U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens (R) of Alaska left the US Federal Courthouse in Washington Monday after being found guilty on corruption charges – a verdict that could help Democrats expand their control of the Senate in the Nov. 4 election. (Hyungwon Kang/Reuters)
After conviction, Sen. Stevens faces his biggest political fight
The Alaska Republican faces an uphill battle to win a seventh full term.
By Yereth Rosen | Correspondent/ October 28, 2008 edition
Correspondent Yereth Rosen discusses reaction in Alaska to the conviction on federal charges of Sen. Ted Stevens.
Anchorage, Alaska
Never one to back down from a brawl, Sen. Ted Stevens is now in the biggest fight of his long political life.
Convicted Monday of concealing gifts from politically connected associates, the Alaska Republican has one week to save his campaign for reelection in a race in which he had caught up with his Democratic opponent in the polls.
If he wins, he still must face his Senate colleagues, who have the power to expel him. If he loses, it would sweep in a new generation of political leaders in Alaska. Nationally, Senator Stevens’s felony conviction already constitutes a blow to the Republican Party, already reeling in the polls because of an unpopular president, an increasingly severe economic slump, two wars, and a slew of corruption scandals that have forced a handful of GOP senators and congressmen to resign or retire in the past three years.
The combative Stevens vowed to press on with his campaign to win reelection and clear his name.
“I will fight this unjust verdict with every ounce of energy I have,” he said in a prepared statement after a federal jury in Washington convicted him on all seven counts he was charged with, which could mean a prison term of up to 35 years. “I am innocent. This verdict is the result of the unconscionable manner in which the Justice Department lawyers conducted this trial. I ask that Alaskans and my Senate colleagues stand with me as I pursue my rights. I remain a candidate for the United States Senate.”
But it is an uphill battle, even with his outsize political clout and large following among Alaskans.
“What? He’s found guilty and there’s a sympathy thing?” says Anchorage pollster and political consultant Ivan Moore. After Stevens’s indictment in July, he fell 20 points behind his Democratic opponent in the polls. Then voters’ doubts about the validity of the federal charges against the senator, combined with a series of effective pro-Stevens campaign ads, turned the race back into a dead heat. In Moore’s last poll, Stevens was only one point behind.
With the jury’s verdict in, however, voters will follow their lead, Moore says.
Stevens’s opponent, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, has largely avoided mentioning Stevens’s legal woes. Instead, he portrays himself as part of a new generation of leaders ready to guide Alaska into the future, offering a new consensus-building approach that contrasts with Stevens’s legendary brawling style.
But minutes after Monday’s verdict, in closing remarks at the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce candidate forum, Mayor Begich weighed in. Although Stevens started his service in Washington with good intentions, he said, “I believe that over the last 40 years his judgment got a little cloudy.” Begich also told local reporters after the forum that the conviction was a sad turn for Alaska. “This has been a very difficult year for Alaska, and a long year,” he said, alluding to an ongoing corruption investigation that has already sent three former state legislators to prison and netted guilty pleas from several other formerly powerful figures.
Other political adversaries expressed sadness at Stevens’s conviction. “For many, it is as if the elves at the North Pole just learned that Santa was convicted on seven felony counts of reindeer abuse and selling unsafe toys,” the left-leaning Alaska political blog Mudflats opined.
Stevens was convicted of concealing a variety of benefits, principally a home renovation, that he received from the former chief executive of VECO Corp., a now-defunct oil-services company that was once the biggest such business in the state. Former VECO CEO Bill Allen and a former VECO vice president have already pleaded guilty to bribing several Alaska politicians and have admitted in court to giving illegal benefits to Stevens and his son Ben, a former state Senate president. Federal prosecutors claimed the elder Stevens received more than $250,000 in unreported gifts.
Despite the trial, Stevens – who helped campaign for Alaska statehood in the 1950s – retains the backing of many. His enduring support stems from the fact that through the decades he has secured billions of dollars in federal funds considered vital to Alaska, earning him the nickname “Uncle Ted.” He is considered such a giant figure that in 2000 he was named “Alaskan of the Century” by the Alaskan of the Year Committee.
