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Stevens Corruption Trial Begins

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Los Angeles Times

Published: September 23, 2008

WASHINGTON - The telephone conversation between the two businessmen concerned an old friend, Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and the subject was money - or at least Stevens' feeling about it.

"Ted gets hysterical when he has to spend his own money," said one of the callers.

"I know," replied the other.

In a corruption case where the core issue is whether Stevens knowingly accepted gifts in violation of federal law, the conversation, secretly recorded by federal investigators, could be crucial evidence.

On one end was a restaurateur who oversaw the remodeling of Stevens' Alaska home, which prosecutors contend the senator never paid for.

On the other was an oil executive accused of helping bankroll the home makeover and showering Stevens and his family with other gifts in violation of federal law.

The recording is part of the evidence that prosecutors hope jurors will hear as Stevens goes to trial this week in federal court in Washington. Jury selection began Monday.

The Senate's longest-serving Republican was indicted in July for failing to disclose in financial reports $250,000 in improvements at his home in Girdwood, Alaska, and other gifts, including a Viking gas grill and a bargain price on a new Land Rover.

Stevens, 84, has said that he never intentionally violated the Senate reporting requirement and that in the case of the home improvements, he paid every invoice that he had received.

Stevens sought a speedy trial so it would be over before Alaskans vote Nov. 4 on his bid for a seventh term.

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