Ted Stevens Claims He's Not a Crook
Claims of innocence ring a little hollow after the FBI raid your home. Granted, mistakes are made, but not often, and it’s probably fair to say that the FBI bend over backwards to avoid raiding the homes of members of the United States House or Senate. Senator Ted Stevens joined the august fraternity of national office-holders subject to a federal raid, already the third Republican to face such a raid this year.
I’m not saying that a corruption case against Senator Stevens is a slam-dunk, but Stevens has steered millions upon millions in federal contracts to Veco, an Alaskan oil services firm whose former President has already been convicted of bribing other Alaskan office-holders. And the bills for remodeling Senator Stevens home originally were sent directly to Veco for payment, before all concerned realized that was unbelievably indiscreet.
Senator Stevens has long been one of the worst Senators, up there with Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia in steering graft to his home state, most often in the form of unnecessary construction contracts where the jobs dried up the day after the thing is built. But the notion that Senator Stevens is not just unbelievably bad for America , but also almost certainly a criminal, is a fairly new development.
