FBI, IRS searching Stevens' Girdwood house (Senator Ted Stevens R-Alaska)

[NMDemDist2]

Source: Anchorage Daily News

Federal law enforcement agents are currently searching the Girdwood home of Alaska U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, an FBI agent said.

"All I can say is that agents from the FBI and IRS are currently conducting a search at that residence," said Dave Heller, the assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Anchorage office. The search began this afternoon, he said. It's the only such search warrant currently being served, he said.

He directed other questions to the U.S. Justice Department's Public Integrity Section in Washington. A spokesman there had no comment.

Federal investigators and a grand jury looking into public corruption in Alaska have been asking questions about a 2000 remodeling project at Stevens' home, particularly the involvment of the oil field services firm Veco.

Three contractors who worked on the project told the Daily News that their records had been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury, and others connected with the work and with Stevens had been interviewed.

Read more: http://www.adn.com/news/politics/fbi/story/9179115p-9095789c.html

---

can we call this the Career to Nowhere??

[maddezmom]

1. Home of Senator Ted Stevens raided

Source: KTVA

The IRS and the FBI is currently exercising a search warrant on the home of Senator Ted Stevens in Girdwood. CBS 11 News will bring you the details tonight on CBS 11 News at 5, 6 and 10

Read more: http://www.ktva.com/topstory/ci_6500956

[Raine]

16. Karma bites his fat ass

FINALLY ... :thumbsup:

[Alexander]

2. Is his home a series of tubes?

[Blue Gardener]

13. They put the tubes in when they remodeled

So he could have the internet(s).

[populistdriven]

19. did they find the bridge to nowhere?

[AnnieBW]

35. Ya beat me to it!

:thumbsup:

[orleans]

3. HAHA here's another link to a short story:

http://www.adn.com/news/politics/fbi/story/9179115p-9095789c.html

FBI, IRS searching Stevens' Girdwood house

Anchorage Daily News

Published: July 30, 2007
Last Modified: July 30, 2007 at 02:34 PM

Federal law enforcement agents are currently searching the Girdwood home of Alaska U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, an FBI agent said.

"All I can say is that agents from the FBI and IRS are currently conducting a search at that residence," said Dave Heller, the assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Anchorage office. The search began this afternoon, he said.

Federal investigators and a federal grand jury looking into public corruption in Alaska have been asking questions about a 2000 remodeling project that occurred at Stevens' home, particularly the involvment of the oil field services firm Veco.

[MidwestTransplant]

4. I am not a crook

[Ian David]

5. And how are resigning Senators replaced in Alaska? Appointed by governor? n/t

[Alexander]

6. Special election.

[PublicCommentAK]

26. He would never resign,

Stevens will never resign. If he is arrested we will have a special election (thanks to a law passed after Frank Murkowski appointed his daughter to his old seat when he became Governor), and if not I think we should finally be able to get enough votes to get him out of office next November when his term is up.

[WhoDoYouTrust]

30. I totally agree.

People are waking up here and they are not happy.

Welcome to DU!

:)

[Ian David]

31. The only reason I want to save the polar bears is in the hopes one might eat Ted Stevens. n/t

[dmr]

58. They've got to eat, but damn, that man's rancid n/t

[LeftishBrit]

61. That's not fair...

The poor polar bear might die of food poisoning!

[Seen the light]

36. Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[durrrty libby]

37. I thought the people loved him because of all the pork he brought home.

[Blue_In_AK]

49. He likes to think so. n/t

[roguevalley]

71. agreed, blue. he lives in a world of his own making. this is indeed

a happy day. i hope Ben is next.

[Lochloosa]

42. Welcome to DU PublicCommentAK

:toast:

[Vidar]

47. Good luck with that SOB & welcome to DU.

[Blue_In_AK]

48. Fellow Alaskans,

doing a happy dance tonight? I wonder when they're coming for Ben.

