Stevens Raid Could Aid Transparency

Senate lawmakers pushing to have the pending ethics reform bill shine a brighter spotlight on secretive earmarks are suggesting that the FBI's probe of Sen. Ted Stevens's use of the legislative tool will help them.

"The whole affair is not good news for Republicans," said a key party official. "But the Stevens situation might help push the earmark transparency issue."

The House has approved an ethics reform package that some GOP senators call weak on identifying and policing earmarks. The current Senate legislation would call for earmarks to be publicly identified two days before a vote. Senate Democratic leaders would verify that the earmarks were disclosed properly. Some Republicans, like Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, want greater transparency and may use the FBI probe of Stevens to convince lawmakers that they need to do more on the issue to settle voters’ concerns about how earmarks are handled.

"That's an issue you might hear more about," predicted one lawmaker. "With transparency on earmarks, people tend to have a better approach," he added.

Stevens is one of many Capitol Hill lawmakers under investigation.

--Paul Bedard