Alaska's Stevens was "mystery blocker" of anti-pork bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ending a mystery that had captivated conservative and liberal Internet activists, Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, emerged Wednesday as the senator who secretly held up action on a bill to create a searchable, online catalog of federal grants and contracts aimed at helping the public find out who receives government support.

The acknowledgment by Stevens ended an innovative exercise in Internet-based political activism. Several blogs had urged readers to call senators and ask whether they had placed a "hold" on the legislation to create the online database. Many activists believed the catalog would make it easier to root out pork-barrel spending.

As of midday Wednesday, the blogs had been able to obtain denials from 97 senators that they had placed the hold, which under unwritten Senate rules prevented the legislation from moving to a floor vote. With the suspects narrowed to a small group, Stevens' office acknowledged he had blocked the bill.

The bill was drafted by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., in response to public concerns about the size of the federal deficit generally and, specifically, the tendency of lawmakers to earmark funds in spending bills for favored projects back home.

"Why shouldn't the American people know where their money is being spent?" Coburn said of his bill. He predicted lawmakers would approve less spending if voters knew what the spending was for.

Stevens, an Alaska senator since 1968, is widely regarded as one of the most effective legislators at winning federal funds for his state. Alaska consistently ranks No. 1 in federal funding per capita.

Stevens' spokesman, Aaron Saunders, said Stevens merely wanted the bill delayed until he could be convinced it would not create another unnecessary layer of bureaucracy. "We explained our position to Sen. Coburn," Saunders said. "From our perspective, it hasn't been a secret hold."

Stevens took advantage of a Senate tradition that allows a single member or group of members with concerns about legislation to put a private hold on it by issuing a request — anonymously, if desired — to the party's Senate leader.

The leader keeps the bill from coming to a vote until the senators' concerns are met.

Enter the blogs.

"We had the perfect irony of a senator's putting a secret hold on legislation designed to guarantee public transparency about pork," said Paul Kiel, a blogger-reporter for the Web site TPMmuckraker.com.

The first blog to take up the cause of Coburn's bill was Porkbusters.org, which seeks to control federal spending. It said its readers gathered denials from 27 senators that they had placed the hold.

Then readers of TPMmuckraker.com, a site that reports on public corruption, and GOPprogress.com joined the campaign. Kiel, at TPMmuckraker.com, said the three had received satisfactory denials from all but three of the 100 senators.

Saunders said Stevens had not acknowledged his role sooner because he had been traveling during the August congressional recess.

He said the hold was not meant as retribution for Coburn's opposition last year to $223 million for a much-derided "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska that Stevens sought to include in a massive highway bill.

The bridge would link Ketchikan, Alaska, to an island with 50 residents that is also home to Ketchikan's airport.

The Senate ultimately authorized the money, not for the bridge but for Alaska to spend as it likes.

Though the blogs had been urging readers for days to help hunt down the senator who had placed the hold, it emerged Wednesday that Coburn had publicly identified Stevens on Aug. 17 as placing the hold.