[ClintonTyree]

62. He's known about this investigation for quite some time now....

if he hasn't covered his tracks by now he's even more stupid that we take him for. He HAD to know this was coming so I'm not real sure what or if they'll find anything in his personal records.
They'll probably have to dig a little deeper to get this snake out of his hole but it looks as if they're off to a good start.
Couldn't happen to a nicer guy! :applause:

[Blue_In_AK]

69. A lot depends on what Bill Allen has been saying...

Ted is very careful to parse his words and say that he paid all bills THAT WERE SENT TO HIM, which to me implies that there were bills paid that weren't sent to him. My guess is VECO's Bill Allen is talking quite a bit in an attempt to lessen his own penalty. It was incredible to me that Allen and his VP pled guilty so soon after all this legislator-influencing came to light. The evidence must be pretty strong.

[ncrainbowgrrl]

73. Welcome to Democratic Underground, PublicCommentAK

:hi:

[eleny]

7. WHOOT!

[Joanne98]

8. YES!

[NMDemDist2]

9. here's more background from last week's WSJ

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118531999682776863.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

WASHINGTON -- A senior House Republican has come under criminal investigation in the Justice Department's widening inquiry into alleged influence-peddling and self-dealing in Congress.
The News: Rep. Don Young and Sen. Ted Stevens are under investigation in a continuing criminal probe of alleged political favors for an Alaskan company.
The Details: Federal investigators are examining whether Rep. Young or Sen. Stevens accepted bribes or unreported gifts from Alaska's largest oil-field engineering firm, people close to the case said.
The Significance: The lawmakers are among the highest-ranking members of either party to come under scrutiny in the wave of public-corruption probes that has swept Washington.

Rep. Don Young of Alaska, the former chairman of the House Transportation Committee, now is the subject of a continuing criminal inquiry involving possible political favors for a company in Alaska, people close to the case said. Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, the powerful former chairman of the Appropriations Committee and the longest-serving Senate Republican, is also now under criminal investigation, these people said.

Federal investigators are examining whether Rep. Young or Sen. Stevens accepted bribes, illegal gratuities or unreported gifts from VECO Corp., Alaska's largest oil-field engineering firm, people close to the case said.

It isn't known what VECO allegedly may have received in return. The company has been awarded a series of federal contracts since 2000, including contracts to provide logistics support for arctic research, among other projects..... More at link.......

[guitar man]

10. Ha Ha!!

[lies and propaganda]

11. this youtube video i found is great!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhbaL255L9Q

[Joanne98]

27. OMG! That' too funny!

[AndrewJacksonFaction]

40. It's not a truck!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtOoQFa5ug8&mode=related&search=

[lies and propaganda]

70. too great!!!!!!

series!

[Lifelong Protester]

46. Fantastic!

And... ROFLMAO...:rofl:

[babylonsister]

12. Oooh, he's in (more) trouble now. Couldn't happen to a nicer fella either! nt

[dickbearton]

28. Quite right...

I hope he goes down bigtime. The Republican pig.

[Vinca]

14. Wow - maybe there is a God. nt

[Elidor]

15. FBI, IRS search home of Sen. Ted Stevens

Source: TPM/AP

Agents from the FBI and Internal Revenue Service on Monday searched the home of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, an official said.

Investigators arrived at the Republican senator's home in Girdwood shortly before 2:30 p.m. Alaska time, said Dave Heller, FBI assistant special agent.

Heller said he could not comment on the nature of the investigation.

The Justice Department has been looking into the seven-term senator's relationship with a wealthy contractor as part of a public corruption investigation.

Source: AP News

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2007/07/fbi_irs_search_home_of_sen_ted.php

---

Don't worry, Ted. They're just there to clean out your tubes.

[mcscajun]

21. Ha!

:rofl: Stevens' tubes:



Double-teamed by the FBI and IRS; it couldn't have happened to a "nicer" Senator. :rofl:

[Webster Green]

59. More tubes...

[dbackjon]

17. Young and Stevens

Are two of the worst money-grubbing pork-barrelling, environmental-destroying SOB in Washington. Sweet Karma if both were in jail soon. The country would be so much better off.

