An extensive FBI-Justice Department probe into political corruption in Alaska has reached close to the state's most powerful political figure and the most senior Republican member of the U.S. Senate.

The Bureau and a federal grand jury are examining an extensive remodeling project at the Girdwood, Alaska, home of Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

The investigation involves remodeling invoices and top executives of VECO, an oil services firm whose chairman pleaded guilty to bribery, conspiracy and tax charges earlier this month. The FBI has asked three contractors to turn over records from the project. One contractor told the Daily News he has testified before the grand jury.

Stevens has declined to answer questions about the probe, saying in a written statement that it would create the "appearance that I might influence this investigation."

Stevens, 83, has served in the U.S. Senate since being appointed in December of 1968. The senator's son, Ben Stevens, served as president of the Alaska State Senate - and is a central figure in the investigation.

VECO chairman Bill Allen and top deputy Rick Smith pleaded guilty to charges of improperly influencing legislators, and are now cooperating with the feds. As part of the plea, Allen and Smith acknowledged that Ben Stevens had taken $242,000 from Veco for "giving advice, lobbying colleagues and taking official acts in matters before the Legislature.

Three former and one serving member of the Alaska State Legislature have been indicted. Ben Stevens has not been indicted.

The remodeling under investigation took place in the summer and fall of 2000. It substantially increased the value of the elder Stevens' residence, which is located near the Alyeska Ski Resort. The home is Stevens' official residence in the state.

One contractor recently told the Daily News that he was contacted by Bill Allen to work on the remodeling of Stevens' house, and asked to send his bill to VECO for inspection. The contractor said the bill was ultimately sent to Washington, D.C., and paid by Stevens and his wife Catherine.

Stevens, Sr., was the object of an extensive investigation by the Los Angeles Times three years ago. The newspaper disclosed that the senator has become a millionaire by investing in projects that benefited from federal contracts. Stevens is a senior member and former chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Stevens is famous in the Senate for earmarking appropriations to specific projects in his home state. A master of the legislative process, he once tried to push through an Environmental Protection Agency to pay for cleanup of effluent at a Japanese-owned pulp mill in Sitka. In late 2005, he tried to use a defense spending bill to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling.

Infuriated at Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who blocked the maneuver, Stevens vowed to campaign against her - and made a brief appearance last year in Tacoma and Seattle. He and VECO's Allen were major sponsors of an Anchorage fundraiser for Cantwell's Republican challenger, Mike McGavick.

McGavick later returned more than $14,000 in contributions from VECO executives when it was learned the firm was under investigation.

Over the years, the Daily News and good government groups have repeatedly revealed how major projects underwritten by federal dollars - such as the controversial "bridges to nowhere" - stood to financially benefit former aides to Stevens, Rep. Don Young, and the family of former Gov. (and Sen.) Frank Murkowski.

Alaska voters turned Murkowski out of office in last year's Republican primary. They have continued to reelect Stevens and Young. When he last sought reelection in 2002, Stevens collected more than $250,000 from Seattle-area business interests at a series of closed-door fundraisers in the Washington Athletic Club.

Young has been in the news due to ties with disgraced Washington, D.C., lobbyist Jack Abramoff. He blocked legislation that would have extended the protection of U.S. labor laws to the Mariana Islands, site of sweat shops run by Abramoff clients.

Stevens is renowned in Washington, D.C., for his temper. He wears an "Incredible Hulk" necktie on the Senate floor on days of debate on pork barrel projects.