FBI probes office of Sen. Stevens' son

[DesertRat]

Like father, like son. :eyes:

By MATT VOLZ, Associated Press Writer
Fri Sep 1, 3:54 PM ET
JUNEAU, Alaska - The offices of at least six Alaska legislators, including the son of Sen. Ted Stevens, were raided by federal agents searching for possible ties between the lawmakers and a large oil field services company, officials and aides said.

Department of Justice spokeswoman Jaclyn Lesch said Friday the searches began Thursday and were continuing Friday. FBI spokesman Eric Gonzalez said a total of 20 search warrants were being executed across Alaska, but would not say where.

A copy of one of the search warrants, obtained by The Associated Press, links the investigation to a new production tax law signed last month by Gov. Frank Murkowski and a draft natural gas pipeline contract Murkowski and the state's three largest oil companies negotiated.

The warrant called for seizure of documents concerning any payment made to lawmakers by Bill Allen and Richard Smith, executives of oil field services giant VECO Corp. Agents also looked for documents about contracts, agreements or employment of legislators provided by VECO, Allen, Smith and company president Peter Leathard.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060901/ap_on_re_us/alaska_lawmakers_fbi_raid

[leesa]

1. Gosh. Will they be able to sort them out from all the other payola

from the other oil companies and related service companies?

[salin]

2. Read the article - the number of raids (and where) suggest

the investigation has been going on for awhile. Big net cast, while looking for some very specific stuff (it would seem.)

oh and loved this: Sought-after items named in the search include hats or other garments bearing the phrases "CBC," "Corrupt Bastards Club" or "Corrupt Bastards Caucus." What the names referred to was unclear, and authorities would not comment.

That takes a huge level of arrogance, to create garment branding their corruption.

Meanwhile - at TPM-Muckraker... just last week the pressure was on to find which senator(s) put a secret hold on a senate bill to publish a searchable data base for where $ earmarks are being spent. Two culprits (one lifted) :Byrd - as a protest for being asked to vote on something within a couple of days of receiving and not having time to review (claims he does this on principle - and this is not unusual), and... Sen. Ted (bridge to nowhere) Stevens.

Which is of particular note given that recent (end of last week) articles suggest that his son (one of the targets of this raid) has gotten RICH via dad (deals, "lobbying" (his dad) fees, etc.) Wonder how hard it would be to track some of the earmark monies/benefits that could be found in such a database... right back to the Stevens family.

Back to the raid story, it strikes me as this has got to be a very, very big deal investigation per the size/scope of this raid. Rather reminds me of the siezing of assets and info on two other recent high profile raids: Duke Cunningham in Ca, and Tom Noe in Ohio.

[Blue_In_AK]

3. I'm so glad somebody picked up on this...

I posted it in the Alaska forum a few days ago, but nobody noticed apparently. Big changes are in store for Alaska, I think. Couple this raid with Frank Murkowski's pitiful 19% showing in the Republican gubernatorial primary, and things are not looking too good for the establishment Rs up here.