By Damozel | There's a reason he's served for 40 years as Alaska's senator.
A legendary figure in Alaska politics since joining the U.S. Senate in 1968, Stevens has steered billions of dollars to the state from his seat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.(Bloomberg)
Can you say "earmarks"?
Sadly--the man is 84 years old--Stevens is yet another Republican thought the laws don't apply to him. Amazingly, it turns out that they do.
U.S. Senator Ted Stevens was convicted of all seven felony charges of failing to report gifts from a company in his home state of Alaska, a possibly fatal blow to the career of the Senate's longest-serving Republican.
Stevens, 84, was convicted in Washington of making false statements on his Senate financial disclosure forms. He was accused of hiding more than $250,000 in home renovations and other gifts from Veco Corp., an Alaska oil-services company, Bill Allen, the company's founder, and other friends.
Stevens's lawyer, Brendan Sullivan, had his arm around the senator's shoulders and shook his head as the verdict was being read. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan delayed setting a sentencing date at the defense's request. (Bloomberg)
84. Think of that. I hope they go easy on him. The conviction was what mattered to me.
Stevens, 84, now faces a question over whether he will resign, and if he does not, whether he can win reelection Nov. 4 in an already tough race. At first, Stevens showed no emotion, holding his stomach as verdict was read. But a few minutes later, it seemed to sink in as Stevens sat quietly, hunched over with his hands covering his face. Stevens, visibly shaken, did not take any questions as he quickly slipped out a side door of the federal courthouse and left in a white van.
Stevens could also be sentenced to as much as five years in federal prison, although considering his age and lack of previous convictions, is unlikely to receive anywhere near the maximum sentence. Stevens’ sentencing hearing is scheduled for Feb. 25, and Stevens' attorneys have already told Judge Emmet Sullivan they would file motions to overturn the verdict by early December. Stevens could also appeal the decision, but would likely to have to pay a heavy political price for such a move. Alaska’s Democratic Party has already called on Stevens to resign. (The Hill)
This should conclude his political career. Other than that...justice is sufficiently served, I think.
Stevens was seeking a seventh full term as in the Senate – he was first appointed in 1968 – and wanted to clear his name before he had to go before voters. With today’s guilty verdict, Democrat Mark Begich, Stevens’ opponent, will get a huge political boost, and make it that much more likely that he will unseat Stevens.
And even if he wins reelection, Stevens could face an expulsion from the Senate. Of the four sitting senators who were convicted of crimes while in office, only one — Sen. Truman Newberry (R-Mich.) — continued to serve after being found guilty, and he was eventually hounded out of office in 1922 by senators seeking his expulsion. (Politico, via Memeorandum)
Progressive Alaska blog Mudflats points out:
Stevens will still be able to finish out the election, and be elected to office, even though he is now a convicted felon.
The Senate can vote him out by a 2/3 majority.
Kudos to the DoJ for getting a conviction and for pushing the case.
The verdict was also a huge win for the Justice Department, especially Brenda Morris, the lead prosecutor in the case, and her team of lawyers and investigators. Even investigating a lawmaker of Stevens’ standing and reputation was a risky proposition, much less indicting and convicting him. Justice Deptartment officials, however, insist that they are willing to take on any public-corruption case, no matter who is involved, and today’s verdict will certainly buttress that claim....
After some prosecutorial missteps early in the trial that almost led to the dismissal of the charges or a mistrial, the pivotal moment in the proceedings appeared to come when Stevens and his wife took the stand. Both told disjointed stories that failed to follow a cohesive narrative, and prosecutors were able to dissect their claims during cross-examination.
Stevens, in particular, was argumentative and crotchety when questioned by prosecutors, and his testimony failed to convince the jury that he was an innocent man.
"This case has been a long time coming," Morris during her closing comments to the jury. "This trial has exposed the truth about one of the longest-sitting senators.” (Politico)
WSJ Law Blog wonders if his lawyer should have stopped him from testifying---or could have.
So should Williams & Connolly’s Brendan Sullivan have tried to keep Stevens off the stand? That would’ve been hard, Levy said.
“The decision to testify is the defendant’s decision,” he emphasized. “And whenever you’re representing a successful, high-profile individual — whether it’s a member of Congress, a high-ranking member of the executive branch or a corporate CEO — you’re talking about someone who often has strong beliefs, and has generally achieved success because they’ve been persuasive throughout a number of situations and through a number of years.” (Levy might know. As a young Skadden associate in the early 90’s, he helped defend Caspar Weinberger in the Iran-Contra scandal.) Levy continued: “Ted Stevens has won reelection throughout four decades. Trying to persuade him not to make the most important political appearance of his life was not the easiest thing to do, even assuming that was the strategy that Sullivan wanted to follow.”
Oxdown Gazette says:
It is not a rarity that a Republican gets accused of a crime. It is nice to finally see that one is being brought to justice and hopefully with more than just a slap on the wrist.
Congratulations to the Republican party on their latest high-profile felony conviction....
Wonder what the Pitbull has to say.
Re: Stevens' ties to Palin, we've discussed them in the following posts:
McCain Lies About Palin's earmarks (Sept 12)
Palin Lies Like Bush And Spends Like Bush (Sept 6)
"Compassionate" Conservative: Palin Slashed Teen Moms' Funding (Sept 3)
A commenter at Sadly, No! says:
For the last three years, Barack Obama has served with Ted Stevens in the Senate. Do we want to elect as President a man who pals around with convicted felons?
Oh yeah, about the pallin'....
Via My DD, here is some video footage of Palin pallin' around with the elderly felon, who is also the longest serving Republican in the Senate (The Hill).
Another Sadly, No commenter points out that Alaskans should look to their earmarks.
Somebody needs to remind Alaskans that Stevens is hardly going to be effective at grabbing earmarks now, and without that pork Alaska would sink.
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