[Joanne98]

18. The VECO scandal!!!!!!!

Last updated July 29, 2007 11:25 p.m. PT
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/325567_joel30.ht...
Political scandals thick as trees in Alaska
By JOEL CONNELLY
P-I COLUMNIST

Threats and bluster are standard operating procedures for Alaska's seniority-laden Washington, D.C., delegation, and Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, was in full cry earlier this month.

"There is always another day when those who bite will be killed, too, and I am very good at that," Young said. No kiddin'. He once waved an 18-inch-long oosik, the penis bone of a walrus, at the first woman to direct the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Young, the political architect of Alaska's "bridges to nowhere," was mad at a bid by Republican New Jersey Rep. Scott Garrett to cut one of his pet programs.

Not only did he go after Garrett, but Alaska's congressman went on to note that his opponent comes "from a state that doesn't have the greatest reputation in the world."

A few days later, The Wall Street Journal revealed that Young is under FBI investigation for his ties to VECO, the oil-field-services supplier whose president has pleaded guilty to paying off Alaska state legislators.

"Is two-thirds of the New Jersey congressional delegation currently being investigated by the FBI? Did New Jersey pols and lobbyists organize a Corrupt Bastards Club in the state capital? And get hats made?" the Alaska Ear column of the Anchorage Daily News asked.

Alaska has lately moved out in front of the Garden State when it comes to politicians for sale, for rent and ready to exchange favors.

The past year has seen a curtain pulled back on the crony capitalist insiders' network that has long run the 49th State, treating the "Great Land" as a grand treasure trove.

As usual, there's a key insider: In the 1970s, it was Jess Carr, the Teamsters Union leader whose local ran Alaska Pipeline construction with fists and featherbedding.

The go-to guy of recent times was VECO boss Bill Allen. VECO was the prime contractor in cleaning up Prince William Sound after the Exxon Valdez spill. VECO took in about $800 million of $2.5 billion spent by Exxon.

Allen got around, and got around the law.

By bugging VECO's suite at Juneau's Baranof Hotel, the FBI recorded vote-buying that resulted in Allen and deputy Rick Smith pleading guilty to extortion and bribery, plus corruption charges against one legislator and two former colleagues.

Between 2002 and 2006, VECO paid $243,000 in consulting fees to the firm of state Senate President Ben Stevens, son of Alaska's U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens. What work the Stevens dauphin actually did is unclear. He has not -- yet -- been indicted.

Allen threw an annual fundraiser called "The Pig Roast" for Young each August. Young chaired the House Transportation Committee until Democrats won control of Congress.

Young received $157,000 from VECO employees and its political committee over the past decade. He amended campaign-finance filings this year to report $38,000 in payments to Allen for "fundraising costs."

And there is 83-year-old Ted Stevens, Alaska's senator for life. The FBI is investigating a 2000 project that more than doubled the size of his home in Girdwood, a ski town near Anchorage.

One contractor who worked on the house said he was told to send bills to VECO. He has said that someone in Allen's office examined the billing, then sent them to Stevens.

The Los Angeles Times did a 2004 study of "Uncle Ted's" personal finances. Stevens has become a millionaire by investing in partnerships with influential contractors. The same partners profited handsomely from spending items that Stevens put into the federal budget.

The Anchorage Daily News has regularly disclosed lucrative lobbying by former aides to Young and Stevens. An ex-Young staffer owns land near the terminus of a controversial proposed bridge. The family of former Gov. Frank Murkowski owns land on Gravina Island, destination of a planned bridge from Ketchikan.

Stevens, too, is given to threats. He vowed revenge on Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., after she blocked his backdoor bid to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling.

In a final "predators' ball" of Alaska's elite, Stevens, Young and Allen headlined a fundraiser for Cantwell's GOP challenger Mike McGavick. McGavick ended up refunding $14,700 from VECO executives when news of the FBI inquiry became public.

A new north wind is blowing.

It blew away Murkowski in last year's Republican primary. The winner -- now governor -- was Sarah Palin, who blew the whistle on ethical misconduct while chairing the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich is being recruited by Democrats to run against Young. Young is also under scrutiny for favors done for Florida businessmen who were big campaign donors.

