Ted Stevens - Out in the Cold - nice read

[malaise]

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-carey1-2008aug01,0,3097407.story
<snip>
The FBI raided the Girdwood home of Alaska's senior senator last summer. His colleague, Rep. Don Young, is under investigation. The senator's son, former state Sen. Ben Stevens, is under investigation. A gaggle of state legislators, lobbyists and businessmen have been arrested and either pleaded guilty to corruption or been convicted at trial.

So the fitting room for new prison suits is crowded, and Alaskans are wondering if the 84-year-old Stevens, whom constituents had taken to calling "senator for life," will be joining those getting measured.

That doesn't mean he won't win the GOP primary. His six opponents are little known, and after all, Ted Stevens is a living legend.

Outside -- as Alaskans call the rest of the United States -- Stevens is known for supporting the "bridge to nowhere," calling the Internet "a series of tubes" and throwing tantrums on the Senate floor when he doesn't get his way. Here, he is known as the purveyor of endless federal financial largesse -- billions of dollars, not mere millions -- and for his role in shaping virtually every federal policy affecting his state for the last four decades. In Alaska, his fingerprints are like the snow in winter -- everywhere. His ability to deliver for his constituents has made him so popular that he has not had a serious election challenge since the early 1970s.

Another link - Oh Poor You-Ted Stevens, shakedown artist
http://www.cmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080803/OPINION/808030345/1028/OPINION02

<snip>
As fans of the fabled HBO series know, Tony Soprano - head of the North Jersey mob, a man who raked in large sums of money from almost every racketeering enterprise imaginable - was greedy. He couldn't resist cutting himself in on every venal scheme his underlings concocted. Time after time, his rapacity came close to bringing him down.

Tony's arrogant sense of entitlement came to mind last week, when news broke of the federal indictment on corruption charges of Ted Stevens, Alaska's senior senator. Like Tony, "Uncle Ted," as he is called in his home state, has presided over a huge financial enterprise. Tony ran a ruthless crime family. Ted systematically plundered the national treasury to bring goodies back to his constituents.

In Tony's case, his cheapskate attempt to save a few bucks by giving his mother stolen airline tickets brought the feds to his door. In Ted's case, it was his acceptance of a gas grill, among other things, that caught the attention of the FBI. The grill was among more than $250,000 worth of unreported "gifts" to Stevens from VECO, an oil company that, the indictment says, was soliciting Stevens "knowing that Stevens could and did use his official position and office on behalf of VECO."

For most Americans, if they had heard of Stevens at all, he was that cranky old coot who once took to the Senate floor to explain that the internet was "not a big truck" but rather "a series of tubes" that could get jammed up. More recently, he became an object of scorn for his foiled attempt to stick the nation's taxpayers with the bill for the fabled "bridge to nowhere" - a $400 million span from the Alaskan mainland to a tiny island with a population of 50.

[KharmaTrain]

1. Is Ben Still Out On The Bait Boat?

So they indict dad but not his kid? Or have I missed that part? I remember after Ben's office was raided, he headed off on some boat...a political version of "the Greatest Catch"..for something like 6 months. We haven't heard from him since...

Gives a whole different meaning to "sleeping with the fishes" :rofl:

:hi:

[malaise]

2. Ben is probably fishing with Ken Lay

somewhere over the rainbow. :hi: