Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Say goodbye to the longest serving Republican Senator!

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Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens, who has served since 1968, has just been indicted by a federal grand jury on seven counts of falsely reporting income. The charges relate to renovations to his home and to gifts he has allegedly received from Veco Corporation.

(NOTE: And yes, Sen. Stevens is the one who made the statement, “The Internet is not something you just dump something on. It’s not a truck. It’s a series of tubes,” during a June 28 committee session.

Stevens is also known for trying to fund the now famous “highway to nowhere”.)

And guess what?  It’s an election year! Mark Begich, a popular Democratic mayor of Anchorage, is running against Stevens.  Even before this scandal came to light, polling last week showed Begich ahead by 9 points.

While it is possible that Stevens may not be chosen as the Republican nominee, Begich is in great shape to face whomever the Republican Party throws at him.

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Comments

  1. Begich is in the mold of Schweitzer and Ritter, presenting the Democratic Party and its core beliefs in language that cuts through the Republican spin.  Begich is a stand-up guy and my favorite candidate this cycle…help him out here.

    • I forgot to add an actblue link.  Thanks.

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      p>Also, just fyi, no Democrat has won a senate seat in Alaska since 1974!  

      • It’s true that Alaska has had Stevens as one Senator since 1968 and the Murkowskis (father and then daughter) for the other Senate seat since 1981.  

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        p>But, before that Alaska was ably represented by Senator “Mike” Gravel from 1968-1981. Born and raised here in our very own Springfield, MA, Gravel was an excellent Senator known most for his work to end the Vietnam War and for exposing the Pentagon Papers.

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        p>Alaska’s also had Republican Don Young as their State Rep since 1973 but it has had a number of Democratic Governors in the 1980s and 1990s.  And Begich himself is the son of the Congressman before Young.  The elder Begich was seen as likely to win re-election before his airplane disappeared in the Gulf of Alaska during his 1972 re-election bid.

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        p>I guess my point is that there is a Democratic (big D) tradition in Alaska that could still be revived now that Stevens appears to be finally done. And that Mayor Begich seems like the perfect candidate to do just that.

  2. Ted “Tubes” Stevens is most notorious, it seems, for his clumsy, comical description of the Internet, but he’s racked up some other whoppers in the past few years, such as his fight to preserve a >$200 million earmark for a bridge to benefit 50 people (the “bridge to nowhere”).  Unfortunately, I think what is probably his worst moment of this decade (or at least, the worst of his better-documented moments) has not received enough attention.

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    p>In 2005, a group of oil industry executives testified before the Senate’s Energy Committee.  I’ll let a Washington Post column describe the incident:

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    p>

    From the start, the ferocity of the questioning seemed to come in inverse proportion to the amount of industry funds a questioner had received.

    When Energy Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska, $102,190) announced that he would not require the executives to give their testimony under oath, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash., $9,400) asked for a vote on the issue. Stevens shot back: “There will be no vote . . . It’s the decision of the chairman, and I have made that decision.”

    “I move that we swear in witnesses,” Cantwell persisted.

    “I second the motion,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif., $9,450).

    “That’s the last we’re going to hear about that, because it’s out of order,” a piqued Stevens replied. When the two women continued their protest, the chairman informed them that “I intend to be respectful of the position that these gentlemen hold.”

    Stevens did not fail in this goal. When Boxer later displayed a large chart showing the executives’ pay, Stevens cut her off.

    “We’ll stop the clock right here for you, Senator,” Stevens said, ordering the chart taken down because it was not “information that pertains to our issue.”

    From the audience, a woman called out: “How about the consumers?” When the same woman later let out a cheer, Stevens threatened to “clear the room.”

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    p>P.S. Nice job Dana Milbank, connecting the dollars to the quotations like that.  I wish more news articles tried that from time to time, when it seems relevant.

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