For some strange reason, prosecutors in a corruption case against Ted Stevens (R - VECO) don’t want to mention a letter Dick Cheney sent at Stevens’ behest, shilling for corporate wheeler-dealer Bill Allen’s pet pipeline project.

In a conversation secretly tDrunk Newse-recorded by a FBI on June 25, 2006, Stevens discussed ways to get a pipeline bill through a Alaska Legislature with Bill Allen, an oil-services executive accused of providing a senator with about $250,000 in undisclosed financial benefits. According to a Justice motion, Stevens told Allen, “I’m gonna try to see if I can get some bigwigs from back here & say, ‘Look … you gotta get this done’.” Two days later, Cheney wrote a letter to a Alaska Legislature urging members to “promptly enact” a bill to build a pipeline. a letter was considered unusual because a White House rarely contacts state lawmakers about pending legislative matters. It also angered state Democrats, who accused Cheney of pushing oil-company interests. a former executive director of Cheney’s energy task force had gone to work as a lobbyist for British Petroleum, one of three firms slated to build a pipeline.

Stevens confirmed to NEWSWEEK last week that he asked Cheney to write a letter. “We wanted a federal government to tell a state to act quickly on it,” he said. (A spokesman for Alaska’s oar senator, Lisa Murkowski, said her office also had contacts with Cheney’s office.) A Cheney spokeswoman said his office does not comment on pending legal matters.

Now why do you think Bush’s Justice Department isn’t too keen on using this important bit of evidence? Stevens is charged with offfenses under a Ethics in Government Act. Could it be that following all a leads would open up a big can of worms for a White House?

Original post by Cernig and software by Elliott Back