Feds question bookkeeper in Stevens case

updated 7:56 p.m. ET July 31, 2007

WASHINGTON - A Senate clerk who helped maintain Sen. Ted Stevens' personal financial records was recently called before a federal grand jury in a public corruption investigation that has been joined by the IRS and the Interior Department.

Barbara Flanders, who serves as a financial clerk for Stevens on the Commerce Committee, testified in the past several weeks and provided documents regarding the senator's bills, according to an attorney in the case who spoke on condition of anonymity because grand jury matters are secret by law.

Investigators are scrutinizing Stevens' relationship with oil field services contractor Bill Allen, who helped oversee a complicated renovation project that more than doubled the size of Stevens' home in 2000. Allen's company, VECO Inc., won tens of millions of dollars in federal contracts. Allen has pleaded guilty to bribing Alaska lawmakers.

Federal agents raided Stevens' home Monday, photographing and videotaping its contents and leaving with a garbage bag full of unidentified items.

Stevens, 83, is the longest-serving Republican in Senate history. He has denied any wrongdoing and said he paid for all the improvements himself but he says he worries the looming investigation could have political consequences.

Flanders is a longtime aide who helps ensure that Stevens' bills are paid and his personals affairs are in order, the attorney said. She was questioned about the improvement project and how the bills were paid.

Reached by telephone Tuesday, Flanders would not discuss her testimony or describe her duties involving Stevens' personal accounts.

"I work for the Commerce Committee," she said. "I don't have any comment on any other issues."

Jenilee Keefe, a spokeswoman for Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, said there was no evidence the subpoena involved committee business.

"It is a personal thing. She worked for him in another capacity," Keefe said. "Right now we're just not getting involved."

Spokesmen for Stevens had no comment on the subpoena or Flanders' role in the senator's personal finances.

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