In the hours after the verdict, calls poured in to local talk-radio shows from Alaskans vowing to cast their ballots for Stevens in appreciation for his long service. Among the pro-Stevens callers dialing up conservative radio host Dan Fagan was Gail Phillips, a former speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives. “There’s a real family connection here. People put up with family members that maybe do things out of the ordinary sometimes,” Ms. Phillips, a Republican, told Mr. Fagan.
At the somber Stevens campaign headquarters in a midtown Anchorage strip mall, other loyalists streamed in to show support.
“I just thought that I’d show a little bit more today,” says Roy Rank, who drove in from Wasilla to drop off a check to Stevens’s campaign and pick up some yard signs. He says he doubts the verdict will change votes. “People have pretty much made up their minds already,” he says.
Should Stevens pull an upset, his career is not necessarily doomed. The last time the US Senate expelled a sitting member was 1862 when Sen. Jesse Bright (D) of Indiana was forced out for supporting the Confederacy. Several senators charged with corruption and facing an expulsion vote have resigned, most recently Sen. Bob Packwood (R) of Oregon in 1995. But at least 10 were able to hold onto their seats, notably Sen. Burton Wheeler (D) of Montana, who went on to become a powerful legislator in the 1920s.
Comments
2. madelyn dorn | 10.28.08
I don’t understand why a felon can serve in the Senate but can’t vote. I must have been absent from school that day.
3. fred landsman | 10.28.08
Mr.Stevens is a victim of the system. No one person should spend 40 plus years as a U.S. Senator.After all those years, an active senator becomes more powerful in certain respects than the president of the United States.
It is very easy to fall victim to the RDIT syndrome,Rank Deserves It’s
Privileges.
4. Chris Gadbois | 10.28.08
How disappointing it is to know that in in some parts of the US if you do enough good you can do all the bad you want. Stevens is a liar and a thief, Alaskans should wake up and realize that “Uncle Ted” is an disgrace. I wouldn’t want that kind of representation in the Senate for my state.
5. James A. Swanson | 10.28.08
James A. Swanson, Los Altos, CA
The hits just keep on coming. Let’s do a quick review.
The infamous GOP-controlled 109th Congress (two years ending January 2007) richly deserves its place in history as the worst ever.
A dozen of the GOP’s dirtiest in the 109th Congress are discussed in detail in Chapter 18 (“Corruption in America and Iraq—GOP Style”) of the new book: “The Bush League of Nations,” by James A. Swanson (2008, CreateSpace Publishing, 448 pages), which can be downloaded for free at http://www.bushleagueofnations.com.
They include Tom DeLay, Bob Ney (in prison), Randy “Duke” Cunningham (in prison), sexual predator Mark Foley (who promised to “turn over a new page”), Don Sherwood, Richard Pombo (under investigation), Curt Weldon (under investigation), John Doolittle (under investigation), Rick Renzi (under indictment), serial john and adulterer David Vitter, and “wide stance” Larry Craig.
That chapter leaves room for the reader to jot down his or her additional “Top Five” favorites not mentioned above.
Regarding “Alaskan of the Century” Ted Stevens, it then notes: “If you’re from the great state of Alaska—a place dear to your author’s heart ever since he worked in Alaska during a summer many years ago—you’ll probably want to include at least two-thirds of Alaska’s entire congressional delegation—GOP Senator Ted Stevens and GOP Representative Don Young—on your list.”
GOP congressional leaders carried to the extreme Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment—“Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican”—as they systematically protected the scoundrels and criminals in their midst. Reagan’s 11th Commandment became synonymous with obstruction of justice.
If the 109th GOP Congress of Crooks and Creeps had had its own zip code, it would have had the highest crime rate—and “grime rate”—of any zip code in America.
Jim Swanson, Los Altos, CA
6. Eric Mills | 10.28.08
For once I agree with both Senator McCain and Governor Palin: Senator Stevens should resign. Failing that, he should be drummed out of the Senate. A sad day for all of us.
9. usapatri8 | 10.28.08
If Ted Stevens, America’s latest political felon, believes “this verdict is the result of the unconscionable manner in which the Justice Department lawyers conducted this trial”, then he himself cannot have a conscience. His post-court behavior proves he doesn’t. For goodness sake, Mr. Felon, step down and take a few more senators with you!
