Maine's two U.S. senators are split over whether fellow Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens should resign following his conviction Monday on seven corruption charges.

Echoing the position of GOP presidential nominee John McCain, Sen. Olympia Snowe said the longtime Alaska lawmaker should step down.

Sen. Susan Collins, though, believes it should be up to voters to decide the fate of Stevens, who faces a tough re-election race against Democrat Mark Begich.

"Sen. Stevens should have a few days to consider the right course of action, and the people of Alaska will have an opportunity to express their view in just six days," Collins spokesman Kevin Kelley said in an e-mail.

McCain said that "Stevens has broken his trust with the people and he should now step down."

In a statement, Snowe said that, since Stevens has been convicted, he should resign.

"The jury has spoken, and it's a sad day for the Senate and a sad conclusion to his decades of service," Snowe said. "The public trust above all else must be upheld, and therefore I believe that stepping down would be the right thing to do."

A jury on Monday found Stevens guilty of trying to hide more than $250,000 in free home renovations and other gifts that he received from a wealthy oil contractor.

Stevens, 84, is the longest-serving Republican in the Senate. He has asked his colleagues in Washington as well as Alaska's voters to stand by him as he appeals the convictions.

Over the past two years, Stevens has received $10,000 in contributions from a political action committee controlled by Collins, including a $5,000 donation in June, a month before Stevens was indicted.

Kelley said it's common for U.S. senators to support each other's campaigns. He pointed out that Collins, who had received $10,000 from Stevens' PAC, announced after the indictment that she would donate that money to charity.

Collins' decision to contribute money to Stevens while he was under investigation "calls her judgment into question," said Carol Andrews, a spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Tom Allen, the Democrat trying to unseat Collins.

Allen also said that Stevens should resign.

Federal politicians often form political action committees, known as "leadership PACs," to raise money for other candidates' campaigns.

In this election cycle, Collins' leadership PAC – called Dirigo – gave $136,500 to Republican candidates for U.S. Senate and gave $2,500 to McCain, according to Federal Election Commission data analyzed by OpenSecrets.org.

Stevens was one of nine Senate candidates who received the maximum amount of $10,000 from Collins' PAC.

She also gave three U.S. House candidates a total of $9,000, including $5,000 to Charlie Summers, the Republican candidate in Maine's 1st District who is facing Democrat Chellie Pingree in a race to fill Allen's seat.

Neither Allen nor Snowe has a leadership PAC. Snowe did not contribute any money to Stevens' campaign.

The Associated Press contributed to this story

Staff Writer Tom Bell can be reached at 791-6369 or at

tbell@pressherald.com