The state's junior Sen. Lisa Murkowski -- appointed by her father when he was governor -- dodged a bullet last week. Murkowski and her husband announced they were selling back a choice Kenai River lot to a friend and real estate developer.

The resale came after a D.C. watchdog group filed a complaint against Sen. Murkowski, charging she paid far below market value and that the land deal amounted to an illegal gift.

"While Verne and I intended to make this our family home, and we paid a fair price for this land, no property is worth compromising the trust of the Alaska people," she said.

It's enough to bring tears to your eyes -- if you happen to be a crocodile.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/325567_joel30.ht...
P-I columnist Joel Connelly can be reached at 206-448-8160 or [e-mail] . Follow his political blog at blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics.

[Tesla]

23. "A new north wind is blowing."

They LOVE throwing stones....
Too bad they all live in glass houses!!

[Blue_In_AK]

50. VECO is the gift that keeps on giving.

Bill Allen must be talking his ass of.

[aquart]

20. Well, an interesting day all around.

[Dj13Francis]

22. This is incredible!

I didn't think there were any honest people left in high places at the justice department. I guess you missed one Gonzo... HAHAHA

[onehandle]

24. Thank you, Jesus. nt

[Joanne98]

25. Amen to that.

[stevedeshazer]

29. Has a sitting US Senator's home ever been raided before?

This is unprecedented!

[rodeodance]

32. FBI, IRS search home of Sen. Ted Stevens

Source: ap

FBI, IRS search home of Sen. Ted Stevens

1 hour, 51 minutes ago

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Agents from the FBI and Internal Revenue Service on Monday searched the home of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, an official said.


Investigators arrived at the Republican senator's home in Girdwood shortly before 2:30 p.m. Alaska time, said Dave Heller, FBI assistant special agent.

Heller said he could not comment on the nature of the investigation.

The Justice Department has been looking into the seven-term senator's relationship with a wealthy contractor as part of a public corruption investigation.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070730/ap_on_re_us/stevens_investigation;_ylt=AgFovFB7XzFSMBywh4JBUNCs0NUE

[xchrom]

33. ...

:rofl: calling INDEPENDENT senator lieberman -- calling INDEPENDENT senator lieberman -- please pick up the white courtesy phone nearest you....

[Olney Blue]

34. Fiscal responsibility? What, me worry?

Oh. And we don't need no stinkin' laws!

[rodeodance]

38. I feel rather sad--an accomplished Senator in this pickle at the end of his

career. More sad for the Senate to be associated with this.

[fujiyama]

75. Accomplished?

In what?

Bringing lots of pork? Being an ass hole?

Fuck Stevens. He's a corrupt pig.

[cureautismnow]

39. I hope they find some pot plants. n/t

[northofdenali]

41. I hope when they nail his, Young's and Murkowski's collective asses

they'll get his little boy Ben, too.

FBI, IRS - :yourock: Check into his land ownership throughout our state, as well.

Wonder if he bought land in Paraguay next to the BFEE? :rofl:

[Blue_In_AK]

52. Hey-ho, NOD....

Are you having a good night??

[0007]

65. You know it!! nt

[PoconoPragmatist]

43. Just One Republican Scandal After Another!!

And these were the people who were supposed to have "family values" and "bring honor and dignity" back to high office!!

gotta love it!!

I wonder how many of the other Republicans have shit to hide?

[SoCalDem]

44. hey Ted.. Guys wearing rubber gloves are pawing through all your stuff

They are no doubt, laughing at all your ugly clothes and chuckling at the underpants with frayed waistbands & holes :)

They're looking at and touching your FOOD..

They're looking at your video tapes & DVDs..

They're dumping your sock drawer & rummaging around in your medicine cabinet..

Hope you hid all your naughty stuff :)

[losthills]

45. This Whore

has been at the forefront of every neocon attack on the Endangered Species Act and the Wilderness Act, and every attempt to open ANWR to drilling for years.

Let's hope, and demand that he goes up the river for a long time.

