Environment Wrecker Soon on His Way to Jail

Alaska Senator Ted Stevens has been indicted on seven counts of federal corruption.

It turns out that Stevens has received more than $250,000 in gifts and services from VECO Corp., a powerful oil services contractor, and its executives in exchange for tens of millions of dollars worth of your tax dollars.

And Stevens was not alone. In a previous probe, Alaska Congressman Don Young was also nailed for taking money from this same oil services contactor.

Stevens' indictment further damages Republican prospects in the November elections, and promises to be a windfall for Democrats who have always suspected key Republican leaders are on the take from big oil. Not for nothing was Stevens named one of 2008's "Dirty Dozen" by the League of Conservation Voters. As LCV President Gene Karpinski notes, “For forty years in the Senate, Ted Stevens has stood in the way of progress. Today, he literally lives in the house that oil built.”

So far, the Veco oil investigation has resulted in seven criminal convictions, including three former state lawmakers, two former oil executives, a lobbyist, and the chief of staff of former Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski.

The Justice Department said Stevens would not be arrested and would be allowed to turn himself in. >> To read the indictment (PDF)
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