As chairman of the highly-influential Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) has direct control over hundreds of billions of dollars in federal expenditures. Every discretionary dollar Congress spends has to go through his committee first. It’s a position that about 99 other senators would love to be in, not only because of the incumbent power and influence, but because it offers Stevens the ability to direct untold fortunes to his home state, thus guaranteeing his popularity back home.
But a funny thing started happening a few years ago. Stevens, who was never personally rich and did not come from an affluent family, quickly became a millionaire. While there’s nothing wrong with that per se, it’s how Stevens became a millionaire that is raising a lot of eye brows.
The LA Times ran a must-read expose a couple of weeks ago on Stevens’ road to wealth and the serious questions about congressional ethics raised by Stevens’ activities. The article explains that Stevens prospered financially thanks to “investments with businessmen who received government contracts or other benefits with his help. Added together, Stevens’ new partnerships and investments provide a step-by-step guide to building a personal fortune — if you happen to be one of the country’s most influential senators.”
Among the ways that Stevens became wealthy:
* Armed with the power his committee posts give him over the Pentagon, Stevens helped save a $450-million military housing contract for an Anchorage businessman. The same businessman made Stevens a partner in a series of real estate investments that turned the senator’s $50,000 stake into at least $750,000 in six years.
* An Alaska Native company that Stevens helped create got millions of dollars in defense contracts through preferences he wrote into law. Now the company pays $6 million a year to lease an office building owned by the senator and his business partners. Stevens continues to push legislation that benefits the company.
* An Alaskan communications company benefited from the senator’s activities on the Commerce Committee. His wife, Catherine, earned tens of thousands of dollars from an inside deal involving the company’s stock.
Just to be clear: Stevens personally benefited when his Senate committee directed federal funds to companies to which the senator had ties. Not only does Stevens reject the notion of a conflict of interest on his part, he also insists that the fortune he’s made through these business shenanigans is perfectly legal and ethical.
Oddly enough, non-partisan government watchdog groups didn’t quite see it the same way Stevens did.
“This story is the most blatant example in recent history of a government official profiting from his power in public office,” said Danielle Brian, director of a private watchdog group called the Project on Government Oversight. “We do not have confidence in any formal congressional proceedings, given Senator Stevens’s particularly powerful position.” The same group called on Stevens to take the “honorable step” and resign his Appropriations chairmanship.
The same day, the conservative Citizens Against Government Waste also said Stevens should resign his chairmanship. The group also called on the Senate Ethics Committee to launch an investigation.
“Apparently, the longest-serving Republican in the Senate thinks he can get away with anything in the pursuit of a plush retirement,” said Thomas A. Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste.
Stevens didn’t seem particularly receptive to the idea. “If they think I am going to resign because of a story in a newspaper, they’re crazy,” Stevens said at the news conference.
While those concerned with political ethics are still livid about Stevens’s activities, the response from his constituents in Alaska has been a collective yawn.
After the LA Times story started causing problems for Stevens in DC, several labor unions published an open letter to the senator in the Anchorage Daily News saying, “No state could ask for better service, compassion, fortitude and stewardship than what you have provided Alaskans for 35 years as our United States senator.” (Translation: Go ahead and use your office to get rich. We don’t care.)
I should note that it’ll take an awful lot to get Alaska’s voters to turn on Stevens. As Senate Pro Temp, he’s the highest ranking official Alaska has ever had at the federal level. For crying out loud, four years ago an in-state committee named Stevens “Alaskan of the Century.”
And the name of the state’s largest airport? The Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.
I think there’s a legitimate scandal here, but unless the Senate Ethics Committee goes after him, I have a hunch Stevens won’t suffer from this a bit.