Bad Behavior and Home Renovation: In Bed Together?

I find it amusing that so many public figures who get burned for illegal gift-taking and ethics violations included home renovations in their bag of "nasties." Ted Stevens (R - Alaska) is the most prominent example of this. The Los Angeles Times reports:

Stevens is charged with failing to report more than $250,000 in gifts and home improvements in violation of Senate financial disclosure rules.

A sleazy company named Veco was involved...

...the Stevenses turned a blind eye to the work of the Veco employees, and the prosecutor identified 19 people from the company who had worked on the renovation, as the names of the workers popped up on a video screen in the court room, one by one.

What on earth is going on?