The FBI raided the offices of six Alaskan legislators last week, looking for evidence of illegal dealings with the oil firm VECO. The investigation has prompted beneficiaries further south to quickly stash evidence of their own shady dealings, including Washington State Republican Senate candidate Mike McGavick.
McGavick returned $14,000 in donations from VECO executives the day following the raid, his campaign announced Tuesday. Alaskan oil tycoons began supporting McGavick after Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell, McGavick’s opponent in the November race, thwarted plans to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.
Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens, one of the six legislators under investigation, went so far as to throw McGavick a fundraiser last April that netted a reported $98,000 from VECO executives alone, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Nothing out yet on the remaining $84,000 funneled into his campaign.
