What Do YOU Think?
The US Attorney General has decided to drop all charges against Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, who lost his campaign for re-election last year after being convicted of lying on financial disclosure forms.
Stevens was convicted in October of falsifying Senate disclosure forms to conceal $250,000 in gifts he allegedly received from an oil company executive and other friends. According to FOXNews.com, allegations of FBI and prosecutorial misconduct surfaced after the conviction, forcing Attorney Gen. Eric Holder to make a tough decision.
According to Steven's lawyers, prosecutors questioned witnesses without notifying the defense team and hid evidence they say proved their client's "innocence."
In a statement released this morning, Holder announced that the "totality of the circumstances" convinced him that dropping the case against Stevens was "in the interests of justice."
Stevens was beat in November by Democrat Mark Begich, who released a statement saying Alaskans should put the matter behind them.
However, Alaska's other Senator, Republican Lisa Murkowski, wasn't so willing to dismiss the implications of an unlawful conviction that effectively ended the 40-year career of a US Senator.
"I am deeply disturbed that the government can ruin a man's career and then say 'never mind,'" Murkowski said.
Perhaps the story of Sen. Stevens' conviction will prompt Washington to review similar cases in which over-zealous prosecutors bring charges at politically convenient times simply to sully the reputation of a candidates seeking office. Stevens' tale is unfortunately not unique, although rarely do these kinds of situations happen at the federal level. Typically, when a candidate is pursued criminally for political purposes, it happens at the state and local level.
Should Congress enact a law to deal with wrongly-convicted candidates who lose elections as a result of the bad publicity surrounding their cases? What, if anything, should be done to prevent future problems along these lines?
Use the "comments" link at the bottom of this page to offer your opinion.
Comments
What a crock. He is as crooked as a dogs hind leg. Just because the DOJ prosecutors screwed up doesn’t mean he’s innocent. And now he and that Alaskan barbie doll are making all kinds of noise like he’s the second coming of JC. If Congress had any integrity at all they would have investigated him and thrown him out of Congress but thats like criminals trying criminals. Loved his defense on being questioned about all those improvements that cost thousands of dollar from oil interests “I paid all the bills they gave me”. Same ole same, “The rich get richer and the middle man gets screwed.”
Its somewhat hard to suggest that Stevens was prosecuted for political purposes when it was his own party in charge of the DOJ at the time of his trial and conviction. The prosecutors had some evidence that a crime had been committed, but then they took it upon themselves to create a set of evidence that showed guilt when the real and full evidence left plenty of room for reasonable doubt.
It unfortunate that a man lost his senate career over this, but there are many more who lose much more (including their life) due to over zealous prosecutors. Hopefully Stevens will use his remaining years to fight on behalf of those wrongly prosecuted.
Just because they dropped the case, DOES NOT mean he was innocent. He should be thankful that he escaped through the bumblings of the prosecutor.
This guy should be put in jail for a LOOONG time. What business does ANY oil company have paying the Senator anyway?
I believe that a Republican administration was in power when Stevens was indicted and the trial was conducted. The same administration that went after the Border Patrol folks and left out the facts that the “victim” got a free pass who kept smuggling after the incident. Uncle Ted got off because of a prosecutors dumb (maybe criminal) errors, not because he didn’t take the gifts. I think this is what happens when an idiot pal instead of a competent person runs the DOJ. Hopefully under all following Repub or Dem administrations, this will cease and everybody will get fair justice, including Ted.
Mark Begich should do the right thing, step aside and let Sarah Palin appoint Stevens to the vacant senate seat.
While I cannot condone the prosecutor’s conduct in this case, I hardly think that a statement from Bill Allen in which he contradicts his court testimony proves Stevens innocent, as you claim. Further, I have seen no evidence to support the claim that Stevens lost the election due to his conviction. While this may have been a factor in peoples minds when voting, the fact is that a majority of Americans voted for change. After decades in the Senate, voting Stevens out is the very definition of change.
I seem to recall conservatives calling Al Gore a “sore loser” when he sought legal redress for the election grab made by the Bussh camp. Isn’t it fair to call Stevens a sore loser now? And what about Norm Coleman? Sore loser? Or is it only applicable to Democrats.
The reports on this are pretty much lacking in detail.. What exactly did the prosecutors do wrong? What are the chances of Stevens being re-tried elsewhere? As we know from so many news reports, just because someone gets off on a technicality, doesn’t mean he didn’t do the crime. Alaskans seems to be–so like Texans– hmmm.
Pehaps he just made an honest mistake like the majority of Obama’s cabinet members did comcerning their unpaid taxes.
Can Senator Stevens be retried?