Earth Equity News

In Alaska Senator's Trial, Story of Oil and Politics. By Neil A. Lewis, NYTimes, September 22, 2008. "Ted Stevens and Bill Allen, who will soon confront each other in a federal courtroom here, were once friends of sorts, thrown together at Alaska's busy intersection of politics and oil money… Mr. Stevens, 84, the longtime Republican senator from Alaska... goes on trial Monday on felony charges that he knowingly failed to disclose some $250,000 worth of gifts and services from Mr. Allen. Mr. Allen, 71, who will be the prosecution's main witness, is a rough-hewn man who grew up as an itinerant fruit picker and dropped out of high school when he was 15 to enter the energy industry as a welder. After working on some of the state's earliest offshore oil platforms, he eventually made millions of dollars as a freewheeling contractor for oil companies on the North Slope… While Mr. Stevens has earned a reputation as a gruff and cantankerous legislative player, Mr. Allen's world in Alaska was far cruder than the relatively genteel ways of Washington. Mr. Allen has already pleaded guilty to bribery and conspiracy charges and testified at two trials of Alaska state legislators about his determined efforts to bribe lawmakers… At the height of his influence, Mr. Allen created and ran one of Alaska's largest companies, Veco, which until recently employed about 4,000 people (at one time including Ben Stevens, the senator's son)... Mr. Allen, who faces an estimated 11 years in prison, has had his sentencing delayed numerous times, presumably to assure his cooperation with prosecutors as part of a deal in which his children remained untouched by the investigation… Mr. Stevens, who entered the Senate 40 years ago and is the longest-serving Republican in Senate history, is running for re-election this fall. The trial has been accelerated at his request in hopes of obtaining a verdict before Election Day. Mr. Stevens acquired his considerable power over years on the Senate Appropriations Committee, a post from which he has steered millions, perhaps billions, of dollars in federal money to Alaska. For most of that time he has reigned as Alaska's dominant political figure… It is unclear whether Mr. Stevens will take the stand, but lawyers not involved in the case said that was unlikely because it would expose to an open-ended cross-examination a man who is widely regarded even by his Senate colleagues as ill-tempered and difficult to like. His lawyers also failed to get the trial moved to Alaska, leaving Mr. Stevens with a jury in [D.C.], which historically has been unsympathetic to officials charged with wrongdoing… Mr. Stevens, who is locked in a tight race with his Democratic opponent, Mayor Mark Begich of Anchorage, would obviously receive a boost and a major talking point if he is acquitted. Under Senate rules, he will not have to resign if he is convicted." Senator Stevens' Re-Election Strategy: Keep That Pork Coming. Editorial, NYTimes, September 19, 2008.