10. Randall Ott | 10.28.08
How is it in this country, that a convicted felon no longer is allowed to vote in elections, yet some one who is now a multiple felon, is allowed to still run for the United States Senate and therefore draft legislation, as well to vote on laws that shape our nation???
11. Jim | 10.28.08
We should all be concerned that the Alaskan Republican view seems to be that it’s ok, he really helped us, or, that family overlooks these kinds of things. What kind of things has the “family” overlooked in the current Republican candidate for vice president? What does it say about a region of people when they consider felony acts as ok? What does it say about a major political party that takes the position that a felony conviction is simply an unjust finding and that it shouldn’t change anything? Maybe it is time that we started to measure the worth of a person by their honesty and integrity instead of by how many billions of dollars of pork they can bring to their constituents.
12. JOE AVERAGE | 10.28.08
i just don’t get this. why is there any doubt this guy should get the boot? politicians should not take gifts. $250k in gifts? he knew he shouldn’t have taken them because he didn’t report them.
why is this ok in anybody’s mind?
13. Leah | 10.28.08
As a resident of Alaska currently living “in America,” I have to say that I hope this brings some semblance of justice to that great state. I hope this crystallizes his inadequacy in being Senator to my fellow Alaskans and brings in fresh blood. Ted did amazing things for the state, including bringing much-needed infrastructure to our rural areas. He went wrong, however, when he treated our state and great country like Russia, bringing kickbacks and gifts to his family and close circle of cronies at the cost of Alaskans and Americans alike. The man paved a road from his Girdwood home to a restaurant a few miles down the road at staggering costs. This is not what Alaska needs at present!
14. PalinAppointee | 10.28.08
For all the posturing by McCain and Sara Palin asking Stevens to step down, if Stevens wins he will be impeached in the Senate and replaced with a Palin Repuglican appointee. Hard to tell which is worse-Stevens or Palin.
Once the Democrats get into power they will solidify it by creating a national voter database that automatically registers all American citizens, firing hundreds of thousands of Repuglican appointees and contractors from government jobs into the depression they created, and erasing every anti-democratic, anti-environment, anti-worker law and presidential edict passed by conservatives in the past 50 years during their first 6 months in power. Say goodbye to Milton Freidman scams, rich tax cheats, and corporate offshore slimeballs. Say hello to secret union votes, punitive taxes on the rich, a sales tax on Wall Street transactions, and the end of phoney conservatism.
15. Mitchell Zimmerman | 10.28.08
Actually, Senator Stevens, it wasn’t the (Republican/Bush) Justice Dept that convicted you. It was a jury of ordinary citizens. Or perhaps it is your view that lying about receiving gifts isn’t or shouldn’t be a crime. I suppose that would be consistent with Republican values. Surely most Alaskans cannot want a convicted criminal to continue to be their representative in the Senate.
16. Bill Mazzoni | 10.28.08
So are we non-Alaskans to understand that gratitude to someone for a long and effective (Read: pork barrel) political career trumps the law? Should Alaskans try to explain to their children that in certain circumstances, or for certain people the law isn’t really meant to be taken literally? That some of us (actually, some of them) are ‘above’ the law?
How unfortunate for us all if we were to find ourselves more inclined to accept the judgement of the Court when it applies to poor, or no-name citizens than when it applies to a well-known, even well-liked, individual. For our own sakes, we should fear, and work to correct, a judicial system that applies the law more leniently toward the wealthy, the powerful and the well-connected.
17. Paul the Realist | 10.28.08
The Stevens $250K is “NO BIG DEAL” to the average Alaskan — There are some Alaskans that spend more than half of $250K in a single day of shopping when they finally come down to the lower 48!! — Or is it now the lower 49?………How do we count Hawaii anyway? — Let’s ask Barack…he would know.
18. Anne | 10.28.08
Obviously, Senator Stevens does not think a “jury of his peers” convicted him. Seems to be it should be automatic — if you are an elected official and you are convicted of a crime, then automatically your term is over. How hard can this be, folks?
The good citizens of Alaska need to go to the polls and complete the verdict of the jury — because it’s clear that Senator Stevens isn’t getting it — a signal that age is a factor when it comes to serving your country.
