WASHINGTON — More than a dozen senators scrambled last month to give away campaign donations from indicted Republican Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska. Others, including Hawai'i Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, are hanging onto the cash — for now.

Stevens is one of Inouye's longtime friends, and Inouye was one of the few Democrats who got a contribution from Stevens' political action committee. Inouye said he doesn't see any reason to return the $10,000 given to his 2004 campaign.

"It was given in good faith," said Jennifer Sabas, Inouye's chief of staff. "Stevens is his friend. He (Inouye) appreciates the contribution."

Inouye also isn't giving back or donating to charity the $13,000 his 2004 campaign received from an Alaska-based oil services company, VECO, also involved in the political corruption investigation involving Stevens, Sabas said. The senator has said that as far as he knows, the contributions were not solicited and were made legally, Sabas said.

Stevens, former chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, was indicted last month for allegedly filing false financial disclosure reports that withheld information about more than $250,000 in improvements to his home paid for by VECO.

At least eight other Republican senators, most running for re-election this year, also are keeping campaign contributions from Stevens' Northern Lights Political Action Committee.

Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, doesn't intend to return a $5,000 contribution to his re-election campaign from Stevens.

"Sen. Stevens is entitled to the constitutional presumption of innocence," Cochran said.

Wyoming's two Republican senators — Mike Enzi and John Barrasso — also are keeping contributions from Stevens.

Coy Knobel, spokesman for Enzi, said the senator would reconsider if a link is found between Stevens' campaign funds and the money under investigation.

Ryan Taylor, a spokesman for Barrasso's re-election campaign, said the senator would retain the contribution at least until the legal case against Stevens concludes.

With his indictment, Stevens had to relinquish his position as top Republican on subcommittees and committees, including the Senate commerce committee that Inouye chairs.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, is taking Stevens' spot on the commerce committee. She is not returning $15,000 she received from Stevens in 2000 and 2005. A spokesman for Hutchison, said Hutchison hasn't received any money from Stevens since her last campaign, so the question of whether to return a donation is moot.

Inouye, Cochran, Enzi, Barrasso and Hutchison are among 50 senators and 15 House members who have received contributions from Stevens' Northern Lights PAC, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. More than a dozen have said they will return the money or donate it to charity.