Not Just A One Man Scandal

As you have probably already heard, Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska has been indicted on 7 counts, involving his failure to report gifts and services that were given to him. While he await the verdict in this manner, it is never too soon to see who else can be taken down with Stevens.

No good scandal takes down just one man!

So, while Stevens is accepting gifts, valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars, who is Stevens giving his money to?

Like so many other politicians, Stevens has a Leadership PAC that allows him to raise more money and distribute it among his colleagues. And it looks like more than a few of his friends are currently campaigning for the Senate this year:

Norm Coleman of MN received $10,000
John Cornyn of Texas received $5,000
Elizabeth Dole of NC received $10,000
Mike Johanns of NE received $1,000
Mitch McConnell of KY received $7,500
Gordon Smith of Oregon received $10,000
And Steven’s PAC was even generous enough to give Ted Steven’s $5,000.
Read the complete list at Open Secrets: http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.php?cmte=C00331827&cycle=2008

Just for fun, lets looks at which one of these lucky recipients returned the money back to Stevens!

Norm Coleman’s PAC gave $5,000 to Stevens.
John Cornyn’s PAC failed to donate to Stevens.
Elizabeth Dole’s PAC failed to donate back to Stevens.
Mike Johanns is not a current officeholder and does not currently have an active PAC.
Mitch McConnell gave $10,000 to Stevens.
Gordon Smith gave $10,000 to Stevens.

This is a great way to fundraise. Since FEC law prevents your PAC from donating more than $10,000 to you own campaign, you can just donate money to other candidates and have their PACs give the money back to you! Genius!

**Note: All of this data is only for the 2008 cycle and can easily be viewed at OpenSecrets.org

Which candidate will be the first to rid itself of Steven’s money?