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Ben Stevens implicated in VECO corruption probe

by Jason Moore
Monday, May 7, 2007

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Federal authorities have not announced any action against former Senate President Ben Stevens, but there is little doubt he is the man referred to in VECO Corporation part-owner and CEO Bill Allen's indictment as "State Senator B." Those documents describe him as a man whose income from VECO vastly eclipses others charged in the corruption case.

The court filing, "the Factual Basis for Plea Against Bill Allen," said "State Senator B," was a senator from 2001 to 2006 and someone who was paid consulting fees by VECO.    

It all points to Stevens.    

The amount of consulting fees -- $243,000 -- correlates with the amounts in Stevens' financial disclosure filings.

In the court documents, Allen acknowledges that in actuality the payments provided to the senator were in exchange or giving advice, lobbying colleagues, and taking officials acts in matters before the legislature.    

Stevens has not been indicted, but his nemesis, former Rep. Ray Metcalfe, expects it won't be long.

"I'm just having a delightful time. It's been most enjoyable to watch all of this unfold," Metcalfe said.

He fought for years to implicate Stevens, filing complaints with Alaska Public Offices Commission and even attempting to get Stevens recalled.

"There were clear bribery laws that were being broken here. I took it to the state troopers, I took it to the district attorney, I took it to David Marquez, who was the attorney general," Metcalfe said. "I took it to APOC I took it to every single agency the state of Alaska has that's responsible for enforcing the law; 100 percent of them, to the man, said no."

When the Division of Elections threw out Metcalfe's recall effort in September 2005, Stevens held a press conference.

"Ray Metcalfe's charges were baseless and I have never and would never cross the line between my personal business affairs and the oath of office I signed to serve in the Alaska State Senate," Stevens said in 2005.

He later dodged questions about what he did for the Veco consulting fees, saying he didn't he didn't have to answer them.

Allen was paying those consulting fees, and in new court papers, he said aside from 20 hours of work, all the fees had to do with work performed in Steven's official capacity as a lawmaker.    

While Stevens doesn't face any charges today, Metcalfe said it won't be long.

"This is the tip of the iceberg," Metcalfe said.

The court papers also indicate Stevens had conversations with Allen dating back to 1995 about coming to work as an executive with VECO.    

Those conversations continued through last summer and they indicate Allen and Stevens talked about keeping it quiet under after the legislative session ended.    

Attempts to contact Stevens today were unsuccessful.

Contact Jason Moore at jmoore@ktuu.com