Every once in a while, going through my usual rounds online, I come across an unexpected jewel. This one came from TPM Muckraker in the form of a wonderfully organized and aesthetically pleasing Ted Stevens Corruption timeline!
It’s a true tale of descent from Last Frontier Icon, to really old semi-pathetic felon.
The chronology begins with the fateful line, “Sen. Ted Stevens mentions to his friend, VECO CEO Bill Allen, that his daughter could use a new car,” and it’s all down hill from there.
In reading through the chain of events, there were some details I had forgotten, like this marvelous quote from Stevens at the time of his indictment:
“This is an indictment for failure to disclose gifts that are controversial in terms of whether they were or were not gifts. It’s not bribery; it’s not some corruption; it’s not some extreme felony.”
I don’t know why I always get such a kick out of that quote. No, he didn’t commit murder, or knock over a bank, or kidnap someone for ransom. And that makes us glad. But by implication, we’re supposed to feel good that it’s just a garden variety felony, a minor felony, a felony hardly worth mentioning. Whew! Dodged a bullet, there. I was worried for a minute.
The timeline ends on November 20, 2008 when Stevens makes his last appearance on the Senate floor. I’m hoping the timeline will continue with updates, because Stevens may be out, but the cadaveric spasms of his long career in Alaska politics continue.
David Anderson, the witness who said he lied under oath regarding an immunity deal, has also stated that the prosecution showed him documents before the trial that he wasn’t legally supposed to see. Judge Emmett Sullivan, who undoubtedly had been hoping he’d seen the last of this trial has scheduled a hearing for Monday to determine whether Stevens’ attorneys can question Anderson, Allen’s nephew and a welder who worked on Stevens’ renovations….the one’s he ‘forgot’ to disclose on his financial disclosure forms.
The circumstances surrounding this sudden and startling confession of perjury from the penitent welder are still unclear. Kind of like when you question the “Magic 8 Ball” and it tells you, “Reply hazy….try again later.”
We’ll try again on Monday.
Mudflats 
Whoa…
Where are the rest of the ‘flatters?
Neatly laid out timeline, on TPM, but I confess, the whole thing confuses me. Not that I can’t understand it or figure it out, I just think it’s ridiculous that this old man was allowed to put down stakes on his Senate seat and run it however he wanted.
With nobody thinking much, just lazily voting him in, over and over, for decades, what was he supposed to think? “Hey, this is my turf. I can do whatever I want. Nobody cares, and them that care, wouldn’t dare!”
AKM-
“This is an indictment for failure to disclose gifts that are controversial in terms of whether they were or were not gifts. It’s not bribery; it’s not some corruption; it’s not some extreme felony.”
I was amazed by this also; does Stevens really believe that what he did was a mere mishandling of disclosure forms, and not a crime? This amounts to tens of thousands of dollars- why does he believe this?
NMJ-
I had the same kind of questions. I know Stevens did a lot of good for Alaska, particularly in the first few decades (that sounds weird). Did he forget who “hired” him, the voters of Alaska- and took everything as his due?
As far as the “twilight zone” witness…the judge deserves sainthood for everything he’s had to deal with.
This snippet from the TPM timeline cracked me up:
Ted on the stand, day two: “[Bill Allen] bought that chair as a gift, but I refused it as a gift. He put it there and said it was my chair. I told him I would not accept it as a gift. We have lots of things in our house that don’t belong to us.”
NMJ-
I didn’t realize Stevens was such a comedian…lol
‘G night, NMJ- it’s late in Colorado, and my brain is mush:)
‘G night, CO…I’m in SoCal. I guess it’s an hour or two earlier here. I’m kind of a niteowl.
As Lord Acton said, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.”
Power tends to corrupt…oh, please say it isn’t so, I want to believe in great men like Santa Claus, again.
What about his wife using his Senate staff for her personal errands?
I thought that was supposed to be an ethics violation.
Is her unauthorized use going to be investigated further, or is the whole point
moot because of his felony conviction?
I also can hardly wait for the spin SP puts on her ‘meeting’ with PE Obama.
We entertained each other around the Tday table with stories about her.
I’m sorry, Alaska, but you have given the rest of the country LOTS to talk
and laugh about.
THANK YOU AKM for shining such a bright light on Alaskan politicians’
shenanigans!
NMJ (21:46:21) :
“[Bill Allen] bought that chair as a gift, but I refused it as a gift. He put it there and said it was my chair. I told him I would not accept it as a gift. We have lots of things in our house that don’t belong to us.”
——————————————————–
This one cracked me up, too, when the trial was originally discussed on Mudflats.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/
My comment at the time was that, come to think of it, I have lots of things in my house that don’t belong to me either. But, they’re all in the attic, and it’s stuff the kids left behind when they left home.
