Cheney Link to Stevens CaseThe corruption case against Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) is already yielding some interesting fruit.
Newsweek reported Saturday that, in a 2006 conversation secretly recorded by the FBI, Stevens and Bill Allen — the oil-services executive who allegedly provided Stevens with $250,000 in financial gifts — discussed how to get a pipeline bill through the Alaska legislature.
Stevens told Allen: “I’m gonna try to see if I can get some bigwigs from back here and say, ‘Look … you gotta get this done’.” Two days later, Vice President Cheney took the unusual step of contacting Alaska lawmakers directly, urging them in a letter to “promptly enact” the legislation. Stevens confirmed to Newsweek that he had indeed asked Cheney to write the letter.
Newsweek notes that the former executive director of Cheney’s energy task force had gone on to work as a lobbyist for BP, which would have built the pipeline. The magazine doesn’t name the task force director, but it appears to be Andrew Lundquist. And it’s worth pointing out that Lundquist — who had worked as the Bush-Cheney campaign’s energy expert in 2000, earning the nickname “Lightbulb” from the president — has also worked as a top aide to Stevens.
Newsweek also reports that DOJ prosecutors did not include Cheney’s letter in their motion and did not respond when the magazine asked why.