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TechnoratiRepublican US Senator Indicted For Oil Gifts
WASHINGTON - Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican in the US Senate, has been indicted for making false statements concerning gifts he received from an oil-services firm, the Justice Department said Tuesday.Stevens, 84, was indicted by a federal grand jury on seven counts of making false statements on mandatory financial disclosure forms he filed between 1999 and 2006, said Matthew Friedrich, acting Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division.
Stevens denies the accusations.
Friedrich said the indictment charges that "while he was sitting as a United States senator between 1999 and 2006, Senator Stevens accepted gifts from a company known as VECO," an Alaska-based firm which provides oil field support.
"The gifts Senator Stevens is alleged to have received include substantial amounts of material and labor used in the renovation of a private residence which Senator Stevens and his wife owned," Friedrich said.
"The total amount of gifts that Senator Stevens is alleged to have received over the duration of the offense is greater than 250,000 dollars," he said.
"These items were not disclosed on Senator Stevens' financial disclosure forms which he filed under penalties of perjury, either as gifts or as liabilities," he said.
"Further, Senator Stevens did not reimburse or repay VECO or its chief executive officer for these items."
Two VECO executives pleaded guilty last year to bribing government officials, including an unnamed state senator.
Stevens released a statement claiming his innocence.
"I have proudly served this nation and Alaska for over 50 years," he said. "My public service began when I served in World War II. It saddens me to learn that these charges have been brought against me. I have never knowingly submitted a false disclosure form required by law as a US Senator.
"I am innocent of these charges and intend to prove that."
Stevens has served in the US Senate since December 1968 and is considered one of the most powerful Republicans in the body with seats on the Appropriations, Defense, Commerce and other committees. He temporarily relinquished his committee vice chairmanships.
Stevens, who is up for reelection this year, has been a strong advocate of opening up Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.
© 2008 Agence France Presse
18 Comments so far
Show AllBoil him in a vat of oil.
Hey guess what dogs? I am getting ready to go with my girlfriend to meet.................................yea, you guessed it buddy- Vincent Bugliosi! THE MAN himself is signing books in Pasadena CA. Guess what hosers? Yea buddy I will have my very own copy of Vincent Bugliosi's "The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder ISBN 978-159315-481-3(2008)" signed by none other than Vincent Bugliosi!
I know you dogs are jealous. Aren't you? Kiss my butt!
whilst holding his hands in the air and giving the V sign (or peace sign) Stevens tells his betrayed constituents "I AM NOT A CROOK" as he boards his personal helicopter (for a lovely weekend retreat at marthas vineyard-paid for courtesy of the us taxpayer)...
WHAT A GUY!!
"...one of the most powerful Republicans in the [Senate-]body with seats on the Appropriations, Defense, Commerce and other committees."
Sure sounds like a corrupt crook to me.
And Stevens' alternative explanation for his non-payment of his $ 250,000 house-renovation would be what? - Denial, and reference to how long he's been an upstanding crook.
It really doesn't matter how many of these jackasses are indicted because there's always another one waiting to take his place. It's like George Carlin said: This is the best we can do.
They're just throwing the American public a little red meat on this one. There's another old jackass named Roscoe Bartlett (R-Maryland) who says one thing one week and the exact opposite the next week and now he can't "remember" whether he was legally obligated to report the details of a couple of big real estate deals....
Several months ago this old fart was in the Cumberland Times-News supporting oil drilling in ANWR because "...at $4.00 a gallon we really have no choice." And he gets away with this crap year in and year out because he's always waving the flag and showing up at veteran's parades and awarding medals to other old men with the American flag as the back-drop.
"I have proudly served this nation and Alaska for over 50 years"
Ted Stevens might as well build an opium pipeline from Afghanistan.
Let's hope Alaska voters have had enough of Stevens and vote him out. Just another example of absolute power corrupting absolutely.
"I have never knowingly submitted a false disclosure form required by law as a US Senator."
Does this suggest that one of our lawmakers of 50 years "unknowingly" submitted false disclosure forms required by law as a US Senator?
How can a politician who has been involved in making laws for the past 50 years claim to not know what is required of himself as a Senator of the United States of America?
Let's see how this one plays out.