Stevens has a very creative rationalization thing going on, that’s for sure. Thankfully, the jury didn’t buy it, nor does anyone else. Maybe to Stevens, a gift isn’t really a gift, but, according to the law, a felony is a felony no matter what he thinks.
I offer you a blogger to blogger golf clap for use of the term “cadaveric spasms”. Always nice to see a completely different descriptive phrase enter the blogosphere.
You Muckraker are an innovator.
So again I’m wondering: How is this different from having some of Todd Palin’s “contractor friends”, who may have also been working on the municipal hockey complex that Sarah sponsored, build the Palins’ new $500,000 lake front home at the same time that Sarah was mayor of Wasilla. I understand that there were also some zoning compliances that were ignored in connection with the sale of the home they were occupying before they moved into the lake house. I had been wondering since I first saw the house during the Charlie Gibson interview how they had been able to afford it on Sarah’s salary as mayor and Tedd’s fishing job and snowmachine racing winnings. It didn’t add up then and still doesn’t. Of course, now she will have a seven figure book deal and can afford a really swell place.
Sorry to carry this thread over from the last but I’m concerned about people freezing this winter! Is there anything we can do? any groups to help through?
Other than flood the gov’s office with shame on you emails ( ha, like that would solve anything).
Seems to me there’s opportunity here, to help in a positive way with dignity and respect, because we care. Yes we can.
I don’t mean to hijack this thread, could we start a permanent forum thread concerning this issue so we can keep tabs on the situation and talk ideas?
I haven’t spent a lot of time over there yet so forgive if I’ve missed something already there about this. I do good to get through all this posts, lol.
Mike In Illinois,
Wait til we find out where the materials for the “house-by-the-lake-that toad-and-his-buddies-built” came from. I have looked into this as much as humanly possible (being in FL makes it tough!) and I have seen many similar details in the house and the sports shrine. The lauer interview has some good shots of the upstairs glass rail in the house that looks like the same materials in the complex…similar windows as well…KEEP DIGGING!
“We have lots of things in our house that don’t belong to us.”
Hah, sounds like the B&E ( break & enter ) clans in Dolan Springs.
(A local town, the nickname of which is ..Stolen Things)
hey friends of ted…I could use a new pickup truck here in texas…..hello…anyone there?…feck!
“This is an indictment for failure to disclose gifts that are controversial in terms of whether they were or were not gifts. It’s not bribery; it’s not some corruption; it’s not some extreme felony.”
As I understand it, the Senate gift disclosure requirements are there to ensure that senators don’t take bribes or become corrupt through receiving favours from constituents or others who might be seeking political favours. By failing to disclose, he opens up the door to a presumption that he was in fact accepting bribes or the gifts were a quid pro quo for his political favours. What the indictment says and what he was actually doing are different things. The prosecutors may simply not have had enough evidence to prove bribery and corruption. But it sure stinks.
Now if someone would just find out who Todd Palin’s “contractor buddies” are, perhaps one more kleptocrat could be taken down.
I’m glad to see that so many know about this shady deal! and have so much knowledge.
This whole deal about real estate gate P’s me off! it makes Ted’s remodel look mild in comparison… they look out only for themselves and not for the people. what jerks!
This is my favorite line in this whole post:
“the cadaveric spasms of his long career in Alaska politics continue.”
Let’s hope you can say that about SP’s short one, too.
If a man admits to a felony, did a crime occur?
That’s the seminal question which seems to have escaped Stevens’ mind. And is why the Anderson claims are essentially irrelevant.
Judge nixes Monday hearing in Stevens case
Posted by Alaska_Politics
Posted: November 28, 2008 – 3:03 pm
Comments (0) |
By Richard Mauer in Anchorage —
The “brief hearing” that evolved into formal status conference in Washington over the conduct of a witness in Sen. Ted Stevens’ trial has evolved again, this time off Monday’s court calendar entirely.
U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan on Friday canceled the hearing. Instead, he ordered federal prosecutors to file a written response by Dec. 15 to a motion by Stevens objecting to a secret filing concerning the witness, David Anderson.
The defense said the sealed filing by prosecutors appeared to be about an ongoing criminal investigation. The defense asserted the filing was a “blatant violation” of court rules because prosecutors had failed to get authorization from the judge beforehand and didn’t provide notice to the defense. The defense motion asks Sullivan to reject the sealed filing — or provide the defense a copy.
In his order, Sullivan told prosecutors to explain why he should not strike their sealed filing. He pointedly noted that once before, in September, he had reminded the government of the court rules that govern filing sealed pleadings.