Trial key: Did Alaska's Sen. Stevens know about freebies?
Published Saturday, September 27, 2008
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To see Justice Department documents relating to Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens' trial, click here.
WASHINGTON -- In the corruption trial of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, prosecutors want jurors to ask themselves this question: Wouldn't you realize it if your home-improvement contractor gave you tons of free stuff?
The answer to that question could determine the fate of the Senate's longest-serving Republican, now on trial and locked in a tight race for a Senate seat he has held since 1968.
Stevens is charged with lying on Senate forms about receiving more than $250,000 in home renovations and other gifts. His defense is built on the argument that he thought he paid for everything and, because his wife handles the bills, he had no idea he got any freebies.
For that defense to work, it needs to work again and again, for each of the many projects that prosecutors said Stevens never paid for: an upgraded electrical system, a balcony, a steel staircase with custom railings, a new roof and more.
In order to convict Stevens, prosecutors must show that Stevens "knowingly" lied on his Senate documents. Authorities are counting on the sheer volume of work to persuade jurors that this could not have been a misunderstanding. It was an expert at work, they say, a cunning politician who has learned over four decades in Congress how to accept gifts without getting caught.
The FBI investigation has weakened one of the most powerful Republicans in the Senate. A towering figure in Alaska's history, Stevens is fending off a challenge for his seat by Democratic Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich.
And he finds himself without the support of Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee whom Stevens helped bring to power.
Stevens' home remodeling job was unusual on many fronts. Workers from VECO Corp., an Alaskan oil pipeline company that does not do residential construction, managed the project. Employees were pulled off other jobs and worked 60-hour weeks on the house.
The company founder, Bill Allen, wanted to keep the job quiet. One expense form related to the job was marked "No paper trail, per Bill Allen."
Stevens says this was all Allen's idea. Stevens asked his longtime friend to help oversee the 2000 renovation project while the senator was in Washington. He says Allen apparently took it upon himself to order his employees to work on the house for free.
"You cannot report what you don't know," defense lawyer Brendan Sullivan told jurors. "You can't fill out a form and say what's been kept from you by the deviousness of someone like Bill Allen."
Once one of the senator's most trusted confidants, Allen has pleaded guilty to bribing Alaska lawmakers and is the Justice Department's star witness in a corruption investigation that has stretched from Alaska to Capitol Hill. He is scheduled to testify Monday in Stevens' trial.
Allen has testified in two corruption trials in Alaska. Jurors there apparently found him credible and convicted lawmakers in both cases.
To persuade jurors that Stevens was in the dark about the work, it's essential that his defense team discredit Allen. They want him to acknowledge that Stevens never asked for any free work, that he did not know it was being done and that the only reason Allen is testifying against his old friend is to save his own skin.
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On the Web:
Justice Department documents: http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/us-v-stevens/
Community Discussion
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Gee,. HONEY, you've been busy all the while i was gone. I didn't know you were plumber, etc.
Did you buy the new BBQ, and what about that new generator, Wow, you have been busy. How did you find time, seeings how you've been with me in D.C.
Ted takes a new low putting blame on his wife.
Does he have the same lawyer as Jim Hayes?
Stevens is so full of it. Contractors do not give free stuff. Stuff costs real money. Someone pays for everything.
I hope the good senator at least knows to not drop the soap.
A sad, sad, sad way to end his career...
He paid $160,000. He added a first floor, a deck, a staircase, a BBQ. It seems to me you can build a one story house with a deck and BBQ for that price. I recently had an addition added to my house. The first estimate was $76,000. I got a second estimate of $48,000. I took the latter, and the actual cost came in under budget at $44,000. In the construction business, you never know. If the defense can show that Sen. Stevens paid the bills he received in the amount of $160,000, I bet he walks.
No matter how you figure it, it only works one of three ways:
1. He was not intelligent enough to know how much things/labor costs.
Answer: If this is true, he is not intelligent enough to represent us.
2. He knew about it the whole time and went on with it anyway.
Answer: He is a crook and does not deserve to represent us.
3. He is a stupid crook.
Answer: I don't want him representing my state or me. Period.
He should be tried for war crimes along with the current president and those who killed thousands for no reason. The children of that country deserved better, and the dictator they removed could have been done away with in the first war. So I hope they all pay for the pain and suffering they have caused so many, including this senator who is owned by big money.
I wonder how he...
"And he finds himself without the support of Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee whom Stevens helped bring to power."
helped bring her "to power."
I don't recall that part of the story.
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