McGavick returns VECO money
OLYMPIA – Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Mike McGavick has returned $14,000 he received from executives with an Alaskan oil services company under investigation by the FBI, his campaign announced Tuesday.
Spokesman Elliott Bundy said the money was returned Friday, a day after federal agents raided the offices of at least six Alaska legislators, including the son of Sen. Ted Stevens.
The senior Stevens hosted a fundraiser in Alaska for McGavick in April that netted about $100,000 for McGavick’s bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell. All but $2,000 of the contributions in question came in from six VECO Corp. executives at that fundraiser, including Chief Executive Bill Allen and President Pete Leathard, according to The Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington, D.C.-based group that tracks money in politics.
Bundy said the remaining $2,000 came in July from Vice President Tom Corkran, who also had given $2,000 at the April fundraiser.
Bundy said that while details of those at the center of the investigation have not been confirmed by authorities, the reporting by the media that VECO was under investigation was enough for McGavick to decide to return the money.
“We simply wanted to err on the side of caution,” he said.
Bundy said they did not announce the return on Friday because “we didn’t feel the situation warranted an announcement.
“This is a criminal investigation and it’s a very serious matter,” he said. “It’s not an event for political gain.”
The FBI searches began Thursday and continued Friday. A copy of one of the search warrants links the investigation to a new production tax law signed last month by Gov. Frank Murkowski and a draft natural gas pipeline contract Murkowski and the state’s three largest oil companies negotiated.
The warrant called for seizure of documents concerning any payment made to lawmakers by Allen and Vice President Rick Smith. Agents also looked for documents about contracts, agreements or employment of legislators provided by VECO, Allen, Smith and Leathard.
The state Democratic Party put out a press release Tuesday calling on McGavick to return the money, unaware that he already had.
Spokesman Kelly Steele said later that the fact he returned the money didn’t change the fact that “McGavick’s campaign is being bankrolled by big oil special interests.”