From the New York Times:
"Oil Industry-Lawmaker Link Is Focus of an Alaskan Inquiry
SEATTLE, Sept. 1 — Federal agents continued to investigate the relationship between several Alaska state lawmakers and a major oil services company on Friday, a day after agents raided legislative offices across the state.
Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service scoured files in the offices of at least six lawmakers on Thursday and interviewed several. A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice, Jaclyn Lesch, said agents were in the field again on Friday.
Ben Stevens, a Republican who is the State Senate president and son of Senator Ted Stevens, is among those whose offices were searched on Thursday.
Ms. Lesch would not say how many lawmakers could eventually be part of the investigation nor would she discuss the raids. , But lawmakers and their aides in Alaska said the search warrants and the interviews focused on interaction between lawmakers and the VECO Corporation, a large support contractor for oil and energy businesses whose executives give generously to campaigns.
The Associated Press in Alaska reported on Friday that it had obtained a copy of a search warrant that stated that investigators were seeking “from the period of October 2005 to the present, any and all documents concerning, reflecting or relating to proposed legislation in the state of Alaska involving either the creation of a natural gas pipeline or the petroleum production tax. . .”
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