The Casual Corruption of Ted Stevens
Today, a federal jury in Washington D.C. found Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens, 84, guilty of accepting and concealing from Senate financial-disclosure requirements hundreds of thousands of dollars in free home renovations and other gifts, primarily from Bill Allen, former owner of the Alaskan oil field-services company, VECO. Stevens, a 40 year veteran of the Senate, is the longest serving Republican, and quite likely among the more cantankerous.
And, during the trial, cantankerous was as cantankerous did. In perhaps his biggest tactical miscue, Stevens took the stand in his own defense, although his defense was to remain offensively on offense. In fact, the judge, in a topsy turvy move, had to warn the Senator to not harass the prosecutor. Alternately denying and griping, the “Lion o
f the Senate” even threw his wife under the snow sled, blaming her for certain financial discrepancies in his records. He often maintained that he was unaware that a variety of expensive goods and services he received were gifts from Mr. Allen, and other friends.
For a man well known for his intimate involvement in all things legislative, the Senator asked the jury to believe he was utterly divorced from decisions and control of major additions to his home, additions that doubled its size. He didn’t quite know the circumstances of a $2,700 massage chair, strangely proffering it was a “loan,” nor did he recall the provenance of a large statue depicting migrating salmon. Who wouldn’t want answers about that? It’s as if he’d return home from D.C. and find all kinds of things that just appeared from God knows where. He must have spent a lot of time walking around the house in a daze, scratching his head.
Well, the Senator’s denials didn’t convince the jury. They likely thought that if a massive salmon statue were to just appear in their homes they would ask, “Honey, do you know anything about the big metal fish in the living room?” One would imagine jurors often wondered how he ever managed a single bit of legislation if he was as casual about the Senate. Admittedly, the Senator has reached the age where memory fades, but this was a man notorious for his vigor and exercise of control. Undoubtedly too, he must not have presented a sympathetic witness as he hectored the prosecution throughout.
The fact is, Senator Stevens had grown accustomed to growling himself through the halls of Congress. His 40 years there had conferred the insulation of power. His routine reelections had removed him farther and farther from true scrutiny. Voters were the first to realize that his seniority placed him at the forefront of the Senate; he, more than anyone. made Alaska’s relatively small number of voices heard. If that patronage allowed an occasional bridge to nowhere, well that constitutes the spoils of a l
ong and loud career. He’d grown in his power to a point where he may have forgotten that he too is a servant, a servant of the people and the law. He’d allowed himself to become far too casual, and in the end, far too careless. He likely believes that his indiscretions were, if anything, small, and justice far too severe. Yet, it’s easy to imagine that the jurors sensed in the cantankerous old Lion of the Senate a man who ignored too many important principles of honesty that the jurors believed – despite the daily onslaught of political corruption everywhere – ought to be the DNA of public service.
In any event, the man who once declared that the Internet was a “series of tubes” may also be witness to his reelection bid disappearing into one. Yet, legally, there is nothing to prevent him from continuing his bid. Should he win, he could serve, at least until his fate is determined by his appeals, or the Senate amasses the 67 votes needed to expel him. But above all, Alaska loves Ted Stevens, and tonight when announcing his intent to appeal the verdicts, he said, “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. I will come home on Wednesday and ask for your vote.” Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, the Democratic contender, still has his work cut out for him. Now is not the time to be casual. The Senator’s a lion in Winter, but he’s still on the prowl, and a wounded lion is ever more dangerous.
