Stevens Urged to Step Down From Committees

1 Aug 2007 // A government watchdog group on Tuesday called for the removal of GOP Sen. Ted Stevens from his Senate committees, less than 24 hours after the FBI and IRS raided the senator’s Alaska home in connection with a public corruption probe centered in the state.

Ryan Alexander, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, sent a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell urging the Kentucky Republican to ask Stevens to recuse himself from the panels on which he serves: Appropriations; Commerce, Science and Transportation; Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; Rules and Administration, and Joint Library.

Stevens is currently the ranking Republican on the Commerce committee, and he is a former chairman of the Appropriations Committee.

“We don’t make this request lightly,” Alexander wrote. “But the standard for holding a powerful committee position should not hinge on the absence of a criminal conviction. Even the appearance of using public office for personal profit undermines public confidence in Congress.

FBI and IRS agents raided Stevens’ home in Girdwood, Alaska, on Monday, the senator confirmed in a statement issued Monday evening.

A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., is investigating issues related to work done on Stevens’ house by Veco Corp., and contractors hired by the company, according to recent reports by the Anchorage Daily News.

A Stevens neighbor told the newspaper of being ordered by the grand jury to produce documents involving Stevens, his wife, Catharine, and his son Ben, a former state Senate president whose office was raided last year.

Veco’s founder, Bill Allen, pleaded guilty to bribing state legislators in May.

Stevens, who is up for re-election in 2008, said recently that he paid all the bills for work done on the house, but he went into no detail in Monday’s written statement.

“The interests of justice and our state are best served if I make my comments after federal officials complete their work,” Stevens said. “I urge Alaskans not to form conclusions based upon incomplete and sometimes incorrect reports in the media.”

Another watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, specifically called for Stevens to step down from his seat on the Appropriations Committee.

“Senator Stevens, who sits on the subcommittee responsible for funding the Justice Department, which is conducting a probe into his potentially criminal activities, should immediately resign his position on the Appropriations Committee,” said Melanie Sloan, CREW’s executive director.

It is not clear whether the Senate’s internal watchdog will take action.

“The Ethics Committee never comments on whether or not it has received a complaint against a member of the Senate,” said Natalie Ravitz, spokeswoman for Ethics Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

On Tuesday, Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott, R-Miss., issued a statement calling Stevens “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 noted that Stevens had “asked us to await all information during this investigation, and I will, while I’m standing by our longest-serving colleague.”

Stevens, appointed to the Senate in December 1968, is now serving his sixth full term. He is the longest-serving Republican senator in history.