Posted on 04/01/2009 9:09:53 AM PDT by VinL
Senators who served with Alaska Republican Ted Stevens, as well as the man who beat him last November, voiced relief at the Justice Department’s decision to throw out the case against him.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski , R-Alaska, said she was pleased the charges against her former colleague would be dropped, “but I am deeply disturbed that the government can ruin a man’s career and then say ‘never mind.’ There is nothing that will ever compensate for the loss of his reputation or leadership to the State of Alaska.”
Sen. Mark Begich of Alaska, the Democrat who narrowly defeated Stevens last November, said he agreed with the move by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to dismiss the case.
“The decision by President Obama’s Justice Department to end the prosecution of Senator Ted Stevens is reasonable,” Begich said. “I always said I didn’t think Senator Stevens should serve time in jail and hopefully this decision ensures that is the case. It’s time for Senator Stevens, his family and Alaskans to move on and put this behind us.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell , R-Ky., said Stevens and his family would be relieved by the deicsion. But he voiced some frustration that the case had cost his party a seat in an election that closely followed the jury’s Oct. 27, 2008, conviction.
“It was disappointing to lose the seat, no question about it,” McConnell said. “Also no question that if this decision had been made last year he’d still be in the Senate.”
Sen. Robert F. Bennett , R-Utah, said he was reminded of a comment that former Labor Secretary Roy Donovan made after he was acquitted in 1987 of corruption-related charges, Donovan famously asked, “Which office do I go to get my reputation back?”
“It was the same kind of a deal, something of a witch-hunt,” Bennett said. “I am delighted for Sen. Stevens and for his wife. I’m outraged that the Justice Department allowed rogue prosecutors to go down this road in the first place.
When asked what he made of the fact that the Democratic Obama administration sought to dismiss the charges, which were brought under the Republican Bush administration, Bennett responded, “I wonder why the previous attorney general wasn’t as smart as Mr. Holder.”
Sen. John McCain , R-Ariz., another longtime Stevens colleague, said, “This is great news for Sen. Stevens and his family.”
Specter, a former Philadelphia district attorney, raised the case, and the allegations of government misconduct, at the committee’s March 25 FBI oversight hearing.
“As a district attorney, I saw many young prosecutors cut corners looking for big targets, publicity, high profile cases, and the prosecutors have to be quasi-judicial and not do that, and that applies to the FBI agents,” Specter said.
FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III declined to address the allegations specifically at the March 25 hearing, because they were still being reviewed by the court and by the Justice Department. But he assured Specter that senior department officials sign off on such prosecutions.
“(In) a public corruption case, particularly a serious public corruption case, the decision whether or not to take action is overseen by a number of people at levels, whether it be the assistant attorney general in charge of the criminal division, the deputy attorney general, ultimately, the attorney general, to assure that the case is appropriately brought,” Mueller said.
The committee approved legislation (S 49) on March 12 aimed at bolstering the Justice Department’s ability to prosecute public corruption cases by lengthening the statute of limitations and increasing criminal penalties for some offenses. But Specter voiced concern about a section of the bill designed to toughen the illegal gratuities statute. Specter wants to add language to that section to require that the illegal gift was given by someone knowingly trying to break the law.
Come on, fess up, who fell for it? Nobody realy believed that the Washingtonians and the Senate Politburo were going to take down one of the 100 Uniparty members, right? -:)
Uncle Ted gets convicted and sings, he might take some statist Fellow Travelers down with him.
Conservative platform: 10th Amendment Movement; Repeal 17th Amendment; term limits- (voluntary or a constitutional).
Zell Miller on the effect of the 17th Amend.--“Direct elections of Senators … allowed Washington’s special interests to call the shots, whether it is filling judicial vacancies, passing laws, or issuing regulations.”
Vin
REPEAL THE 17th AMENDEMNT.
Contained rage and fury is all I can say about this story.
And that is what is driving this, rather than cronyism.
Exactly !!
The mission was accomplished, now they can back off before facts come to light that will show the Democrats, Chicago style, were behind this.
Prosecute the prosecution.
WTF? Is this satire or isn’t it?
Sordo, you know I have no quarrel with you. But I say with the deepest conviction - The United States Senate is a corrupted institution that is the principal source of our statist, totalitarian government. 100 oligarchs controling the country.
And, I am not one for hyperbole. -:)
Okay lets try to make some sense of this.
1. Republican senator gets caught with hand in cookie jar.
2. Republican justice departement files charges.
3. Democrat justice department drops charges.
Result:
1. Referenced senator is now a good guy because he got off on technicalities and praised Democrat AG.
2. Democrat justice department heralded for letting Republican off the hook....
No this doesn’t make ANY sense. Sorry.
It reminds me of the mess we have in our county, it seems that they picked on the wrong person and she’s going to take them all down with her and it is about time.
Stevens could probably has the good on the other 99 senators and what they wanted was what they accomplished and now they expect him to be grateful and keep his mouth shut.
AP has an hour old story saying the judge will throw out the case. Maybe they got snookered, too.
Unfortunately, too many of the general public are also still unaware of the ongoing April Fools joke of Barack Obama being a man of “change” and “hope” for the U.S.
Didn’t McCain tell him to resign last year? Anyway, this was Bush’s DOJ witch hunt wasn’t?
I thought this was an NPR April Fools joke.
>“It was disappointing to lose the seat, no question about it,” McConnell said. “Also no question that if this decision had been made last year he’d still be in the Senate.”<
the stupid party always figures out what happened after the evil party duped them.
1. Republican senator gets caught with hand in cookie jar.
2. Republican justice departement files charges.
3. Democrat justice department drops charges.
Result:
1. Referenced senator is now a good guy because he got off on technicalities and praised Democrat AG.
2. Democrat justice department heralded for letting Republican off the hook....
No this doesn’t make ANY sense. Sorry.
You left out the most important piece of the puzzle:
"Democrat squeaks by accused Republican in November election." After that, nothing else mattered to the Dems.....
Ted Stevens is guilty as sin. No technicality nor political affiliation will change that fact in the eyes of any honest citizen.
Praise the Lord- an honest soul. -:)
Follow the money.
If I remember correctly, someone on this forum said that this would happen as soon as the election was over and the Dems fully installed as head of the kingdom, Stevens’ case would be kicked to the curb.
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