter, TCS President Ryan Alexander will argue that McConnell should ask Stevens to step down “until this federal investigation can be resolved and the public trust restored,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the letter had not yet been completed as of this posting.
Stevens' son, former state Senate President Ben Stevens has been implicated in receiving questionable payments from Veco executives, and Rep. Don Young (R-AK) is under federal investigation for his ties to the company as well.
Update: See the letter from Taxpayers for Common Sense here.
Comments (23)
Anonymous wrote on July 31, 2007 10:30 AM:This group is so corrupt Bush can't fire US Attorneys fast enough to keep up with it.
Anonymous wrote on July 31, 2007 10:37 AM:soon the victim culture will kick in and Alaskans will circle the wagon to protect their own fellow felon
sad...but the rest of taxpayers are having house parties in Anchorage!
tas wrote on July 31, 2007 10:42 AM:Some folks still working at the Justice Department are still concerned about the law and may just be taking care of some of the lifetime Senate and Congressional seats in an extra-electoral manner.
Austin Cooper wrote on July 31, 2007 10:45 AM:Whenever I see Steven's photo, it connects with a series of video clips I've seen of him over the years -- always angry, always defensive; shouting, sputtering... the kind of loose cannon who, if invited to a party, would be drunk before they arrived and starting a fight before the end of the night.
To take an observation from Dave Niewert, Stevens as a politician is aging, crabbed, and maliciously corrupt. He's not one of the 'Greatest Generation', but the 'Viagra Generation', whose notion of what it is to be a man isn't about wisdom gained with time, working collaboratively, protection and responsibility, but about potency and getting their "due".
Pathetic.
mofembot wrote on July 31, 2007 10:47 AM:Over on DailyKos there's word that the DOJ informed Stevens' attorneys *yesterday* that this raid was going to take place. Is this legal? Ethical?
modmom wrote on July 31, 2007 11:03 AM:On the tip off:
Is That Legal?
July 31, 2007
Justice Department Tips Off Senator Stevens Before Searching His Home!
The FBI and IRS's execution yesterday afternoon of a search warrant on the Alaska home of GOP Senator Ted Steven has been widely reported by now.
What's striking is this tidbit in today's WaPo:
Stevens said in a statement that his attorneys were advised of the impending search yesterday morning.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/30/AR2007073001427.html?hpid=topnews
http://www.isthatlegal.org/archives/2007/07/justice_departm.html
Foobar wrote on July 31, 2007 11:15 AM:About that tip off....
Dont forget about the AbuGonzales memo where Gonz authorizes the VP office access to DOJ investigations. The loyal bushies at the DOJ are being surveilled. Kinda redundant but effective.
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003767.php
ckennedy920 at yahoo wrote on July 31, 2007 11:18 AM:I'm sure the Tubeman had the place cleared of anything incriminating months ago . So being tipped off before hand - GOPers looking out for GOPers, big surprise - is probably a non-issue.
I can't wait to see his perp walk.
RW wrote on July 31, 2007 11:24 AM:The tip off is an obstruction trap. Except that sewer could back up in the opposite direction.
As for VP...based on the NYTimes OpEd revelation that the VP ordered the hospital visit, could we be seeing the fog lifted and Cheney being exposed as the real acting President as in COO status, and Bush acting as Chair and CEO. I guess that is how the VP has gained the 4th branch of government.
buckheaddad wrote on July 31, 2007 11:27 AM:Perhaps Sen. Stevens might read-up on what happened to our late Sen. Herman Talmadge (D-GA), also caught with his hands in the cookie-jar.
The story about "the overcoat in the hall closet" was hysterical (amidst our tears). This jerk Stevens has a WHOLE NEW HOUSE to explain away.
George and Dickie boy will see that this goes NOWHERE. . . .just watch.
markg8 wrote on July 31, 2007 11:31 AM:I like this quote from the WaPo story:
"The afternoon raid was conducted by FBI and IRS agents as part of a "court-authorized search warrant," FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said in Washington."
How quaint.
Chesire11 wrote on July 31, 2007 11:34 AM:Jeez, that was a picture of the place AFTER it was "improved"? It looks like the shed I kept my lawnmower in, only bigger. Not exactly the sort of thing for which you'd expect a guy to risk scandal, loss of a decades long Senate career and possible jail time.
(The shed's gone now, it was an rathole.)
Dave Bowman wrote on July 31, 2007 11:50 AM:The tipoff sounds like another proud moment for the Gonzales Dept. of No Justice.
Candyce wrote on July 31, 2007 12:03 PM:I still think the funniest thing about the house remodeling is that they lifted the original house on top of the new construction, to become the second floor. I'm no architect, but I've watched enough of Flip this House to think that a new second floor could have been designed to look like the original house, and for way less money than lifting it up then retrofitting. What on earth was so special about that first floor?
jeffgee wrote on July 31, 2007 12:09 PM:That first floor had all the Internet tubes built in.
Steve5117 wrote on July 31, 2007 12:11 PM:Chesire11 @ 11:34
Years ago I had a service call in a low income black neighborhood. The row house where the job was looked as run down from the outside as the majority of the homes in the area. I was quite shocked to walk inside to see an exqusitly remodeled home with the finest furnishings.
The owner of the home also owned the neighborhood market located across the street from his home, in fact I had to first go to the store to have the owner let me in his house.
The store provided this man with a very good income. His public personna to his customer base was a poor businessman, struggling just like the them, while he lived a private life that they could not afford.
Ted's house appears not to be out of place from the outside, but I'll wager the interior is much different. I wonder if has any man-size safes?
regular lurker wrote on July 31, 2007 12:13 PM:I'd really like to know why Stevens put the secret hold on the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act that just held up signing on the bill. He did it for somebody...who?
bibimimi wrote on July 31, 2007 12:18 PM:That hostile old greedy coot has been a black hole of progress in the Senate or as long as I can remember. He turns people off to the political process and rakes in what ever shakes loose.
They got you by yer tubes now, Ted.
pocket wrote on July 31, 2007 12:34 PM:I would venture a guess that the interior fixtures were not purchased at the local Lowes. But I have a sneaking suspicion that top of the line everything was purchased. Say, a $75 light switch, not the $7.50 variety. And I bet that Veco paid the $75 bill, but passed on to Ted a $7.50 bill. Now, imagine they installed 40 light switches. You can see where I am going with this. Ted gets billed for $30k whereas VECO actually paid $300k for the entire job.
And I wonder if Ted got some items installed that weren't billed at all to Ted (heat tape on gutters). I read somewhere else that the carpentry alone was $100k.
And the beauty of the scheme is that, unless you went into the house and evaluated the cost of the interior products _actually_ installed, no one would ever discover the bribe.
The downside is, if the IRS/FBI does appraise the interior...your screwed!!
Molly Ivans wrote on July 31, 2007 1:53 PM:Raise Hell!!
regular lurker wrote on July 31, 2007 2:35 PM:Hmmm, it sounds like insider trading. Especially with the tip off from the FBI of the raid.
djohns wrote on August 1, 2007 12:15 AM:Remember folks. It's the receipts that he can't produce, and not necessarly what he might have destroyed that will do him in.
djohns wrote on August 1, 2007 12:17 AM:Remember folks. It's the receipts that he can't produce, and not necessarly what he might have destroyed that will do him in.