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Veco Paid Employee For Stevens Renovations And Fundraisers
A newly-identified key player in the investigations of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) and Rep. Don Young (R-AK), construction worker Robert Williams, told the AP about the testimony he gave a federal grand jury on his double-duty rolls while on the Veco payroll:
Williams said he was in charge of "special projects" for VECO founder Bill Allen, and the renovation of Stevens' home was one such project. Others included working three or four fundraisers for Stevens while on the clock with VECO. Federal elections laws prohibit candidates from accepting donations or free services from corporations.
More:
Unlike other VECO employees, Williams did not itemize his time sheets with job codes so customers could be billed. When working on one of Allen's pet projects, Williams just logged his hours and VECO made sure he was paid."I never had any doubts about it until the FBI came down and served me with subpoenas," Williams said in a telephone interview.
Williams said over the course of his 13 years with Veco he worked on a number of fundraisers for both Stevens and Rep. Don Young, including Young's annual pig roast, that the FBI is now scrutinizing.
Williams remembered that investigators were very interested in Stevens' home renovation, which he thought was legitimate at the time:
Williams testified about the house project before a federal grand jury in Anchorage. He couldn't remember the total cost of the renovation, but said the Justice Department seemed to already know more about the project than he did.Investigators were "very thorough" and had numerous documents and bills associated with the house, he said.
"I thought everything was on the up and up," Williams said. "I'm disappointed with the way things turned out and I'm sorry for Ted."
Comments (11)
UF_Student wrote on September 19, 2007 6:21 PM:Ted should have told them DON'T BRIBE ME, BRO!
2turk wrote on September 19, 2007 6:28 PM:Can't the DoJ just carve these corrupt politicos up into little pieces with a real sharp knife and make pork rinds from their flesh ? Why go through all the trouble and expense of a federal trial and needlessly waste taxpayer funds.
olo wrote on September 19, 2007 7:05 PM:If they are corrupt we drop their pieces into a vat of hot oil and turn them into pork rinds - lickitysplit. Talk about bringing home the pork --- rinds. With a little horse radish these criminals might taste pretty good.
@ 2turk;
These pigs are too dirty to make soap much less, food !
theswan wrote on September 19, 2007 7:29 PM:So, when will they deal with this "hand over the heart" senator? 2010?
this guy wrote on September 19, 2007 7:52 PM:"i'm sorry for ted."
maybe it's just me, but i would've probably said something more like, "i regret i was involved in the bribing of a united states senator."
PrgrsvArchitect wrote on September 19, 2007 7:57 PM:When the hell will the newspapers/ cable crap pick up on this story? Unbelievable the corruption flowing out of Alaska.
johnnydoughey wrote on September 19, 2007 8:02 PM:" "I'm disappointed with the way things turned out and I'm sorry for Ted.""
Let's see ... Ted gets BBQs, trips, money, remodels, etc.
The rest of us pay for it over 30 years with hundreds of millions of dollars of diverted money...
For some reason, as much as I try, I have a difficult time feeling sorry for him. I DO feel sorry for those folks who died on a bridge last month because there wasn't funding for upkeep. I feel sorry for those folks dying on overcrowded two lane roads. I feel sorry for... lots of people who have died over the years so Ted Stevens could feed his corrupt ego.
I really don't think it was a fair trade. It's just too bad he is so important that the idea of charging him with the deaths of innocent, unimportant people due to his criminal conduct won't be considered.
The pigs really ARE more important, aren't they...
Sully18 wrote on September 19, 2007 8:32 PM:Why is this guy still on the job?If you or I did something like this it would be "suspended without pay," until our conviction.
Rusty Austin wrote on September 19, 2007 8:36 PM:OJ 24/7, Stevens not at all. What a sorry state of affairs...
Donald from Hawaii wrote on September 19, 2007 10:47 PM:It's 24/7 OJ, because what happens in Alaska, stays in Alaska.
PretzelsOne wrote on September 20, 2007 12:11 AM:Aaaah! The ole "I didn't know I was doing anything wrong" defense," a sure counter to the modified King's pawn "I'm guilty as hell" gambit. Personally, I prefer "the devil made me do it" defense, but that's just me. Stevens represents all that is right with the Repubican Party, i.e., greed, corruption, arrogance, abuse of power, abuse of the wide stance, abuse of pages, abuse of stupidity. It just gets better and better.