They just came on the local NBC news and said Senator Ted Stevens-Alaska has been indicted on corruption charges. Is this news? I just got home from work so no idea if this has been talked about earlier on news programs.

Its actually pretty crazy, $250k plus in kickbacks from an oil company in exchange for supporting their desires to drill in Alaska. No one's surprised he did it, the charges being brought however are pretty significant. Long and short, Stevens just lost his seat. He probably won't even win the primary.

And surprisingly good news that a Republican administration in the Justice Department would pursue this now just months before the election. After Gonzales was replaced with Mukasey, and after all the horrible press the political bias in their hirings/firings the Justice Department enacted under Alberto, it seems they aren't quite the puppets they once were.

Didn't he invent the series of tubes that big corporations want to use to save us money?

Bridge to nowhere, FTW!!!

Good riddance.

Part of this was that Veco, the company that was maintaining the Alaska oil pipeline was the company that was "remodeling" Stevens (http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/s000888/)' house. Agents from the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service raided the Alaska home of Sen. Ted Stevens (R) [July 30, 2007] as part of a broad federal investigation of political corruption in the state that has also swept up his son and one of his closest financial backers, officials said.

Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator in history, is under scrutiny from the Justice Department for his ties to an Alaska energy services company, Veco, whose chief executive pleaded guilty in early May to a bribery scheme involving state lawmakers.

Contractors have told a federal grand jury that in 2000, Veco executives oversaw a lavish remodeling of Stevens's house in Girdwood, an exclusive ski resort area 40 miles from Anchorage, according to statements by the contractors. Source (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/30/AR2007073001427.html?hpid=topnews)
The "remodeling" more than doubled the size of his vacation home. At one point, Veco employees and contractors jacked up the senator's mountainside house on stilts and added a new first floor, with two bedrooms and a bathroom, the indictment says. Source (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/07/29/ST2008072901414.html)
One wag commenting on this claimed "they were looking for oil, and since oil could be anywhere in Alaska, they had to lift up the fine Senator's house to look under it, so they put a new floor in there to make it easier to look again next time."

Some reading material:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/003323.php
http://www2.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2007/0711.homans.html
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2005/0507.wallace-wells1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VECO_Corporation


Veco ended up being bought out by CH2M HILL (http://www.ch2m.com/corporate/markets/energy/veco.asp) last fall. The bribery plea bargains that the officers of Veco plead guilty to effectively ended their ability to operate as a company, and I think that CH2M HILL was more than generous in their acquisition of the company. As part of the plea bargain, the ex-CEO of Veco stated: "Veco was not in the business of residential construction or remodeling."

As someone who is currently running for election this November, and who is familiar with the paperwork that Stevens lied (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/29/AR2008072902107.html) on, I have zero sympathy for the bastard. Hang him. Hang him high.

As someone who is currently running for election this November

Interesting, what public office?

As an aside, Smidgit, will I see you at the Convention? I'm headed up shortly to start setting up.

It is a non-partisan office, so I can't say that I'm the X candidate (where X is a political party). I'll mention after the election what office it is (or if my petition to get on the ballot gets tossed - and I'll find out in a week if that's the case).

Nothing personal guys, but if one looks at the unofficial list (http://www.elections.colorado.gov/WWW/default/Candidates/2008_GENERAL_ELECTION_CANDIDATE_LIST.pdf) (which may get whittled down in 2 weeks) of who is running for election in CO this November, then one can narrow it down to a very small number of folks. Like small enough that one might try calling them in an afternoon. Especially since all the candidate filings are available on the web - including phone numbers. I try not to post anything that I'd be embarassed to see on TV or in the newspaper, still, you'll have to forgive me if I am a little skittish at this time. There are some royal asstards on the web.

At the caucus in Feb, I could have been elected as a delegate, but I felt it could be seen as a conflict of interest to be a (partisan) delegate while running for a non-partisan office. Looking over the delegate list, I don't see any of my competitors, so it looks like they made the same decision.

The only convention I want to go to see this year is this one: http://www.denver2008.com/ One of my favorite authors (http://www.denver2008.com/goh/gohlmb.php) is going to be there. For the DNC convention, they're going to be shutting down just about every place within 1/2 mile of the Pepsi Center and Denver Convention center - which means that downtown Denver is shut down for more than a week. All I can think of are those people who work downtown who will be screwed out of working for a week (lots of stores, bars and restaurants will be closed as well as a large university campus). These aren't the sort of jobs that one can do via telecommuting, and most don't have paid vacation at all (can you afford to lose a week's pay?). The bus routes that go through downtown (most of them) will be screwed up and since the light rail (http://www.rtd-denver.com/LightRail/lrmap.htm) goes alongside the Pepsi Center and underneath the Convention Center, the light rail has to stop several stations south (10th and Osage, but if you've never been to Denver before, go to the restaurant (http://www.buckhornexchange.com/) at that station because it is quite unique - hey, liquor license #1). I guess this is a long way of saying "no, I won't see you there."

I'll be there a week before the convention even starts to set up, I'm off to Minneapolis to set up there and they put the conventions so close together I don't even get to stay for a bit of it.

Denver is shut down for more than a week. All I can think of are those people who work downtown who will be screwed out of working for a week (lots of stores, bars and restaurants will be closed as well as a large university campus). These aren't the sort of jobs that one can do via telecommuting, and most don't have paid vacation at all (can you afford to lose a week's pay?).

But I thought the Democrats were for the "little guy"?

I try not to post anything that I'd be embarassed to see on TV or in the newspaper, still, you'll have to forgive me if I am a little skittish at this time. There are some royal asstards on the web. Very wise. And I see you've met my family. I try to be careful of what I say, and I'm just a lowly educator. I don't think I want any of the parents of my students reading this forum.

Those are some, um, interesting parties listed in that there link.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25951568/

Not surprising...

Stevens wore a cream colored suit and a U.S. flag pin

No way he's guilty! he wears a flag pin! nothing short of an American hero!!

Kidding aside. i hope the Judge is smart enough not to grant the change of venue. meet him half-way instead an move the trial to San Fransico's federal court :D

One of our managers had to leave town early (her office is several states away) as all the hotels in the metro area are gouging heavily - her room rate was going to shoot up from $120/nite to $600/nite starting this weekend and all the hotels in the area are booked solid until the end of the month. Our office is located about 15 miles away from downtown.

As for that list of parties, yeah, prohibitionist party, one would have thought that Carrie Nation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_Nation)'s Zombie Horde would have died off with the repeal of Prohibition (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-first_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution) .

Heartquake '08 and Boston Tea Party caught my eye over that.