Legistorm: Transparency's Sidekick

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) was convicted on seven counts of making false statements on his personal financial disclosures today. Stevens failed to disclose gifts, including free home renovations, and his failure to disclose led to his conviction and may cost him his Senate seat with elections a week away.

The charges related to Stevens' personal financial disclosures from 2002-2007, all of which are available to view on LegiStorm. The original indictment, including a description of all seven charges, is also available on LegiStorm.

Steven's case underscores the importance of disclosure in government, and also the importance of making those disclosure forms widely and easily available for public viewing, in case there are discrepancies to be found.

With his indictment today, the powerful and cantankerous Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) is finding that it's often not the underlying deed that proves your undoing but the coverup.

Stevens would probably have been in a heap of legal trouble for taking more than $250,000 in gifts from a contractor in the form of home renovations and household goods. But it's the failure to report these gifts on his personal financial disclosures that makes it such an easy case for federal prosecutors, who just unveiled a seven-count indictment against the senior senator for making false statements.

There's no need for prosecutors to prove a quid pro quo. All they need to show is that Stevens took the gifts, knew he was taking gifts and that he knowingly failed to report it.