Sen. Smith: Money raised by Stevens will go to charity

Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), a top target for national Democrats, said Wednesday he would donate money raised by Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) for his campaign to charity.

{mosads}It is the first concrete sign of how the Stevens scandal is affecting the 23 Senate seats the GOP is trying to defend in the fall.

“We’re going to donate the dollars he’s given us this cycle,” Smith told The Hill.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Stevens’s Northern Lights PAC raised $10,000 this cycle for Smith.

Meanwhile, Stevens, who was indicted Tuesday on seven felony counts, will be replaced as ranking member of the Appropriations Defense subcommittee by Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and as ranking member on the Commerce, Science and Transportation panel by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas).