October 27, 2008
Sayonara Stevens
I referenced the Ted Stevens conviction earlier, here are more details. There are several counts against him, but count #1 contains the gist of it:
Stevens engaged in a scheme to conceal from his Senate financial disclosure documents home renovations and other gifts he received from Allen and VECO from 2000-2006. Stevens contends he never asked for any freebies and believed he paid for everything he received.The rest of the counts are related to the cover up (ie;false statements). Meanwhile, the Senate dithers and hopes they won't have to unduly embarrass their colleague by booting him out. Instead, they hope he just goes away and isn't re-elected. That's probably what will happen, though there's no guarantee. Too bad more of them weren't like Sarah Palin, who stood up to Stevens and the rest of the corrupt GOP machine in Alaska. But no one ever accused your average Senator of being a person of action.
UPDATE: Gee, sorry to disappoint the left side of the local blogosphere. In the comments to the aforelinked post, they wager that we AR folks were going to somehow defend Stevens. I presume this is based on what their own knee-jerk partisan reaction would be if the shoe was on the other foot. (This is what's called projection). After all, there are plenty of bad actors on both sides of the aisle, but when's the last time (ever?) they devoted a post to calling out a Democrat for impropriety. And I don't mean buried in the comments or including them as part of an overall list: I mean an explicit calling out. So I'm still waiting for their detailed post discussing the indictment William Jefferson, the real-estate deals of Charles Rangel or the sexcapades of Tim Mahoney. But I'm not holding my breath.
UPDATE 2: Matt J. has responded:
Marc -Instead of commenting, I'll answer here: Nope. My point of contention is pretty clearly regarding NATIONAL Democratic politicians. However, I will certainly give RI Future credit for going after the local corrupt Dems (fertile ground, that). I also note none of the Dems Matt mentions are on the "progressive" side of the Democratic Party ledger. Make of that what you will.In response to your request for times that RIFuture.org has "explicitly called out" a "Democrat for impropriety" I offer you the following posts as evidence:
Recall Democratic Mayor of Woonsocket Susan Menard
Democratic Mayor Menard Plagiarizes
then Democratic NP Mayor Ralph Mollis (we broke the campaign contributions from town employees story)
then Democratic NP Mayor John Sisto
I could go on, but don't really have the time.
Does this sample satisfy your question?
I wonder if Dodd is sweating a little?The campaign contributions are disgusting but probably not illegal-the deal from Countrywide(of all companies!!)seems a little closer to possible criminality.
Posted by: joe bernstein at October 27, 2008 9:37 PMAre you kidding me? Sarah Palin never, never ever stood up to Ted Stevens. Who do you think the go to guy was for all the federal gravy Alaska (the state where every family is on the dole) and Wasilla grabbed during her terms of office.
She has prudently kept her distance from Stevens since his indictment and trial. But she never said boo about him--by the way as the governor she was well advised not to interject herself into this federal case.
Sarah Palin is what the governor of RI might be if we had huge natural gas deposits in Narragansett Bay.
Posted by: Ken at October 28, 2008 12:28 AMTed Stevens doesn't belong in the Senate, both because of the corrupt activity he was found guilty of and because he was one of the biggest porkers there.
If he gets reelected next week, does anyone know of any other legal mechanism to remove him? For example, does a felony conviction automatically disqualify you from serving in the Senate, even if voters in the home state are silly enough to send you back?
Posted by: Monique at October 28, 2008 6:05 AM... by the way, check this out, from Marc's first link:
"Under a rule applying only to Senate Republicans, Stevens — when indicted — stepped down from senior posts on the Commerce and Appropriations committees. The conviction means Stevens will be unable to resume those positions."
So Senate Democrats have no problem if one of their own is convicted of a felony? The Republicans have it right in this case: you shouldn't get to keep privileges if you're convicted of a crime.
Posted by: Monique at October 28, 2008 6:14 AM(the third link, "Senate dithers", not the first)
Posted by: Monique at October 28, 2008 6:18 AMMarc -
In response to your request for times that RIFuture.org has "explicitly called out" a "Democrat for impropriety" I offer you the following posts as evidence:
Recall Democratic Mayor of Woonsocket Susan Menard:
http://www.rifuture.org/showDiary.do?diaryId=1939
Democratic Mayor Menard Plagiarizes:
http://www.rifuture.org/showDiary.do?diaryId=199
Menard as DINO candidate:
http://72.34.36.227/~mjerzyk/blog/2005/11/04/dino-3-mayor-sue-menard/
Menard's Corrupt Attempts:
http://72.34.36.227/~mjerzyk/blog/2007/07/13/the-kingdom-of-woonsocket-has-its-own-rules/
then Democratic NP Mayor Ralph Mollis (we broke the campaign contributions from town employees story):
http://72.34.36.227/~mjerzyk/blog/2006/08/02/mollis-ethics-problems-continue/
then Democratic NP Mayor John Sisto:
http://72.34.36.227/~mjerzyk/blog/2007/02/28/you-paid-for-it/
I could go on, but don't really have the time.
Does this sample satisfy your question?
Posted by: Matt Jerzyk at October 28, 2008 11:04 AM