FBI taped more than 100 of Alaska Sen. Stevens' phone calls
Published Tuesday, September 2, 2008
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Stumble It!WASHINGTON -- FBI agents taped more than 100 phone conversations involving Sen. Ted Stevens as part of their public corruption investigation, Stevens' attorneys said Tuesday.
The FBI's trove of secretly recorded conversations has already been the highlight of trials in Alaska, but the size of its collection against Stevens has until now been unclear. The sometimes-graphic conversations between hard-drinking oil contractors and corrupt Alaska politicians helped the Justice Department send three state politicians to prison.
The calls involving Stevens could be played in court later this month when the Senate's longest-serving Republican stands trial on charges of lying about hundreds of thousands of dollars in home renovations and other gifts he received from an oil contractor.
The FBI did not tap Stevens' phone but did tap several phones belonging to contractors in the case. Out of 2,800 intercepted phone conversations, Stevens was recorded 105 times, his attorneys wrote in court documents.
Though Stevens is not charged with bribery, prosecutors want jurors to hear about a close relationship with Stevens and VECO founder Bill Allen. They want to portray Allen as an influence-peddler with a direct line into Stevens' office. Phone conversations between the two men could help that case.
His attorneys began laying the groundwork for a future argument that those calls should not be admitted into evidence. FBI agents can only tape conversations related to people or topics named in a warrant. The Justice Department did not name Stevens as a wiretapping target, his attorneys wrote, "yet it appears to have targeted his phone calls."
Stevens' attorneys object to the government's plan to present evidence that Stevens not only accepted gifts and services from VECO but also used his Senate seat to help the company's interests.
"The government obviously wishes to import the stench of a bribery prosecution into a case that is nothing of the sort," attorney Robert M. Cary wrote.
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FBI taps influence peddlers phone's for 2800 calls. Turns out nearly 4% of those calls are from the senior US senator from Ak. The two parties must have had a lot to talk about. I'm anxious to learn more.
Why have the American people not imposed term limits on the US congress yet??? A referendum vote of the people of the US is obviously sorely needed, as we cannot rely on congress to police themselves.
I'm sure Stevens was an upright, honest person in his youth, yet so many years living in DC did the same thing to him it does to everyone; it caused him to identify not with his constituency, but with special interests.
There will never be a solution found to corruption in high office; term limits are the only effective way to control this blatant 'better than you' attitude of the nations most exclusive club.
Stevens, Young, and all the rest of those "elected forever" people have got to go...NOW.
Bill: "Ted, I know that light plant is pretty big and expensive to run but don't worry. We buried a 1000 gallon tank and filled it with #2. I'll have one of my hands keep a watch on it and top it off if you ever have to use it.
Ted: "Thanks, Bill".
dog
Politicians perform the same "innocent" song and dance every time until the evidence is presented and a verdict handed out, usually guilty (the FBI do not like to waste their time investigating INNOCENT people, much less an "innocent" senator of such prominence).
Accepting "bribes" from an oil contractor is a sickening thing for an already REALLY well off senator to do especially in these economic times, I actually hope it's not true.
Leave Uncle Ted alone. He has done so much for Alaska it isn't even funny!! Why tear down Palin or Stevens - both have done and are going to do so much for Alaska that people here will soon forget this same issues.
C'mon, guys! Ignore potential law breaking and poor ethics from our representatives! We got lots out of it, right??
Again with the impersonation, hybrid?
What was it this time? an "l" instead of an "I"?
Hey Frank Murkowski, I mean Costello, guilty is guilty. If he is found guilty he should be punished like anyone else. Maybe if you redneck Republican groupies hadn't made him feel so entitled he might have towed a tighter, more ethical line. He has done a lot for Alaska and I'm saddened that he may have crossed the line. If he did, though, he has to face the music.
Tommy Anderson, pre-conviction, stated it best when he said, "They're trying to criminalize being a legislator.."
In other words, buying influence in this State's political theater has gone on so long that some assume that it's simply the way that business in Juneau and D.C. is done.
So far, it looks as though Tommy was right. it HAS BEEN the way that business in D.C. and Juneau was done.
Worried about those tapes, Ted? Wishing that you hadn't supported all of Bush's USA PA wire-tapping laws so steadfastly??
Don't worry Ted. When you're doing 10-20 in a federal country club, complaining of hifgh-starch foods and tennis elbow, and knowing that you're likely to be buried in the prison plot, folks like Frank and others will be sure to write to you on a regular basis... even if just as token thanks for all of those Davis-Bacon wages you helped to bring home to Alaska as ear-marks, aimed at buying off -our- consciences too.
G'night Ted. BTW, how do -you- spell 'karma'?
If it looks like poopie, and it smells like poopie, its gotta be double chocolate brownies. I still get a kick out of the Young, Kelly, Stevens political signs that are grouped right next to each other. Sniff, sniff.
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