Washington – A Senate aide who handled Ted Stevens’ personal bills is cooperating with the Justice Department in a growing corruption probe into the Alaska senator’s dealings with a wealthy contractor.
Barbara Flanders, who serves as a financial clerk for Stevens on the Commerce Committee, testified under subpoena during the past several weeks and provided documents regarding the senator’s bills, according to an attorney in the case.
The attorney spoke on condition of anonymity because grand-jury matters are secret.
Investigators are scrutinizing Stevens’ relationship with oil field services contractor Bill Allen, who helped oversee a renovation project that more than doubled the size of Stevens’ Alaska home in 2000. Allen’s company, VECO Inc., won tens of millions of dollars in federal contracts. Allen has pleaded guilty to bribing Alaska lawmakers.
Investigators, including FBI and Internal Revenue Service agents, raided Stevens’ home Monday, photographing and videotaping its contents and leaving with a garbage bag full of unidentified items.
Stevens, 83, is the longest-serving Republican in Senate history. He has denied any wrongdoing and has said he paid every bill he received for the improvements. He also has said he worries that the investigation could have political consequences.
Flanders is a longtime aide who helps ensure that Stevens’ bills are paid and that his personal affairs are in order, the attorney said.
She was questioned about the improvement project and how the bills were paid.
Reached by telephone Tuesday, Flanders would not discuss her testimony or describe her duties involving Stevens’ personal accounts.
Spokesmen for Stevens had no comment on the subpoena or Flanders’ role in the senator’s personal finances.
The investigation grew out of a lengthy corruption probe that has ensnared several Alaska lawmakers and resulted in Allen’s guilty plea for bribery. Only recently have authorities turned their focus to Stevens.
The Interior Department’s inspector general and the Commerce Department also have joined the case to investigate Stevens’ connections with a Seward, Alaska, marine-science organization that operates the Alaska SeaLife Center, a person familiar with the probe said. That person also spoke only on condition of anonymity about the investigation.
Among many items photographed in Monday’s search were cases of wine stored in Stevens’ house. Investigators photographed each case and the individual bottles, the attorney said.
Investigators did not search Stevens’ home in Washington, where he spends most of his time.
