****Memo – Statement From The Alaska Democratic Party On Ads****In response to many calls and feedback from Alaska voters, the Alaska Democratic Party feels the need to clarify that it is not responsible for an ad currently running that dramatizes FBI agents in a van with surveillance equipment. ****Memo: Who’s Family Is Stevens Putting First?****While Alaska families struggle to get by in this economy paying the highest energy prices in the country, Senator Stevens is busy collecting perks and gifts for his own family. Not only did his friends at VECO remodel his house, but they bought a new car for Stevens’ daughter, gave a cushy job to one of his sons, and gave another son, Ben Stevens, more than $300,000 for work he never did. This is on top of the $700,000 in compensation Ben got from the Special Olympics while his father steered millions in earmarks to the organization. And now we find out that Stevens used his taxpayer-funded Senate employees to do personal errands for him, like mowing his lawn or paying his bills. Senator Stevens keeps helping himself while our families keep struggling. It’s time to move on. Why is Congress so disliked? Consider Exhibits A and BOne reason Congress has such an abysmally low approval rating (14% in a Gallup Poll this summer) is the perception that once politicians go to Washington, they join an elite that believes the rules don’t apply to them. In truth, most members of Congress are dedicated public servants who work long hours and play by the rules, but there is no shortage of members who justify the stereotype. Recent days have offered up two prime examples, one a Republican senator and the other a Democratic House member: At age 84, Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens is an icon in his home state and a force in Washington, where his 40-year tenure and perch on the Appropriations Committee give him enormous power to dispense billions of dollars every year. Stevens has described himself as “a mean, miserable SOB,” and those who watched him spar with prosecutors at his federal trial this month on corruption charges wouldn’t disagree. Asked at one point why he accepted gifts, Stevens shot back: “You’re not listening to me. I answered it twice.” At another point, he snarled at the prosecutor: “Is that a question? I thought it was a statement.” As of Thursday, the jury was still out on whether Stevens committed a crime. But his own testimony revealed that he’s already guilty of the sort of arrogance and poor judgment that cause many voters to hold him and his colleagues in such low esteem. Stevens is charged with seven felony counts for allegedly covering up about $250,000 in gifts and other freebies from favor-seeking friends, which prosecutors said he failed to disclose on his Senate financial disclosure form. Some of the trial revolved around whether a friend whose oil services company allegedly benefited from Stevens’ Senate power deliberately under-billed the senator for renovating Stevens’ chalet in Girdwood, Alaska. Prosecutors said Stevens knew the work was worth much more than the roughly $160,000 the senator and his wife paid. If that was murky at times, some of the other evidence seemed clearer: a series of gifts Stevens received from this man and others but never disclosed, including furniture, a sled dog, a sculpture and an expensive gas grill. Stevens’ explanations strained credulity. For example, he insisted he never disclosed a $2,700 Brookstone massage chair he received from one man because he considered it a loan, not a gift. Right. He was given the chair in 2001 and still had it in his home seven years later. Stevens Prosecuted Under Law He Helped WriteSen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) is being prosecuted under a provision of law that he helped rewrite in 1996 to reinstate the Justice Department’s ability to bring charges against people who make false statements to Congress. Stevens corruption case goes to jurySen. Ted Stevens’ fate is now in the hands of jurors. “The case is yours,” U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan told them Wednesday. Sen. Stevens corruption case in hands of jurorsSen. Ted Stevens’ fate is in the hands of a jury. And the outcome of one of the tightest and most closely watched Senate races in the nation may hang in the balance. “The case is yours,” U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan told the eight women and four men shortly before noon Wednesday. Stevens, 84, is charged with lying on Senate financial disclosure forms about $250,000 in home renovations and other gifts he received from his friend, millionaire oil contractor Bill Allen. Arrogance of powerBOTTOM LINE: There’s trouble ahead for Ted Stevens, now that it’s clear his wife repeatedly used Senate staff for personal business. Sen. Stevens pilloried as corruption trial wrapsThis was one critical debate he could only sit and listen to. Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator and a legendary power broker on Capitol Hill, could do nothing but slump low in his chair Tuesday as prosecutors mocked him as crooked and two-faced. “This case has been a long time coming,” prosecutor Brenda Morris said in the closing minutes of Stevens’ corruption trial. “This trial has exposed the truth about one of the longest-sitting senators.” Prosecutors: Stevens guilt is ‘common sense’Federal prosecutors appealed to jurors today to summon up their common sense and find Sen. Ted Stevens guilty of seven counts of deliberately hiding thousands of dollars of gifts, services and benefits on his annual disclosure forms. Look beyond his title of senator, said Brenda Morris, the lead Justice Department prosecutor on the case, as she concluded the government’s closing arguments in the case. “I ask you to do something that very few people have done,” Morris said. “Stand up to him. Behind all that growling, and all those snappy comebacks and that righteous indignation, he’s just a man. He should stand up and take responsibility like everyone who comes into the courtroom. Make him responsible.” The Fact That Was Never Disputed – VECO Built Stevens’ Girdwood ChaletStevens rationalized that it was absolutely fine to have VECO remodel his home. He concluded he had done nothing wrong to the point that he never bothered to dispute that his home was in fact renovated by VECO. The undeniable fact to come out of Stevens’ corruption case is that VECO rebuilt Stevens home, and that in itself is enough for Alaska voters to retire Stevens. Lawyers spar over Stevens at corruption trialProsecutors accused Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens on Tuesday of “believing he was above the law” when he failed to report extravagant gifts while defense lawyers said the government skewed skimpy evidence to try and convict an honest man who was too trusting of a crooked friend. Friend: Stevens ‘gets hysterical’ at spending own moneyA recorded phone call from one of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens’ longtime friends kicked off the prosecution’s closing arguments Tuesday in the Alaska lawmaker’s corruption trial. “Ted gets hysterical when he has to spend his own money,” Bob Persons told a mutual friend in the recording, which was played for jurors by Joe Bottini, the assistant U.S. attorney for Alaska. Sen. Ted Stevens covered up gift-taking, prosecutor saysSen. Ted Stevens repeatedly turned to oilman Bill J. Allen for items he wanted, from a generator to a new bed for his wife, because “the price is always right when you know it is free,” a government attorney asserted today. Prosecutor Joseph Bottini, in a closing statement to the jury at Stevens’ corruption trial, said that the Alsaka Republican repeatedly made up false stories to cover up the things of value he got from Allen, once head of the state’s largest private employer, because he knew that public disclosure of the items would be embarrassing and possibly damaging to him. “Ted Stevens had a good friend, and his name was Bill Allen,” Bottini said. “He knew Bill Allen would give . . . and he was perfectly willing to receive.” Prosecutors scoff at Ted Stevens’ defenseProsecutors ridiculed Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens on Tuesday, closing their corruption case by dismissing as “nonsense” his efforts to explain away hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts. Prosecutor Joseph Bottini told jurors that Stevens surrounded himself with wealthy, generous friends who could be counted on to give gifts and who could be trusted to keep it quiet. Taking the Witness Chair, but Not Owning ItTed Stevens has sat on many things during his 40 years in the Senate. The 84-year-old Alaskan has had a seat on the commerce committee longer than any Republican in history, he boasted during his trial on corruption-related charges. He also sat on the Senate committees on appropriations, rules, governmental affairs and ethics — in the chairman’s seat, no less. As the former Senate president pro tempore, he sat frequently in the presiding officer’s chair. And Stevens, the longest-sitting Republican in the Senate, often rests his haunches at his center-aisle desk on the Senate floor. But what got Stevens in trouble was another seat he chose to occupy: a $2,695 vibrating Shiatsu massage lounger from Brookstone. And that has set up perhaps the cruelest irony in the whole sad Stevens trial: The chairman is in danger of being unseated by a chair. MEMO: Stevens: We Have