“Uncle” Ted Stevens, the uncivil, anti-conservation, senatorial spokesman for Big Oil from Alaska, has been indicted on 7 felony charges.
Bye bye to another real villain! He will lose general election or the primary, but he is going to be gone.
Kate Sheppard. Senator Ted Stevens’ (Non-) Environmental Legacy — And The Alaska Senate Race. The Huffington Post. There are many other stories about his indictment elsewhere.
↓ Update. Look at this!!
Alaska’s Palin Faces Probe. Star GOP Governor To Be Investigated For Abuse of Office. By Jim Carlton. Wall Street Journal.
There was talk about Palin (being a woman) as McCain’s running mate.
Comments
How this guy has stayed in power for 40 years is an absolute travesty. The corruption story here in Alaska’s politics is unfathomable. If I’m not mistaken they have their senator, US rep, and at least one or two state reps/senators in the mix as well. Without exageration I think nearly everyone of their major politicians is blatantly corrupt. A bad movie couldn’t come up with this kind of plot.
Stevens, former Sen. Frank Murkowski, and current Rep Don Young (under investigation for a $10 million earmark to a supporter in Florida) kept getting re-elected because they brought home the bacon. They had power and financial clout because they had seniority, which got them on various Congressional committees where they could dole out taxpayer money. Between old age and scandal, Stevens and Young will soon be gone, and that will change the political and financial landscape in Alaska.
Alaskans, even more than people in the Western States, loathe the federal goverment, except when taking handouts. But government–federal, state, and local–is one of the biggest employers in Alaska. Without pork barrel money from Stevens and Young, Alaska is going to take a huge financial hit.
The romantic image of Alaska is subsistence hunters with sled dog teams. The reality is ATVs, snowmobiles, and power boats in the bush, Starbucks and brutal traffic in Los Anchorage. Alaska will be hard put to stay financially solvent without Uncle Ted Stevens bringing home the bacon.
When Alaska was trying to win approval for statehood in the 1950s, one big concern was that it didn’t have a real economy. Oil/Prudhoe Bay and Ted Stevens have been a temporary fix, that’s all.
Don Young too is likely to indicted soon matters similar to Ted Stevens.
we’re watching a lot of very powerful/senior republican senators that have used very politically valuable seniority to the detriment of wildlife and wild places fall. these are (were) huge political assets to the old-world GOP machine that will be absent = much opportunity for reform as the accumulated leverage/relationships within the party that these power-hitters brought to the table diminishes. Delay (House), Craig, Stevens, etc.
This adds to the incredible political inertia – or more properly perhaps, pulls away the potential roadblocks – to new ideas and people less crusty.
Last I checked the democrats are in charge and they have done what for the environment and wildlife??? They are for the most part all scumbags, interested in nothing else but obtaining power and keeping it. Obama is already flip-flopping on oil drilling, the rest will wait till after the election and someone buys them off.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/28/us/28alaska.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
I guess the only thing that might hurt him if he was with Larry Craig in the Minneapolis airport. If the democrat can’t beat him in the general it will be a sad, sad day in American history.
While I’m not as cynical as TimZ, I think Dave Smith hit the nail on the head…many Alaskans will look past these legal issues and continue to support Uncle Ted and Dan Young -the bottom line being, those two have been very good at bringing home the bacon, and they (voters) will not jeopardize their seniority positions on powerful committees.
I wouldn’t by any means characterize the Dems as being “in charge”…they have a majority, but the GOP can still thwart legislation in the Senate.
Both Ted Stevens and Don Young won their primary elections yesterday. Well, I guess there might be a recount with Young.
The polls show both these black-hearted anti-conservationists likely to be beaten by their Democratic opponents.
Stevens is under indictment and Young may be by election day. This is very good news that they won, because it means the have a high probability of losing the general election.
Ralph, I like your optimism. Too bad we can’t get rid of old Oil Shale Orrin Hatch at the same time.
At least he is no longer in office
http://www.trib.com/articles/2009/04/07/news/breaking/doc49dba35aa7e0a403104229.txt