Stevens aide testifies in probe

An aide who handled the personal bills of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) is cooperating with the Justice Department in a growing corruption probe into the senator’s dealings with a wealthy contractor.

Barbara Flanders, who serves as a financial clerk for Stevens on the commerce committee, has testified under subpoena and provided documents regarding the senator’s bills, according to an attorney in the case. Investigators are scrutinizing Stevens’ relationship with oilfield services contractor Bill Allen, who helped oversee a renovation project that more than doubled the size of Stevens’ Alaska home in 2000. Allen’s company, VECO Corp., won tens of millions of dollars in federal contracts. Allen has pleaded guilty to bribing Alaska lawmakers.