CREW wants Stevens to vacate Appropriations post

31 Jul 2007 // The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) urged Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) on Tuesday to step down from the Senate Appropriations Committee in response to the escalating federal probe of his ties to an oil services company.

CREW, founded by former Democratic aide Melanie Sloan, becomes the second watchdog to call for a proactive response from Stevens after federal investigators searched his home on Monday. Taxpayers for Common Sense asked the former senior appropriator to relinquish all his committee assignments, but CREW focused on Stevens’ membership on the panel that controls the Justice Department’s budget.

“Senators should follow the lead of their House colleagues and require anyone whose property has been searched in connection with a criminal probe to relinquish his plum committee post,” Sloan said in a statement.

House Republicans Rick Renzi (Ariz.) and John Doolittle (Calif.) ceded their committee assignments after federal investigations into their business activities became public. But Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-Miss.) released a statement strongly supporting Stevens on Tuesday, suggesting that the Senate’s more cloistered environment could preclude a similar decision from Stevens.

“We all know Ted Stevens as a good man, a tireless advocate for improving the quality of life in Alaska – a decorated veteran and a true patriot of our country,” Lott said. “He’s asked us to await all information during this investigation, and I will, while I’m standing by our longest-serving colleague.”