Free Republic

I am going to start off with saying you can judge a man’s character by his past and the friends he keeps or kept. And when you look at both Senator Begich’s past and who his friends were, no one should be surprised with the new revelations on Anchorage’s budget deficit and how then Mayor Begich left out some important information when it came to signing union contracts that cost Anchorage taxpayers more money. When Begich ran against Ted Stevens for the U.S. Senate seat, Begich saw an opportunity because Senator Stevens was under investigation for not properly filing campaign...

WASHINGTON -- The head of the Alaska Republican Party today called on Sen. Mark Begich to step down from the U.S. Senate, saying that the state's voters would have re-elected former Sen. Ted Stevens had they known the U.S Department of Justice would abandon its prosecution of him. The party chairman, Randy Ruedrich, said that the only reason Begich won his race was because "a few thousand Alaskans thought that Senator Stevens was guilty of seven felonies." He added that he thought Begich should step down "so Alaskans may have the chance to vote for a senator without the improper...

Last fall, the senior Senator from Alaska was the poster octogenarian for political corruption. As of yesterday, Ted Stevens is merely another casualty of abusive prosecutors out to make a name for themselves. The Justice Department yesterday moved to set aside an October conviction on ethics charges and forgo any future trials for Senator Stevens. He walks free, in other words, an innocent man. In the motion, Justice said it "recently discovered" that prosecutors withheld from the defense notes about an interview last April with the state's star witness, Bill Allen, that contradicted his subsequent testimony. Under the Brady Rule...

Anchorage, Alaska (AP) -- Alaska's incoming senator is bullish on gun rights, wants to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling and believes less government is better. And he's a Democrat. But "definitely different than a New York Democrat," says Mark Begich. "I'm from Alaska." Begich, the 46-year-old, two-term Anchorage mayor, will take office in January after narrowly defeating 85-year-old Ted Stevens, the longest serving Republican in the history of the Senate. Part of Stevens' undoing in his bid for a seventh term was his conviction on federal felony charges last month. With Republican Gov. Sarah...