Complaint Asks for Probe of Sen. Stevens (R-Alaska)

[UpInArms]

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/7143922.htm

WASHINGTON - A private group requested an expanded ethics probe Wednesday of Sen. Ted Stevens for his legislative assistance to Boeing on the grounds that the senator's wife works for a law firm that represents the aviation company.

Catherine Ann Stevens joined the law firm of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw early in 2001, shortly before the senator publicly began supporting the Air Force's proposal to lease Boeing 767s. The law firm has represented Boeing in court cases and has been a registered lobbyist for a coalition of companies of which Boeing was a member.

Earlier this week, the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington asked the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate Stevens for accepting $21,900 in campaign donations from Boeing shortly before he inserted a provision in a defense appropriations bill to allow the Air Force to lease 100 Boeing 767s. The deal would have been worth more than $20 billion. At the time, Stevens, R-Alaska, was the ranking minority member on the Senate Appropriations Committee. The watchdog group is now adding the information about Mrs. Stevens to its complaint.

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[roguevalley]

1. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!

First, they want to recall murkowski for ethical concerns and now Senator Ted is being targeted with the trophy wife. What next?
Congressman-For-Life Don Young? Can we actually be that lucky????

[bluestateguy]

2. reply

We need to go back to the old days when private citizens could file complaints before congressional ethics committees. Republicans put the kibosh on that when they took over the Congress. I also favor allowing time each day for private citizens to speak on the floor of the House of Representatives.

[meow2u3]

5. Another thing I might want to add

We should also bar paid lobbyists from contacting Congress, criminalizing any contact as attempted bribery, unless the congresscritter actually does take money from lobbyists, in which the crime shall be bribery.

[cosmicdot]

3. I'm over the cronyism

[Oilwellian]

4. Oh my....

Have you ever listened to this man speak on the Senate floor? I remember recently, while the Senate was discussing the $87 billion Bill for Iraq, it was exposed that millions within the Bill were designated for Alaska to install underground electrical wires. Stevens got up to the podium and defended the action. You could hear a commotion in the background, Stevens became quite flustered during his explanation, and suddenly just walked away in midsentence. It was a rare glimpse of a pig at the trough, caught in the spotlight.