Ted Stevens

Ted Stevens is the former Senator from Alaska who recently lost his re-election for an 8th term by a narrow 4,000 votes. The main reason Stevens lost to Democrat Mark Begich in a conservative state is because he recently was indicted and convicted of seven felonies. However, just a few months after his conviction, Attorney General Eric Holder, dismissed the conviction because of prosecutorial misconduct. Many leading Republicans (along with me) called for Stevens to resign before being ousted by Mark Begich. Even though the conviction was overturned, I am still not convinced that Stevens was completely innocent. His reasons for many of the 250 thousand dollars in gifts he received were flimsy and lame at best. Thus, I am not sure he would not have been convicted even if the prosecutors did not deceive the defense by withholding critical evidence. However, there is enough doubt that Stevens would have been cleared if the prosecution followed the law. I do not see any difference between the Stevens case and the cases of many leading Democrats that had not paid their taxes or face other scrutiny such as Charlie Rangel, Tim Geithner, Chris Dodd, and Tom Daschle to name a few. If Stevens really had received over 250 thousand dollars he did not report, he owed the government money just as many the Democrats mentioned above who continue to serve in their roles (I will be the first person to admit the U.S. tax code is ridiculous and needs to be overhauled – it is much too complicated and cumbersome). That is the double standard – The Republican loses his job even though he wins his case and the Democrats just have to pay their back taxes and not face any prosecution or even any fines. And if anyone thinks that Democrats do not steal elections, look no further than the criminal behavior by liberal prosecutors to take down Stevens at any cost. The timing of the trial and the charges tells a big part of the story since this all came to light the year Stevens was up for re-election. Maybe Stevens deserved to go, but we will never know for sure. The judge that threw out the conviction said it was the worst case of prosecutorial misconduct he had ever witnessed in his 25 years on the bench. The prosecutors in this case that violated the law should have the book thrown at them. They should also have to serve whatever sentence that Stevens would have gotten. Thus, they should serve their sentence for prosecutorial misconduct and then the sentence that Stevens would have gotten. In my book I talk a lot about having stiff penalties for breaking the law to deter the act from happening. I also explain that we should follow the “Golden Rule” to do onto others as we expect to be treated. Hence, if we follow this rule, then the guilty prosecutors should serve the Stevens sentence as well.