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Senate Aide's Disclosure Shows No Payments From Stevens
If 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."
Comments (25)
Ethics Ranger wrote on August 3, 2007 10:52 AM:If Sen. Stevens "personally compensat[es] staff members for performing tasks that are outside their official duties," then why did Flanders not disclose that additional income on her financial disclosure form as required by the Standing Rules of the Senate?
Nelly Bly wrote on August 3, 2007 11:24 AM:I think I read here in the TPM MR that Barbara Flanders was paid $150k last year to be a Senate financial clerk with the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
Can you confirm that and provide a description as to what Flanders does to justify that salary? According to thecapitol.net, the top salary for congressional staffers in 2006 was $165k.
As someone in the accounting field, I think $150k for a financial clerk seems very high.
illlich wrote on August 3, 2007 11:25 AM:"Stupid Flanders!" -- Homer J. Simpson
theswan wrote on August 3, 2007 11:34 AM:Just how long can an influential senator evade tax obligations and get away with it.
DiFi Fan wrote on August 3, 2007 11:37 AM:They hate our form of goverment and plan to kill it through bankrupcy. They love themselves. They hate the people they represent by laying the tax burden on them.
Should be a oneway ticket to jail but ....
LOL - Flanders isn't romantically linked to Stevens, is she? If she is, that would give us enough laughs to carry us through the August recess.
Anonymous wrote on August 3, 2007 11:49 AM:http://www.legistorm.com/person/Barbara_Smyers_Flanders/7010.html
Big raise in 2006?
aklocal wrote on August 3, 2007 12:01 PM:I'm not so concerned about this one. Bad judgement and looks illegal, but not on the same plane as steering money to one's son and quid pro quos with Bill Allen. If those are proven, give him the slammer - or at least chase him from office.
On the other hand, Trevor McCabe was staff too...makes one wonder what else is in that woodpile. Senator Stevens staff must be a little worried.
Nelly Bly wrote on August 3, 2007 12:12 PM:Thanks, anon. I pasted your link below.
Do I have this right?
Flanders Annualized Salary:
10/04 to 3/05 - Stevens staffer - $42K
4/05 to 9/05 - Stevens staffer - $88k
10/04 to 1/05 - Senate Appropriations Committee - $28k
10/05 to 3/06 - Senate Commerce Committee - $92k
4/06 to 9/06 - Senate Commerce Committee - $114K
10/06 to 3/07 - Senate Commerce Committee - $152k
In October 2004, Flanders started out with two jobs at a combined annual salary rate of $70k.
By October 2006, Flanders had one job at an annual rate of $152k.
Flanders is doing all right for herself. She must be really, really good at what she does, whatever that is.
Note to DiFi Fan: I wonder if Flanders is as pretty as Elizabeth Ray.
Anonymous wrote on August 3, 2007 12:29 PM:taxpayers dollars to do Ted's bookkeeping
$ 78,742 not bad to start
$ 103,810 32% Raise, getting better
$ 152,986 47% Raise, WoW
??
Ed*ard Teller wrote on August 3, 2007 12:41 PM:Babs can you confirm?
I wouldn't bet on Ms. Flanders being romantically involved with Sen. Stevens. But I also wouldn't bet on her being willing to be as dishonest or obtuse to investigators and/or the GJ as have been WH aides and Eecutive Branch employees. Part of why they appear to be spending as much time questioning her as appears to be the case. This is an important development. IIRC, Ms. Flanders has little bookkeeping background short of OJT, and is supposed to be a charming woman.
J wrote on August 3, 2007 12:42 PM:And when exactly did she do his accounting? Was it while she was at work? If she was being paid from personal expenses, then the work needs to be done outside of her normal work hours and should also be outside of the office.
drv wrote on August 3, 2007 12:43 PM:Is anyone surprised by this? The people at the top set the tone for those whom they employ. If the people at the top are corrupt, you can be sure the employees see what's going on and think they have an entitlement, too. And I'm not just talking about Congress here.
It's the same with little kids. (You decide if the metaphor applies.) They watch what you say and what you do. And, more often than not, they mimic what you do.
d
Security code "profit". Nothing else to add about that, is there.
Nelly Bly wrote on August 3, 2007 12:49 PM:From an AP story about Flanders and Stevens in USA Today:
"...Jenilee Keefe, a spokeswoman for Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, said there was no evidence the subpoena involved committee business.
"It is a personal thing. She worked for him in another capacity," Keefe said. "Right now we're just not getting involved..."
Jenilee Keefe's annual salary, according to Legistorm, is $42k.
I linked to a table of Senate Commerce Committee salaries below. Note that Flanders is being paid at the same rate as Legislative Counsel.
DiFi Fan wrote on August 3, 2007 12:56 PM:Mr. Teller,
I quote you:
"IIRC, Ms. Flanders has little bookkeeping background short of OJT, and is supposed to be a charming woman."
Yet you wouldn't bet on Senator Stevens being romantically involved with Flanders. Who would you bet on?
