The Long Chain

ETHICS -- CHENEY LINKED TO TED STEVENS' CORRUPTION TRIAL: Newsweek reports that in a conversation "secretly tape-recorded by the FBI on June 25, 2006," scandal-clad Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), who was recently indicted on allegations that he hid major financial gifts, "discussed ways to get a pipeline bill" through the Alaska Legislature with Bill Allen, an oil-services executive accused of providing the senator with about $250,000 in undisclosed financial benefits." In the conversation, Stevens promised Allen, "I'm gonna try to see if I can get some bigwigs from back here and say, 'Look...you gotta get this done.'" Two days later, Vice President Cheney undertook the unusual move of writing a letter to the Alaska Legislature urging members to "promptly enact" a bill to build the pipeline. The letter was unusual because the White House rarely contacts state lawmakers about pending legislative matters. "We wanted the federal government to tell the state to act quickly on it," Stevens said, confirming that he did ask Cheney to write the letter