[Roland99]

51. AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!

[DemKR]

53. VALUES VALUES n/t

[Mister Ed]

54. Betcha Fox News puts a (D) behind his name on the crawl. n/t

[loudsue]

55. So why is the republican-happy justice (sic) dept. going after one of their own?

Did this one slip by gonzo? Or did Stevens piss off the other bullies?

:kick::kick::kick:

[Mz Pip]

56. Maybe they will find

Jimmy Hoffa. He's been missing for years.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[emilyg]

57. LOL good one.

[Hippo_Tron]

60. He's probably in one of the tubes

That's why Ted keeps complaining about them getting clogged up.

[A wise Man]

63. This is the idiot senator

that held a hearing with the CEO's of the oil companies and refused to put them under "OATH" in 2005.

[liberal N proud]

64. Another fine upstanding moral republicon

Another one bites the dust

[Tesla]

66. Not quite "Frog-marched", but I'll take it!!

[progressoid]

67. I love reading this kind of thing first thing in the morning!

Really motivates me!

[flashl]

68. No matter what happens

it will not reverse the level of damage and harm that he caused by withholding funding to states throughout the country when he was on the appropriation committee.

[L. Coyote]

72. SURPRISE, SURPRISE. I thought they only raided R Congressmen. Kidding!

This was actually expected, and a long wait too. Many asked why Stevens was not a focus too when Rep. Young is discussed.
There is a lot more going on in Alaska, R corruption-wise, than so far revealed. This is the "Investigation to Somewhere!"

From DU May 5: Eleven Members of Congress Now Under Investigation, PLUS ten former members
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x831278

-----------------------
Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, and Rep. Don Young. Young stopped the bill cold

Jack Abramoff and Rep. Don Young (R-AK)
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 07:30:01 PM EST
http://www.commonblog.com/story/2007/4/30/19301/6080

Given the recent developments with former Rep. Don Young (R-AK) aide Mark Zachares, the Anchorage Daily News decided to take a close look at Young's ties with Jack Abramoff. What they found is actually kind of startling.

I get the sense it may have surprised them a little, too:


The guilty plea last week by a former senior committee aide to Rep. Don Young
sheds new light on the circumstances surrounding Young's success seven years ago in blocking reforms of the sweatshop industry on the Mariana Islands.

But the plea also raises new questions about why Young, R-Alaska, took the actions he did.


Zachares worked for the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI) from 1994-1998; Jack Abramoff was paid $11 million to lobby for the CNMI from 1994-2001. It was during these years that their paths intersected and they became personal and political friends. At the same time, efforts were afoot to institute labor reforms to CNMI garment manufacturers, who were running sweatshops under the legal label of "Made In the USA." Abramoff's chief task was to derail this reform legislation.

Enter Representative Don Young, chairman of the House Resources Committee, the committee of jurisdiction over the CNMI.


Young stopped the bill cold, saying it interfered with the commonwealth's right to self-rule.
He was supported by then Majority Whip Tom DeLay, who described the Marinas as "a perfect petri dish of capitalism."

"I'm not going to move anything," Young said ...........

[L. Coyote]

74. WA POST: Stevens Scrutinized ... "attorneys were advised of the impending search"

Oh, and by the way, we will be conducting a search of your home TOMORROW!

=====================
Alaska Senator's Home Is Raided
Stevens Scrutinized In a Wide Inquiry Into Corruption in the State

By Dan Eggen and Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writer and Washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 31, 2007; Page A01

Agents from the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service raided the Alaska home of Sen. Ted Stevens (R) yesterday as part of a broad federal investigation of political corruption in the state that has also swept up his son and one of his closest financial backers, officials said.

Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator in history, is under scrutiny from the Justice Department for his ties to an Alaska energy services company, Veco, whose chief executive pleaded guilty in early May to a bribery scheme involving state lawmakers.

Contractors have told a federal grand jury that in 2000, Veco executives oversaw a lavish remodeling of Stevens's house in Girdwood, an exclusive ski resort area 40 miles from Anchorage, according to statements by the contractors.

Stevens said in a statement that his attorneys were advised of the impending search yesterday morning. .....