Why was he was indicted before Bush's term was up knowing full well he would get a Presidential pardon?
Jcrumb... Here are a couple of links... but outside of Ohio, it is not MSM worthy...
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/07/cuyahoga_county_office_raid_ke.html
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/07/analysis_dimora_probe_could_hu.html
KCT
Yes, Ariel, it's one and the same dumbass. Same dumbass who refused to back down off funding for his "Bridge to Nowhere" which even the residents did not want. Same kind of Republican who decries earmarks and pork barrel funding when the poor are involved but ignores it when his big money donors need payback.
Our system is well and truly broken; our environment is dying; our values and our Constitution are garbage. Bring on the mass extintion and let Mother Nature try again. Humankind has failed miserably, with Chimpy the Cheerleader leading the way.
hahaha, I think this is the dumbass who said "the internet is not a big truck, its a series of tubes".
Hey..KCThompson? What is that story? can you give a link..I HAVE to know more...What is going on in Ohio? Please post a link? or anyone who knows..I tried searching..am not getting something right(what else is new)...so please..don't be a tease..I have to know more about what you mention above..MUST know..I am watching the elections very closely as I believe they are gearing up to steal 5 million this time..and Ohio may figure...so far it's Texas..(duhh) California..(oh nooo) maryland and Colorado that have been doing REAL fishy things..placing Diebold sales reps on Elections boards etc..etc..so what is this that you mention..whine..simper...mewell...
thanks in advance..
Oh and THIS...GOOD..another HYPOCRITE..for all to see...and for all Repugs Limbaughing the truth..FUCK YOU! Ahhhahahaaa another one bites the dust..an another one down an another one down...another one bites the dust...
Guess Der Junior and karl MISSED one in their PURGE of the Just-us Department...pretty amazing..bet they were pissed that they got caugth before they could get em all..wht goes around comes around..YO! a Shout Out to ted Stevens..Hey..YOU DO PAY! whether it's a Blowjob..or the POISONING of the Earth and taking Bribes to allow it..YOU DO PAY? and you probably have more to come..somwhere..at some point on the journey...and it aint long off...84? jeezis..maybe an age cap on the Senate ? I dunno..Agism? i dunno..these guy's get to a point...a la jesse Helms..where hey just DON'T give a shit..and so? How can this guy rally effectively be punished..50 years of damage is already done..what? put him in jail..for a year? he will probably not live through this...whatever..anyway
I Love...LOVE watching these...SCUMBAGS..take the Big Fall..MAN it's SOooooo satisfying...because it is a BEAUTIFUL form of..VALIDATION for all of us..aint it? we KNEW this ANWR thing is so corrupt the smell is already overpowering..even before the pollution starts...stinks to the heavens..and..SURE ENOUGH...here you go! CORRUPT as any damn Mafiosi..well..WOSE..becasue at least the Mob ADMITS what it is..these guy's..add HYPOCRISY in it's STINKIEST form to the pile of charges..thus..they are..well..it just occurred to me..what is MORE than corrupt?..could that be...EVIL?...Hmmmmm..what is more than corrupt? I'll have to ask smarter people than I...
Watch your backs
Couldn't have happened to a better specimen of corrupt old white men and what's wrong with our whole corrupt system. But I'll eat my keyboard if the arrogant old asshole ever does a minute in a cell.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen…
Beware -
This is just a smokescreen for what just went down in Ohio... The Justice Department is pulling a Siegleman on elected officials in Cuyouga County, and trying to dismantle the democratic voter base in Ohio.
What does serving in WWII have to do with this. A pretty blatant attempt to use military service some 60 years ago to cover up an illegal act.
And what, he just forgot about a quarter of a million dollars when he was filling out that paperwork? Maybe its because I don't play in that league, but I can't see forgetting about something worth a quarter of a million dollars.
For reference, if someone works at $10 an hour for 40 hours a week and 50 weeks a year, it would take them 12 and half years to make the quarter of a million dollars that he apparently just forgot about.
No worries Ted, Bush will pardon you and you will receive a plush job as a lobbyist for Big Oil and you can add as many decks and stories onto your house as you wish. Don't you worry bout a thing.
Dip the bastard in oil and lock him up for the rest of his life!