Feds question bookkeeper in Stevens case

A Senate aide who handled Ted Stevens' personal bills is cooperating with the Justice Department in a growing corruption probe into the Alaska senator's dealings with a wealthy contractor.

Barbara Flanders, who serves as a financial clerk for Stevens on the Commerce Committee, testified under subpoena in the past several weeks and provided documents regarding the senator's bills, according to an attorney in the case.

The attorney spoke on condition of anonymity because grand jury matters are secret by law.

Investigators are scrutinizing Stevens' relationship with oil field services contractor Bill Allen, who helped oversee a renovation project that more than doubled the size of Stevens' Alaska home in 2000. Allen's company, VECO Inc., won tens of millions of dollars in federal contracts. Allen has pleaded guilty to bribing Alaska lawmakers.

Investigators, including FBI and Internal Revenue Service agents, raided Stevens' home Monday, photographing and videotaping its contents and leaving with a garbage bag full of unidentified items.

Stevens, 83, is the longest-serving Republican in Senate history. He has denied any wrongdoing and has said he paid every bill he received for the improvements. He also has said he worries the investigation could have political consequences.

Stevens met privately with Capitol Hill staff members Tuesday, telling them he remained confident that everything would work out and encouraging them to answer any questions honestly, an aide said. Stevens said he had nothing to hide, said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was private.

Flanders is a longtime aide who helps ensure that Stevens' bills are paid and his personal affairs are in order, the attorney said. She was questioned about the improvement project and how the bills were paid.

Reached by telephone Tuesday, Flanders would not discuss her testimony or describe her duties involving Stevens' personal accounts. Senate rules would not bar her from such work, but she could not do it on Senate time or using Senate resources. Stevens also must pay her fair market value, to avoid running afoul of Senate gift rules.

"I work for the Commerce Committee," she said. "I don't have any comment on any other issues."

Jenilee Keefe, a spokeswoman for Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, said there was no evidence any subpoena concerning Flanders 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."

Spokesmen for Stevens had no comment on the subpoena or Flanders' role in the senator's personal finances.

The investigation grew out of a lengthy corruption probe that has ensnared several Alaska lawmakers and resulted in Allen's guilty plea for bribery. Only recently have authorities turned their focus to Stevens.

The Interior Department's inspector general and the Commerce Department have also joined the case to investigate Stevens' connections with a Seward, Alaska, marine science organization that operates the Alaska SeaLife Center, a person familiar with the probe said. That person, too, spoke only on condition of anonymity about the investigation.

Among many items photographed in Monday's search were cases of wine stored in Stevens' house. Investigators photographed each case and the individual bottles, the attorney said.

About 15 agents took photos and video of various angles of the structure, climbing onto the roof at one point, and eventually entered. They later carried out a garbage bag full of unidentifiable materials and loaded it into an unmarked white van. The curtains were drawn during most of the search.

Investigators did not search Stevens' home in Washington, where he spends most of his time.

Stevens, who has been in office since 1968, said the interests of justice would be best served if he did not comment until after the investigation.

"I continue to believe this investigation should proceed to its conclusion without any appearance that I have attempted to influence its outcome," he said. "The legal process should be allowed to proceed so that all the facts can be established and the truth determined."

Congressional watchdog groups called for Stevens to step down _ at least temporarily _ from his posts on the Senate's Commerce and Appropriations committees.

"There is growing evidence that Senator Stevens may have used his powerful perch on the Appropriations Committee to direct tens of millions of dollars of earmarks to benefit family, friends, business partners and former staff," said Ryan Alexander, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense. She commented in a letter to the Senate's Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

The Republican and Democratic Senate leaders rejected, for now, the idea of him having to give up his committee assignments.

"Senator Stevens has four decades of service in the U.S. Senate. I'll be discussing the matter" with Republican senators, McConnell said.

The Democratic leader, Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, said he didn't know details of the investigation.

"We have to be very careful about punishing people because of an investigation. Many investigations go nowhere," Reid said.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a liberal watchdog group, called it "imperative that no member under federal investigation be involved in the oversight or appropriations of any agency involved in investigating that member."

The group referred to Stevens' membership on the Appropriations subcommittee that funds the Justice Department.

The Justice Department's probe into Allen's relationships has led to charges against state lawmakers and contractors. Last year, FBI raids on the offices of several Alaska lawmakers included Stevens' son, former Alaska Senate President Ben Stevens.

Neither the U.S. senator nor his son has been charged.

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Associated Press writers John Heilprin and Larry Margasak in Washington, Dan Joling in Anchorage, Alaska, and James Halpin in Girdwood, Alaska, contributed to this report.