GOP Senator Ted Stevens Indicted for Gifts from Oil Company
July 30, 2008 · Print This Article
The longest serving Republican senator, Ted Stevens, was indicted yesterday on seven felony counts of concealing over a quarter of a million dollars in house renovations and gifts from an oil contractor that lobbied him for government aid. Stevens, 84, has been a central figure in Alaskan politics since before statehood and is the first U.S. senator to be indicted since 1993.
From Yahoo! News:
He is accused of lying on his annual Senate financial disclosure reports between 1999 and 2006 — an indictment that caps a lengthy FBI investigation that has upended Alaska politics and brought unfavorable attention to both Stevens and his congressional colleague, GOP Rep. Don Young. Both are running for re-election this year.
Stevens’ indictment further damages Republican prospects in the November election as Senate Democrats, who now enjoy a 51-49 majority, try to capture a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority. Stevens faces both Democratic and Republican challengers who are trying to capitalize on his legal woes.
The Justice Department accused Stevens of accepting expensive work on his home in Girdwood, Alaska, a ski resort town outside Anchorage, from oil services contractor VECO Corp. and its executives. VECO normally builds oil processing equipment and pipelines, but its employees helped do the work on Stevens’ home.
VECO’s requests included funding and other aid for their projects and partnerships in Pakistan and Russia, federal grants from several agencies and help in building a pipeline in Alaska’s North Slope Region. If convicted, Stevens will face up to five years in prison for each count. He’s expected to turn himself in.
Ha ha – jerkass. I wonder how many other GOP senators are up to the same game with oil companies? Undoubtedly plenty of them…
Link [Yahoo! News]
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
- Ted Stevens Must Resign!
- Stop The Iditarod Trail (of Death) Sled Dog Race!
- No Way, No How, NO Sarah Palin!
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It is not a coincidence that the money the Senator took and hid was from an oil company exec and that US energy policy is also in the pocket of big oil industry interests.
Open up drilling is not about our oil supply, it’s about payback to oil companies looking for easy money at our expense.
Don’t forget, this is also the genius that described the internet as a series of tubes, NOT a big truck.
His contribution to satirical comedy should not be forgotten.
Oh, wait, he was serious. Nevermind, I’ll get the tar, someone get the feathers.
We all know this stuff is going on, but it always surprises me when they get caught, and we can plainly see how so many politicians are not for the people but for the money. Most these guys probably get in poltics to stroke their intellectual ego anyway- so it’s no wonder they easily slither over to the dark side (or oil pool)!
Totally a jerk-ass!