Senate Aide’s Disclosure Shows No Payments From StevensIf the Senate aide who has been accused of handling Sen. Ted Stevens’ (R-AK) personal finances while on the government clock received separate payments from the Alaska senator, she didn’t list them on her public financial disclosure in 2006, the AP reports.
Roll Call reported yesterday that the aide, Barbara Flanders, didn’t disclose any additional personal income in 2007 either.
Flanders’ involvement in the ethics scandal aired Tuesday when press reports said she testified before a grand jury about Stevens’ finances and provided documents. Flanders is a former personal aide to Stevens and now is supposed to work full time for the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. It appears she also handles Stevens’ bills. If she wasn’t paid for this work, Stevens should have listed her services as a gift on his own disclosure forms, which he has not done. If accurate, this kind of an arrangement is a violation of federal law.
Stevens’ office offered a vague denial of wrongdoing:
Stevens’ spokesman, Aaron Saunders, said in an e-mailed statement: “As the former chairman of the Senate Ethics and Rules Committees, Senator Stevens has vast knowledge and experience with the Senate rules. He has long-standing office policies that are consistent with these rules, including personally compensating staff members for performing tasks that are outside their official duties.”