MNpublius.com

From CNN:

In a 28-page indictment from a federal grand jury, Stevens was charged with seven counts of making false statements on his Senate financial disclosure forms.

The indictment says Stevens “schemed to conceal” the fact that Alaska’s Veco Energy paid for hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of work on his home.

FBI and Internal Revenue Service agents searched Stevens’ Alaska home in July 2007 in connection with the probe, which has already snared two oil-company executives and a state lobbyist.

This is really bad news for Coleman. Coleman received large contribution from Stevens’ PAC. Coleman’s been a “special guest” at Stevens’ exclusive “Kenai River Classic” in 2003, 2004 and 2005, which are invite-only events for politicians to meet up with lobbyists, oil executives and defense contractors at $6,000 a couple. He received gifts from Veco excutives such as CEO Bill Allen and VP Rick Smith. When Veco was under investigation by the FBI, Coleman refused to return $6,000 in contributions from them, even after they pled guilty to defrauding the IRS.

Did you ever wonder how much Coleman’s ties with Stevens and Veco Energy may have influenced his stance on drilling in the ANWR? I bet there’ll be a lot more about this coming out this week on the series of tubes.