Sullivan: Ted Stevens Doesn't Really Live In Alaska

(The Politico)  Brendan Sullivan, defense attorney for Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), made an admission today that probably isn't going to help his client's re-election changes - Ted Stevens doesn't really live in Alaska, the state he has represented in the Senate for the last 40 years.

Sullivan was discussing the role that Stevens and his wife, Catherine, took during the renovation of their home. That renovation lies at the heart of the criminal case against Stevens, who is charged with filing false financial disclosure reports from 1999 to 2006 in order to hide hundreds of thousands of improper gifts. Justice Department prosecutors allege that Stevens only paid a fraction of the true cost of the renovation, with the rest being picked up by Bill Allen, former CEO of oil services company VECO Corp.

"This is a renovation by a married couple that lives 3,300 from the renovation," Sullivan said. "They live here with us in the District of Columbia because he works up here on Capitol Hill."

Sullivan went on to say that Stevens only spent six days at his Girdwood, Alaska, home in 2000, and 19 days in 2001.

"It is 3,300 miles away," Sullivan said. "That is their technical residence because as you imagine any senator has a residence in the state they represent. They are lucky to spend 20 days per year in that residence. Because they work here, and when they go back to the state of Alaska ... he oftens stays in hotels, hundreds of miles away from his home, the site of the renovation."