Sandy Beach and the 2008 Democratic Picnic.
A drippy weekend. But that has never stopped the annual Democratic Picnic at Sandy Beach. The 2008 event was well attended with the usual appearances by current or wannabe pols. I arrived just as the bloviating was winding down; but did catch most of Anchorage Mayor and Senatorial candidate Mark Begich's stump speech.
Anchorage Mayor and U.S. Senate Candidate Mark Begich. He's ahead of Uncle Ted in the latest polls.
The kids outside were having much more fun than the adults inside... It even stopped raining for a few minutes.
I do not want to turn this into a political blog. Nevertheless, the current political situation in Alaska is too interesting to ignore. The last several years have shown some interest on the part of the electorate to make some changes - the election of Governor Sarah Palin being the most concrete indication.
And despite the Governor’s recent foibles regarding the questionable dismissal of her Commissioner of Public Safety for his failure to sack a State Trooper who happens to also be the estranged ex-husband of her sister - her Non-Republican Establishment credentials, and, in some circles at least, her credentials as a genuine reformer appear to be intact. Time will tell on the public safety kerfuffle – the Legislature has appointed a special investigator to look into the matter.
More interesting are the two Congressional races featuring our now nationally infamous long serving lone House member, Don Young, and Senator “Uncle” Ted Stevens. I will get back to Don at a future date and will confine today’s comments to Uncle Ted.
If you are unaware of Uncle Ted’s legal difficulties – he was indicted by the feds for failure to disclose certain benefits as required by law on his financial disclosure forms - the whole sordid mess is well described in the Anchorage Daily News at: http://www.adn.com/news/politics/fbi/stevens/
A small part of me actually feels sorry for the sad bastard (he’s now REALLY old). If only he had possessed the presence of mind to retire a couple of terms ago his legacy, in the Alaskan public’s mind at least, would have remained a positive one – whether deserved or not. But no, he has held on and is now apparently totally divorced from reality as you and I know it.
Perhaps this Senatorial dementia is inevitable for someone who has served in D.C. for fifty years. Lord knows his former Senate colleague, and now also former Governor, Frank Murkowski, was completely addled and never recognized it. I’m certain that Murkowski still does not have a clue why Alaskans recoiled at his arrogance once he returned to Alaska to become Governor and we got to catch his act up-close and personal – his insistence on a private jet being one relatively trivial example.
The Fed’s central claim is that Uncle Ted got his house in Girdwood remodeled largely the courtesy of an Alaskan oil services company, Veco. Some items were billed and paid for; but apparently most of Veco’s work was not – to the tune of a quarter of a million or so. While Ted has refused to talk to the press about any of this, he adamantly maintains that he paid all the bills that were sent to him. In other words, it’s the Senatorial equivalent of “the dog ate my homework” defense. He just didn’t notice that he got four hundred grand or so worth of improvements for about one hundred twenty thousand - notwithstanding the fact he and his wife chatted with the Veco folks about the work in great detail on many occasions. Right down to the level of the big built-in BBQ grill.
I don’t think pleading ignorance will fly with a jury in D.C. or even in Alaska – barring his immediate resignation from the Senate and incontrovertible medical evidence that he truly is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia. But since he wants to go to trial before the election, which he vows to hotly contest, it appears that a diminished capacity defense is unlikely.
Regardless, Uncle’s legal team is of the first cut and caliber and they are busy filing motions for a change of venue (to Alaska), asserting that it’s none of the FBI’s damn business (separation of powers), and God knows what else. It’s what they get paid to do.
All of which ignores the obvious to my mind – relative to the upcoming election at least. To whit: Ted Stevens is as fit to serve as a U.S. Senator as your run-of-the-mill neighborhood crack whore. Even if he avoids conviction, which I doubt, there is more than ample evidence of financial jiggery-pokery in the public record, not even disputed by him or any of his surrogates, to discredit him from ever serving in ANY public office.
Coming on Wednesday – Uncle Ted’s apologists – and why their arguments are silly.
And despite the Governor’s recent foibles regarding the questionable dismissal of her Commissioner of Public Safety for his failure to sack a State Trooper who happens to also be the estranged ex-husband of her sister - her Non-Republican Establishment credentials, and, in some circles at least, her credentials as a genuine reformer appear to be intact. Time will tell on the public safety kerfuffle – the Legislature has appointed a special investigator to look into the matter.
More interesting are the two Congressional races featuring our now nationally infamous long serving lone House member, Don Young, and Senator “Uncle” Ted Stevens. I will get back to Don at a future date and will confine today’s comments to Uncle Ted.
If you are unaware of Uncle Ted’s legal difficulties – he was indicted by the feds for failure to disclose certain benefits as required by law on his financial disclosure forms - the whole sordid mess is well described in the Anchorage Daily News at: http://www.adn.com/news/politics/fbi/stevens/
A small part of me actually feels sorry for the sad bastard (he’s now REALLY old). If only he had possessed the presence of mind to retire a couple of terms ago his legacy, in the Alaskan public’s mind at least, would have remained a positive one – whether deserved or not. But no, he has held on and is now apparently totally divorced from reality as you and I know it.
Perhaps this Senatorial dementia is inevitable for someone who has served in D.C. for fifty years. Lord knows his former Senate colleague, and now also former Governor, Frank Murkowski, was completely addled and never recognized it. I’m certain that Murkowski still does not have a clue why Alaskans recoiled at his arrogance once he returned to Alaska to become Governor and we got to catch his act up-close and personal – his insistence on a private jet being one relatively trivial example.
The Fed’s central claim is that Uncle Ted got his house in Girdwood remodeled largely the courtesy of an Alaskan oil services company, Veco. Some items were billed and paid for; but apparently most of Veco’s work was not – to the tune of a quarter of a million or so. While Ted has refused to talk to the press about any of this, he adamantly maintains that he paid all the bills that were sent to him. In other words, it’s the Senatorial equivalent of “the dog ate my homework” defense. He just didn’t notice that he got four hundred grand or so worth of improvements for about one hundred twenty thousand - notwithstanding the fact he and his wife chatted with the Veco folks about the work in great detail on many occasions. Right down to the level of the big built-in BBQ grill.
I don’t think pleading ignorance will fly with a jury in D.C. or even in Alaska – barring his immediate resignation from the Senate and incontrovertible medical evidence that he truly is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia. But since he wants to go to trial before the election, which he vows to hotly contest, it appears that a diminished capacity defense is unlikely.
Regardless, Uncle’s legal team is of the first cut and caliber and they are busy filing motions for a change of venue (to Alaska), asserting that it’s none of the FBI’s damn business (separation of powers), and God knows what else. It’s what they get paid to do.
All of which ignores the obvious to my mind – relative to the upcoming election at least. To whit: Ted Stevens is as fit to serve as a U.S. Senator as your run-of-the-mill neighborhood crack whore. Even if he avoids conviction, which I doubt, there is more than ample evidence of financial jiggery-pokery in the public record, not even disputed by him or any of his surrogates, to discredit him from ever serving in ANY public office.
Coming on Wednesday – Uncle Ted’s apologists – and why their arguments are silly.
1 comment:
On behalf of the crack whores, who are all busy now and cannot come to the blog, I want to protest the comparison of them with that low-life.
Post a Comment