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Stevens Investigation Broader Than Veco Home Makeover
It's official: the FBI is looking into more than Sen. Ted Stevens' Veco-overseen remodeling project. Roll Call reports that the FBI and the Department of Interior are also looking into a series of earmarks for one of Stevens' pet projects.
The project, the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seaward, Alaska, has received some $50 million in federal money since 1998. One of Stevens' former aides, Trevor McCabe, was paid $558,000 of that money for an adjacent piece of land. Federal investigators want to know more about the arrangement.
It wasn't the only time that federal money found its way to McCabe's pocket. McCabe is also tied to the federal investigation of Stevens' son, former state Senate President Ben Stevens. The FBI raided the younger Stevens' offices last year, gathering documents related to his time on an Alaska board that handed out millions in federal grants to the seafood industry. While Stevens was on the board, he partnered with McCabe in a consulting company that took fees from the companies that received the federal money. The older Stevens saw to it that the board was stocked with federal funds.
If the three-pronged federal investigation into Stevens run by the IRS, FBI and Interior Department doesn't impress you, Roll Call mentions that the raid of a US senator's home is a historical moment in Congressional corruption: "Stevens appears to be the only member of the Senate to have ever had his residence raided by the FBI."
Comments (10)
mo2 wrote on July 31, 2007 1:16 PM:For AK US Attorney information, refer back Robin Boerner's comments in February:
mo2 wrote on July 31, 2007 1:36 PM:http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002511.php
USA for AK, Nelson Cohen, was appointed on August 22, 2006. This is four months before the Dec 7, 2007 attorney purge. I do not know anything about Cohen, but just find this interesting.
Nelly Bly wrote on July 31, 2007 1:47 PM:The 990s for the Alaska Sealife Center are filed as the Seward Association for the Advancement of Marine Science - EIN# 520132479. They are online at the Foundation Center's 990 Finder - link below.
Government grants skyrocketed from $3.5 million in 2002 to $11.4 million in 2004 (the last year that the 990 is available).
In 2004, the Seward Associaton paid $429k to Marical in Portland Maine for "staffing and research."
Nelly Bly wrote on July 31, 2007 1:52 PM:Addendum: The Seward Association did not account for $1.1 million in grants in its 2004 990.
Nelly Bly wrote on July 31, 2007 1:58 PM:Addendum: The Seward Associaton has spent $55 million on land, buildings and equipment since its inception.
The big money appears to have rolled in in 2001 - $23 million.
Phoenix Woman wrote on July 31, 2007 2:25 PM:By the way: When Stevens finally resigns for "health reasons", Alaska's Republican Governor, Sarah Palin, won't be able to appoint anyone to replace him -- there's going to be a special election instead.
Why? Because the Republicans screwed the pooch in December of 2002 when Frank Murkowski appointed his darling daughter Lisa to replace himself in the U.S. Senate after he decided he'd rather be governor; the Alaska Lege passed a bill that prevented governors from ever doing anything like that again.
FlyOnTheWall wrote on July 31, 2007 3:02 PM:Wow. So they were photographing his wine cellar, bottle by bottle? And an aide assigned to the Commerce Committee was handling his personal affairs and finances?
rahgolf wrote on August 1, 2007 8:54 AM:Even if all of his financial dealings were honest - and we already know they weren't - using a committee staffer to handle them would break the law. Looks like the Senator is headed to the slammer.
Looks like Teddy boy is on his own bridge to nowhere!
rahgolf wrote on August 1, 2007 8:55 AM:Looks like Teddy boy is on his own bridge to nowhere!
Great Utah Eagle wrote on August 10, 2007 4:34 PM:Let's see if Carl Marrs wants to answer the question if any of those large $7000.00 wine purchases at the Petroleum Club in Anchorage on CIRI's tab ever made it over to his buddy Uncle Ted. Thank goodness that CIRI has the ability to hire top notch legal counsel to investigate this matter. Maybe they can retain Ted's brother in law Bill Bittner to head this inquiry.