Lots Of Things In Our House That Don’t Belong To UsSenator Ted Stevens told Alaskans and the jury today that he has lots of things in his home that don’t belong to him. Stevens explained that gifts would violate the Senate Ethics Manual, but it was okay if it was just a loan. Apparently Stevens hasn’t read the manual in awhile, because it specifically references that loans are considered gifts. “Rule states: [T]he term ‘gift’ means any gratuity, favor, discount, entertainment, hospitality, loan, forbearance, or other item having monetary value.” Testimony ends in Sen. Ted Stevens corruption trialTestimony in the corruption trial of Sen. Ted Stevens concluded today, with a Justice Department attorney trying to undermine the credibility of the Alaska Republican by questioning why he didn’t return items of value that friends had left at his homes in Washington and Alaska. Sen. Stevens may have misused staffSen. Ted Stevens admitted during his corruption trial that he used his Senate staff for personal duties, a possible violation of ethics rules according to experts. During his trial, Stevens and his wife Catherine admitted under oath that one of his aides coordinated the couple’s finances, paid their bills and helped monitor the home remodeling project central to the charges against him. Sen. Stevens Has ‘Senior Moment’ On StandWhen Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens first took the witness stand, it was with his familiar vigor and spunk, telling the judge in a firm voice it would be “a privilege and a duty” to testify. He then crisply recounted what supporters see as a personal history unparalleled in politics. But later, in the midst of often arduous testimony about possible corruption, there was what his detractors might call a senior moment: “I can’t read my own writing,” Stevens mumbled as he struggled to read aloud a note he’d written to a friend. Alaska Sen. Stevens testifies gifts appeared unsolicited, unwantedSome people worry, when they’ve been away from home, that they might return to find something missing. Sen. Ted Stevens described a different problem. Time and again, he testified Friday, he returned home to find something new and expensive. MEMO: A Gift Is A Gift, Whether You Like It Or NotThe case against Senator Ted Stevens is simple and straightforward – he knowingly received gifts from VECO, never paid for them, and refused to disclose them. But, let’s for a second buy into Stevens’ claim that they didn’t like or want what they received from VECO. The thing with gifts is, you don’t always like them. A gift is a gift, whether you like it or not. People return gifts all the time, or re-gift, or throw away, or hide it in the garage and hope whoever gave it never asks about it again. However, when it comes to elected officials, there are clear and explicit rules about what is and is not a gift, and how to disclose them. These rules are not dependent on liking or wanting the gift. Like many of us, Stevens and his wife Catherine may have received some gifts they didn’t particularly like or necessarily want. But as a Senator, Stevens was still required to report every single gift he received every single year. Testimony gets testy when Stevens is cross-examinedTed Stevens has long been known in the Senate as quick to anger and unwise to provoke. So it was barely 20 seconds into his cross-examination on Friday when he and a federal prosecutor found themselves engaged in a fierce confrontation in the courtroom. Stevens faces challenge to win caseIf he’s going to walk, Ted Stevens needs the jury to embrace two contradictory ideas as his corruption trial wraps up early next week. First, he needs the jurors to believe he constantly requested invoices and bills for the renovations of his now infamous Alaskan chalet, even citing Senate rules when doing so. Stevens testified that he’s so fastidious about Senate ethics that he always pays for his own lunch, even with friends. At the same time, Stevens needs jurors to believe that he had nothing to do with money in his house – that he never wrote the checks and left such duties to his wife. Stevens portrayed himself as so removed from the situation back home that he was surprised to find an extra porch and a steel staircase added to his house – and that he had no idea how a large, stainless steel gas grill came to be on his deck. Stevens Gets Hot Under Cross ExaminationTed Stevens is getting flustered now that the prosecution has started drilling him with questions. The Fall GirlCatherine Stevens had much to be unhappy about as she took the stand yesterday at the corruption trial of her husband, Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska. |
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