Alaska Senator's Home Is Raided

Stevens Scrutinized In a Wide Inquiry Into Corruption in the State

Sen. Ted Stevens urged Alaskans to withhold judgment until legal proceedings are concluded. (By Bill Roth -- Anchorage Daily News)

Agents from the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service raided the Alaska home of Sen. Ted Stevens (R) yesterday as part of a broad federal investigation of political corruption in the state that has also swept up his son and one of his closest financial backers, officials said.

Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator in history, is under scrutiny from the Justice Department for his ties to an Alaska energy services company, Veco, whose chief executive pleaded guilty in early May to a bribery scheme involving state lawmakers.

Contractors have told a federal grand jury that in 2000, Veco executives oversaw a lavish remodeling of Stevens's house in Girdwood, an exclusive ski resort area 40 miles from Anchorage, according to statements by the contractors.

Stevens said in a statement that his attorneys were advised of the impending search yesterday morning. He said he would not comment on details of the inquiry to avoid "any appearance that I have attempted to influence its outcome."

Stevens, 83, who joined the Senate in 1968, has been considered one of the most powerful members of Congress for more than a decade, including six years in which he held wide sway over nearly $1 trillion in federal spending as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He is now the top Republican on the Commerce Committee, which has oversight of fisheries and other industries critical to his home state.

"I urge Alaskans not to form conclusions based upon incomplete and sometimes incorrect reports in the media," Stevens said. "The legal process should be allowed to proceed so that all the facts can be established and the truth determined." Brendan Sullivan, a prominent white-collar defense attorney representing Stevens, declined to comment.

The afternoon raid was conducted by FBI and IRS agents as part of a "court-authorized search warrant," FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said in Washington. He declined to provide further details.

Stevens is among more than a dozen current and former members of Congress who have come under federal investigation in the past three years over allegations related to their ties to lobbyists, defense contractors and other corporate interests. This week, the House and Senate are expected to approve ethics legislation that would require more disclosure of lobbying activities and contributions to lawmakers, among other changes.

This spring, Republicans and Democrats celebrated on the Senate floor when Stevens became the longest-serving Republican in the chamber's history. He has said he plans to run in 2008 for another six-year term.

A few weeks after that celebration, one of Stevens's closest political allies, Bill Allen, formerly the chief executive of Veco, pleaded guilty to bribing several members of the state legislature. One was an unidentified former state senator whose consulting payments cited in the plea agreement matched payments reported by Ben Stevens, a state lawmaker who is the senator's son. He left the state Senate last year.

The Alaska investigation has centered on Allen's efforts to bribe lawmakers by handing out wads of hundred-dollar bills in an effort to win favorable tax legislation in Alaska for a natural gas pipeline long sought by the energy industry and leaders of both political parties there.

In early June, Ted Stevens told The Washington Post that federal investigators had given him a document preservation request as part of the Veco probe, a request that he expected would lead to him turning over those documents to the FBI. He added that "my son is also under investigation." Stevens said then he had not been interviewed by federal investigators.