Posts Tagged ‘Ted Stevens’

Justice at Justice?

August 18th, 2010 by John Feehery

Eric Holder, U.S. Attorney General

It has been a bad couple of weeks for the Justice Department.

Yesterday, Rod Blagojevich outfoxed U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and tied up a jury, escaping 23 out of 24 counts.

Earlier in the week, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay announced that he was no longer a target of a Justice Department investigation.

Last week, there was renewed scrutiny over a botched effort by the Public Integrity Section to convict former Senator Ted Stevens of corruption after he perished in a tragic plane accident.  In every obituary, there was further reminder of an almost comical effort to throw Stevens in jail by prosecutors who were so inept and so corrupt themselves that the Judge threw out the case and turned his attention on prosecuting the prosecutors.

It is hard to say if Fitzgerald’s case was inherently weak or if Blago’s public relations efforts were incredibly powerful.  But it is easy to see that Mr. Fitzgerald sees himself in overly dramatic terms as a latter day Eliot Ness, and that his case was too nakedly political and some say too rushed to get the Illinois governor really nailed to the wall.  Read more...

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Old School is Out Forever

August 13th, 2010 by John Feehery

Dan Rostenkowski, former Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee

This has been a bad year for old school politicians.

This week, in particular, has been devastating for those of us who have great affection for the political professionals of the past.

Ted Stevens died in a plane crash and a day later, Dan Rostenkowski, the former Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, died of natural causes.

Stevens and Rostenkowski were mirror images of one another.  Both were gruff, both were powerful, both were effective advocates for their constituents, and both counted close friends on either side of the political chasm.

And, of course, both ran afoul of a changing ethics landscape.

Stevens and Rostenkowski are only the latest of the old guard to die this year.  Robert Byrd, Jack Murtha, and Ted Kennedy, all legendary figures of the Congress also passed on to their greater reward.

These old school politicians not only represented a different era in the Congress.  They represented a different era of the country.  Read more...

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The Last Frontiersman

August 11th, 2010 by John Feehery

Ted Stevens

The last line in the New York Times obituary is classic:  “I didn’t lose my temper.  I know right where it is.”  That was all you really needed to know about Ted Stevens, who at times could be very unpleasant.

He was unpleasant with a purpose.  And that purpose was to drag Alaska into the 20th century.

If Alaska is the last American frontier, then Ted Stevens was the last frontiersman.  It should surprise no one that he died in a plane crash going on a fishing trip at age 86.  He himself called his own shot when he told his colleague Mo Udall that he was going to die in a plane crash.

The only other way for Ted Stevens to die was with his boots on in the Senate chamber, getting more money for his beloved home state.

I played poker once with Ted Stevens, and it was a great experience.  He wasn’t unpleasant at all when you played poker with him, or drank a glass of his favorite red wine with him.

That Stevens on occasion liked some of the finer things in life is no crime.  If anybody deserved a fine glass of wine, it was Ted Stevens.  Read more...

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The Appropriations Committee: Under Assault

May 11th, 2010 by John Feehery

Alan Mollohan

No wonder David Obey retired.

Last night, Alan Mollohan, the West Virginia Congressman and proud member of the House Appropriations Committee, lost his primary against an opponent who attacked the incumbent’s behavior on the Committee.

Over the weekend, Robert Bennett, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, lost in his efforts to gain his party’s nomination to run for re-election.

Next week, it is looking increasingly likely that another appropriator, Arlen Specter, might lose his party’s primary.  Specter switched political parties because he knew he couldn’t win the nomination of the Republican primary voter.

Congressman John Murtha, who died earlier this year, was under intense scrutiny from the Ethics Committee and from the Justice Department for alleged malfeasance on the Committee.  It looks like his seat will go the Republicans.

Two years ago, the long time Appropriations Committee Chairman, Ted Stevens, narrowly lost his bid to win reelection because of an ethical cloud dusted up by a Justice Department indictment.  His case was later thrown out.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and longtime member of the Appropriations Committee, resigned from Congress four years ago under an ethical cloud.  Duke Cunningham actually is spending quality time in jail because he auctioned off earmarks to the highest bidder.  Read more...

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