IRS and FBI are currently searching Ted Stevens’ (R-AK) house.
Federal investigators and a grand jury looking into public corruption in Alaska have been asking questions about a 2000 remodeling project that more than doubled the size of 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.
One of the contractors who worked on the job said he was hired by Veco CEO Bill Allen for the job, and while his bills were paid by Stevens and his wife, Catherine, invoices were reviewed first by Veco.
Allen and a Veco vice president pleaded guilty in May to bribery, extortion and other charges connected with paying off state legislators.
Of course, Stevens is guilty as hell. The problem here is that this guy Bill Allen has already pled guilty to bribing him. I realize that there is an issue of mens rea, and it is possible that Stevens didn’t realize that he was being bribed. After all, there is some history of his questionable intelligence; Stevens is best-known to those of us who aren’t lucky enough to be represented by him as the chowderhead who infamously described the internet as a “series of tubes.”
But bribery is a crime with two perps- the one who gives the money, and the one who receives it. When the giver confesses, the other guy has already lost the prisoner’s dilemna. The only question now is, is there any money left, and will the FBI find it?
