Sen. Stevens may have misused staff

Sen. Ted Stevens admitted during his corruption trial that he used his Senate staff for personal duties, a possible violation of ethics rules according to experts.

During his trial, Stevens and his wife Catherine admitted under oath that one of his aides coordinated the couple’s finances, paid their bills and helped monitor the home remodeling project central to the charges against him.

{mosads}The Alaska Republican is not charged with misusing his Senate staff. Those same experts say many senators use their staffs for a range of duties that include personal services.

“The bills that came to her, she paid,” Stevens said of his aide, Barbara Flanders, during cross-examination on Monday. “She didn’t pay all of our monthly bills. She paid some of the monthly bills.”

Flanders was a signatory on the couple’s Senate credit union checking account, allowing her to pay a number of personal bills, including ones from Saks Fifth Avenue, Mrs. Stevens testified last week.

Mrs. Stevens, who admitted to regularly speaking with Flanders, used the aide as a “human ATM machine,” asserted the government’s chief prosecutor, Brenda Morris.

At the request of the senator’s wife in 2001, Flanders even shipped to a foreman, who was working at the couple’s home, doorknobs and hardware for the remodeling project.

Melanie Sloan, executive director of the Citizens for a Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said the admission indicates that Stevens violated the rule.

“The rule is very strict,” she said. “Congressional staff are only allowed on payroll for taxpayer purposes.”

According to the Senate Ethics Manuel, Senate aides must act within the purposes appropriated by law.

“Funds are appropriated to compensate federal employees for the performance of Senate duties,” the guidelines say. “That is, Senate staff are compensated for the purposes of assisting Senators in their official legislative and representational duties, and not for the purpose of performing personal or other non-official activities for themselves or on behalf of others.”

Taken to the extreme, Stevens could have violated a federal law that prohibits using taxpayer funds for non-appropriated purposes. More likely he would have to answer to the Senate Select Committee on Ethics, but it’s unclear what actions – if any — that panel would take against the senator if he is acquitted and wins re-election in November. A spokeswoman for the panel declined to comment, and Stevens's spokesman could not be reached for comment.

Stevens has pleaded not guilty to seven felony counts for failing to disclose more than $250,000 in gifts and home renovations from Bill Allen, a former Alaska oil-industry executive in the state. Both sides make their closing arguments Tuesday, before the high-profile case is sent to the jury next week.

Flanders's role as a family bookkeeper first came to light last summer when she was called to testify before a secret grand jury investigating the remodeling project. Her role is not one of the charges, but the new details that have emerged during the month-long trial have prompted some ethics watchdogs to raise red flags.

Sloan and Ken Boehm of the National Legal and Policy Center both said members of Congress regularly violate the rules by requesting their aides do personal duties along with official business.

In 1994, then-Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.) was indicted in part for converting government funds for personal use, including receiving personal services from staffers on his congressional payroll.