19. richard marcley | 10.28.08
I bet my bottom dollar that Mr. Stevens will tell you he is dedicated Christian following the teachings of Jesus Christ. I am so tired of the Pharisees and the phony believers who make a big religious display in public and then get right down in the muck with the most wicked, arrogant, two faced liars around. Nature abhors hubris!
20. luke weyland | 10.29.08
Senator Stevens’ guilt - trivial small stuff
Why haven’t Pelosi and the other Democrats gone after the real criminals -
Why haven’t they gone after Bush, Chaney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, and Co been tried for war crimes yet?
Why haven’t they been impeached for using lies to justify the invasion of Iraq, an invasion that lead to the deaths and permanent injuries to thousands of US service men and women, and millions of Iraqis?
21. Glor | 10.29.08
Am I crazy or what? Someone who is guilty can run or continue to run for Senate? BUT someone who committed a crime years ago cannot vote? What is wrong with this country? How can anyone let someone like Stevens continue to be a Senator & have all the charges dropped? What kind of legal system are we running; the one that works for them only? Someone needs to help us get this straight and apparently it’s not the Republicans as you can see, so let’s wake up and get Obama in and get some changes made that are fair.
22. Mike | 10.29.08
I lived in Alaska for four years and each of the non-profits I worked for received significant funding due to Senator Steven’s work. I do condone his actions in this matter, and I agree that he should no longer hold office and be held accountable. However; as Senator he has contributed significantly to good causes that include supporting the environment (Magnussen-Stevens Act and fisheries research funding)and Native American communities. He has excelled at representing his constituents. Before historically characterizing him as a heartless evil man with absolutely no respect for the law, examine some of the work he has done and the weigh his entire political career.
23. Archie1954 | 10.29.08
The big question is will he be able to do the job? If he is in prison he won’t be able to. End of story!
24. Patricia OBrien | 10.29.08
I am a 68 year old and an Alaskan for 40 years. It has been interesting watching those in the lower 48 finally learn a little about Alaska and often frustrating reading their responses. For years we have been in a tiny corner on US maps, while in fact Alaska is 1/5 the size of the US. When superimposed on the lower 48, Alaska stretches over the whole of it.
When in the lower 48 we used to tell yarns, like living in three story igloos (no one here lives in igloos). I live in a temperate rain forest in southeast Alaska. Our yarns were in recognition that almost all folks in the lower 48 had no clue about life in Alaska. This was especially true for bush Alaska where honey buckets were widely used until recently. Obtaining clean water is still a challenge; as are delivering basic community services - public safety, education, social services. We face unique problems shared by all circumpolar peoples.
I am not a supporter of Ted Stevens. But this isolated state, largely ignored by the lower 48, could not have developed without his help. Senator Steven’s “bridge to nowhere” pork project and the road built solely to help his restaurant owner friend highlight his downward slide. But Ted Stevens also brought health services, clean water and sewer systems to the bush along with basic infrastructure that folks in the lower 48 take for granted. Please don’t look down your nose at Alaskans who are sad and even those who might vote for “Uncle Ted.” It is time for a change, including those in the lower 48 learning more about their distant sister state, Alaska.
25. Nixon | 10.31.08
Ted’s claims of being innocent sound just like every other criminal locked up in prison. You would be surprised at how many innocent people are locked up in prison! Just ask them, they will all tell you the Jury was wrong, just like Ted says.
Hopefully the Prosecutor will play all of Ted’s statements back to the Judge at the sentencing hearing. That way the Judge can see Ted’s lack of remorse, and his lack of taking personal responsibility for his crimes. Then the Judge can sentence him the same way any un-remorseful, un-repentant criminal would be sentenced.
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1. Frank Stein | 10.28.08
Typical Republican, convicted on all counts and has no honor, no dignity, vows to “fight on” instead of hanging his head in shame. Shame that he is a lieing thief. I want to thank all Republicans for being lieing thieves who, destroyed our economy by not regulating the banks, who lost jobs to foreign companies, who watched Americans become under and unemployed and did nothing, who watch as millions lose their homes, who spent more money we didn’t have than anyone in history and call the other guy a spender (you will recall that under Bill, whom R’s hate, the deficit was a surplus), and who killed 4000 young Americans in a war they lied to start. Stevens is one of the least stinky fish in that barrel. So remember, kick out a Republican today. The entire party needs to slither away.