Dick Cheney's push on the pipeline. A two-year-old letter by former vice-president Dick Cheney that pushed forth a controversial Alaskan pipeline bill, came under intense scrutiny because of newly discovered evidence in the Justice Department's corruption case against Sen Ted Stevens (R). June 25, 2006 Sen Ted Stevens was being secretly taped, as he discussed ways he could get a pipeline bill pushed through the Alaskan legislature with Bill Allen, an oil-services executive accused of providing Stevens with more than $250,000 in undisclosed, financial benefits. On the recordings, Ted Stevens is heard saying, "I'm gonna try to see [sic] if I can get some bigwigs from back here and say, 'Look … you gotta get this done". Couple days later Cheney wrote a letter to the Alaska Legislature urging members to "promptly enact" a bill to build the pipeline. Stevens confirmed to NEWSWEEK last week that he asked Cheney to write the letter. "We wanted the federal government to tell the state to act quickly on it," he said. (A spokesman for Alaska's other senator, Lisa Murkowski, said her office also had contacts with Cheney's office.) In the motion, prosecutors said they want to show that Stevens, who has pleaded not guilty, used his political clout to benefit Allen's business interests while the oil-services executive was paying for renovations on the senator's home. http://http://www.newsweek.com/id/154916?from=rss