C92 wrote on August 3, 2007 1:47 PM:DiFi - Ted is already on his second wife -- that's not enough? Is that why he renovated the place up in Girdwood? Has the missus kicked him out of the manor?
Dolooper wrote on August 3, 2007 1:54 PM:Hmmm, his highest paid Senate staff were paid 128K and 110K annualized (Chief of Staff and Legislative Director).
http://www.legistorm.com/member/Sen_Ted_Stevens/93/8/salary/asc.html
Something stinks to high heaven here.
DiFi Fan wrote on August 3, 2007 2:12 PM:C 92, I know it seems ridiculous that Stevens at 83 is having an affair but we are talking about someone with an extremely outsized ego. In any event, I don't think the usual going rate for financial clerks even in DC is $152k.
What I find curious is that the press is reporting that Flanders provided documents regarding the senator's bills to the investigators. If Flanders hasn't done any personal work for Stevens since 2005, what is she doing with his docs two years later?
I think there is more to the Flanders-Stevens story than we've heard to date.
kazoom wrote on August 3, 2007 2:16 PM:C92 - Ted's first wife was killed in a plane crash in Anchorage many years ago.
Nelly Bly wrote on August 3, 2007 2:29 PM:I checked the titles of the staff of some other senate committees at Legistorm.com and I couldn't find another finance clerk, let alone one being paid $152k annually.
I see a lot of "Progessional Staff" in that range. I assume that they have educational or other credentials that qualify them for the big bucks but maybe I shouldn't assume anything.
For $152k, you'd think Barbara Flanders would be a CPA.
Harry Lime wrote on August 3, 2007 2:30 PM:Will those overpaid, egomanaical Washington reporters get with it, for heaven's sake.
Get to the committee and find out what this woman's job was. Ask what has she done for the past six months. Ask who fixed her role. Ask who determined that she'd get $152,000.
Get to Stevens' office and don't let them shut the door until you find out what this woman has done for Stevens and for how long.
Go also to the Senate Ethics Committee and ask the fiery Boxer why's she suddenly so docile and ask the sonambulistic Pryor if he's ever heard of Stevens.
Move, goddamit, now.
And a note to the cable nets. How about more bridge coverage? Is there anything you dummies don't exaggerate?
quid pro wrote on August 4, 2007 10:11 AM:Just because she might be someone's girlfriend, it doesn't necessarily mean it was Stevens. I could be some other Senator or heavyweight. A lot of the corruption in the political sphere is possible because of indirect payments - the idiots like Jefferson who directly accept cash from the interested party are the exception. If Jack Abramoff wasn't so greedy and hadn't tried to steal a casino boat, he'd just be a more aggressive case of what's normal.
aklocal wrote on August 4, 2007 4:33 PM:OK, so some of the posts here have me rethinking this as no biggie. Senator Ted, you can thank Bill Allen for all this love. Nobody would have been willing to go there, but now its hot, hot, hot. The incredible magnifying glass has arrived.
The fishing is HOT in Alaska!
DiFi Fan wrote on August 4, 2007 5:02 PM:Geezergate Update! Barbara Smyers Flanders, the $150k financial clerk, is about 54 years old and is from the Maryland area.
I've been doing some reading today and learned that Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii is Ted Stevens' longtime best friend in the Senate.
In an obvious p.r. move, Stevens and Inouye announced yesterday that they are jointly sponsoring a bill to protect children on the internet.
Inouye is now chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee and it is likely that Flanders got her most recent big raise on Inouye's watch.
Perhaps Senator Inouye can tell us what Barbara Smyers Flandres does to earn that big fat salary of hers.
Anonymous wrote on August 5, 2007 7:21 PM:local media still has not done a story with Barbara's salary or followed up for job description from Ted or Dan?
TPM beats local media again!
Former Senate Staffer wrote on September 23, 2007 3:48 PM:The limitations of the data. Here is SOME context: 1) what is disbursed in a 6 month period is just that- not an annual or semi-annual salary 2) Funds not used at the end of a fy year or budget cycle are returned to the U.S. Treasury- so often staff get bonuses from the unused funds(see below from legistorm).
Next, titles are not as meaningful as actual content. Instead of Financial Clerk... read Chief Clerk and Office Manager and HR and/or Administrative Manager. Doing all the admin accounting, budgeting, etc work for a committee of 50 staffers with over a million dollar budget seems like a big job to me. Oh, plus taking roll during markups and handling reporting to the Senate Disbursing, Rules, Ethics, ID, Parking office and all the other admin and legislative recordkeeping offices of the Senate.
http://www.legistorm.com/salaries/aboutcs.html “About Congressional Salaries: We obtain our data for this site from the official record books: the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House reports. The Senate publishes its data every six months; the House, every three months. ….A few aides are well paid by any measure. Many others make an embarrassing sum, especially in an expensive city such as Washington, DC at jobs that can have a ferocious intensity to them. While Congress is in session, Congressional aides often work well into the night, ….We encourage all users to keep in mind that information on our site can easily be misused, that raw data can have limitations. Sometimes context is vitally important.”