As we mentioned last week, there is a federal trial of a state legislator underway in Alaska which is part of the broader corruption probe that has snared Sen. Ted Stevens (who, not coincidentally, has just been named the king of earmarks by The Hill).
In bits and pieces, the trial is painting a picture of the scope of the larger investigation and particularly of the nexus of politics and business at which Alaska oilfield contractor VECO operated. Yesterday, for example, Rep. Don Young’s name came up, as a former VECO executive testified about the company’s funding of Young’s annual Pig Roast fundraiser.
Neither Young nor Stevens is on trial here, at least not directly. But it’s not every day that a witness admits in open court to having bribed a sitting U.S. Senator, which is exactly what happened last Friday, when former VECO executive Bill Allen admitted that among the bad acts he had pleaded guilty to was renovation work done on Stevens’ Alaska home. Stevens is not commenting.
It’s not airport bathroom sex so there has been muted national media coverage of the Stevens revelation, but it’s a case we’re keeping a close eye on.
Late Update: TPMmuckraker’s Laura McGann walks us through some of Allen’s testimony last week on the renovation of Stevens’ house.
