Stevens Federal Corruption Probe Includes Seafood Industry EarmarksMove over Veco, the seafood industry needs some room in the federal corruption investigation of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK).
Until now, only Stevens’ son Ben Stevens, a former state Senate President, had been publicly ensnared in the fishing probe targeting earmarks that went to companies simultaneously paying the younger Stevens consulting fees. But this evening, the AP reports the seafood probe includes Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican in the U.S. Senate.
Investigators want to know if Stevens deliberately ushered $180 million in earmarks and wrote legislation that would lead to consulting fees and stock options for his son.
According to the AP, the FBI is specifically interested in:
_A $100 million federal loan program approved in 2000 to buy out Alaska crab boats, trim the size of the fleet and boost prices… ._A $30 million earmark Ted Stevens used to create the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board, which provided federal money to promote Alaska seafood… .
_A $50 million loan program, like the crab buyback, seeking to trim the Alaska salmon fleet in 2004… .
_A 2003 earmark that gave exclusive pollock fishing rights to Alaska natives in the far-flung Aleutian community of Adak…
As the AP notes and has been previously reported, Ben Stevens is connected to all of the suspect legislation through consulting fees or stock options provided to him by the companies and associations who benefited from the earmarks.