Nepotism is OK...
...as long as you keep it in the family.
Hat's off to Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens for sending some lucrative consulting gigs to a State Senator Ben Stevens.
Remember, Sen. Stevens was the one who is trying to get Federal Highway funds to build the
$320 Million bridge to nowhere.
From
The Sunlight Foundation:
Catalog of Ted Stevens' Actions That Have Benefited Clients of Ben Stevens
From the miracle of Nexis comes this list compiled by Chuck Neubauer, Judy Pasternak and Richard T. Cooper of the Los Angeles Times in June 2003 of Sen. Ted Stevens☼ official actions in the U.S. Senate that have benefited the clients of his son, state Sen. Ben Stevens. Regrettably, that article (part of a two-part series the Times did looking at congressional offspring who became lobbyists) is not available online; this is a small chunk of it.
The Stevens connection
The special interest: Cook Inlet Region Inc., (CIRI), a Native Alaskan corporation created by federal legislation sponsored by Sen. Stevens
What Sen. Ted Stevens☼ has done: Put a rider on an appropriations bill to help CIRI make a profit from a telecommunications investment. Pushed other legislation that would benefit CIRI, including an attempt in January to make CIRI eligible for tribal gaming.
How much Ben Stevens has been paid in consulting fees*: $218,774
The special interest: VECO, a large Alaskan engineering and construction company with business around the world. It started out as an oil field service contractor.
What Sen. Ted Stevens☼ has done: Helped settle a contract dispute between VECO and Pakistan while chairing an appropriations subcommittee that was considering legislation to remove sanctions against Pakistan. Mandated that federal job training money be used to train Russian oil field workers for VECO and other Alaskan companies. Pushed for the Alaska Natural Gas pipeline.
How much Ben Stevens has been paid in consulting fees*: $148,000 in consulting fees from 2000 to 2002. $64,000 in lobbying fees in 1996 and 1997.
The special interest: Special Olympics
What Sen. Ted Stevens☼ has done: Brought more than $10 million in federal aid to put on the 2001 Special Olympics Winter Games in Anchorage.
How much Ben Stevens has been paid in consulting fees*: $715,395 in salary over three years to run the Alaska games. $57,000 as a consultant to the national Special Olympics since he ended his job running the Anchorage games.
I just excerpted the first three out of a list of ten such egregious examples of Pork and Nepotism. Fortunately, following this link from
Instapundit, it seems that the FBI just raided a number of Alaskan lawmakers including the Junior Mr. Stevens.
From the
Anchorage Daily News:
FBI raids legislative offices
Agents are quiet on purpose of Alaska investigation; Veco is named in the warrants
Federal agents swarmed legislative offices around the state Thursday, executing search warrants in a coordinated series of raids that appeared to target the long-standing relationship between the oil field service company Veco and leading lawmakers.
The FBI reported making no arrests.
Above Anchorage's Fourth Avenue, FBI agents spent most of the afternoon behind the closed doors and drawn blinds of the fifth-floor offices of Senate President Ben Stevens and Senate Rules Committee Chairman John Cowdery, both Anchorage Republicans. Through slits in the blinds, one agent in Stevens' office, wearing rubber gloves, could be seen packing away evidence in a container.
In Juneau, tourists and residents were greeted with the extraordinary sight of FBI agents hauling out files from the Alaska State Capitol after searching offices there.
Fruit does not fall far from the tree...
Posted by DaveH at September 2, 2006 6:57 PM