Uncle Ted Stevens Guilty as Sin (If Ya Didn't Know, Now You Know)

In the words of a famous hip-hop legend, "If ya didn't know, now you know." "Uncle Ted" Stevens (R-AK) has been convicted of 7 felony counts of lying on his Senate financial disclosure reports by not revealing gifts and services totaling over $250,000 from 2001-2006. Uncle Ted could be sentenced up to 35 years, though with his connections is unlikely he would serve too much time. The storyline is that Stevens house was raided a year ago, and he was subsequently investigated and indicted for failing to report $250,000 of gifts, home renovations, and car deals paid for by campaign contiributor, VECO on whose behalf he passed favorable legislation. As they say, "Follow the money trail."

And speaking of the money trail, Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin was a director of The Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc. in 2003. This 527 group was created by Senator Ted Stevens to raise unlimited funds from corporate donors. Of course, Uncle Ted later endorsed Palin during her gubernatorial run, a fact which she would certainly not tarnish by calling for Stevens to step down from his Senate post. Though certainly this conviction during a dead even Senatorial race with former Anchorage Mayor, Mark Begich, a Democrat, certainly portends good news at just the right time for Begich's election chances, thus moving the Democratic-controlled US Senate closer to the magic number of 60.

FROM ABCNews.com , JULY 30, 2007:

FBI and IRS
criminal investigators executed a search warrant this afternoon at the Alaska
home of Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. The search warrant is currently under
seal.

A federal grand jury has been investigating the senator's ties to VECO, an Alaska oil services firm. VECO is in the middle of a statewide corruption investigation that has tarnished Stevens' son, Ben, a state senator. The FBI raided Ben's offices last August.
Stevens has denied he is the target of a federal investigation, but he acknowledged in June the FBI had asked him to preserve certain records.

In a prepared statement for the media, Stevens confirmed the raid on his Girdwood home but declined to comment on it, other than to urge his constituents "not to form conclusions based upon incomplete and sometimes incorrect reports in the media."

In May, the Anchorage Daily News revealed the FBI was investigating whether the firm had paid for expansion work to Stevens' home in Girdwood, performed in 2000. Stevens has said he paid invoices for the work from his own pocket.

Stevens is the longest-serving Republican in the U.S. Senate -- and the master of its appropriations process.

Alaska's sole congressman, Republican Don Young, who is also reportedly under FBI investigation for his dealings with VECO, is the man behind the "bridge to nowhere," the controversial $231 million earmark for a bridge from Ketchikan, Alaska to Gravina Island with a population of 50.