U.S. to drop charges against former Sen. Stevens: report, page 1

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Topic started on 1-4-2009 @ 07:10 AM by JacKatMtn

U.S. to drop charges against former Sen. Stevens: report

www.reuters.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department has decided to drop all charges against former Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens amid charges of prosecutorial misconduct, NPR reported on Wednesday, citing Justice officials.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Related News Links:
www.google.com
www.cbsnews.com

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Sen. Ted Stevens (GOP, Alaska) Indicted on 7 Counts of Corruption
Sen. Stevens indicted: 7 false statements counts

[edit on 4/1/2009 by JacKatMtn]

reply posted on 1-4-2009 @ 07:10 AM by JacKatMtn

This is surprising, or is it?

The damage has been done, he has been replaced, he is no longer a Senator, so why the sudden dropping of the case after a conviction?

Is it as stated, some misconduct by the prosecution, or could it be to keep the former Senator from spilling some beans about his former colleagues?

www.reuters.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply posted on 1-4-2009 @ 07:14 AM by Karlhungis

reply to post by JacKatMtn

I posted this a few minutes ago, but yours is much more fleshed out. This is absolutely disgusting if you ask me. Then again, it is also absolutely appropriate given our current climate. Criminals in Washington and Wall Street are given a free pass and a bonus while the average American is ignored and becoming unemployed and homeless.

Thanks again Washington! Keep looking after your own.

reply posted on 1-4-2009 @ 07:15 AM by JacKatMtn

reply to post by Karlhungis

was in the process of asking for this one to be binned, maybe I should fix the title and let the staff deal with it if needed?

reply posted on 1-4-2009 @ 07:22 AM by JacKatMtn

reply to post by Karlhungis

correct me if I am wrong, If the conviction stood, didn't Steven's stand to lose all of the perks of a former Senator, (ie, pension and health care)?

With the dropping of charges, he can now keep those perks ?

A little payola to keep him quiet?

reply posted on 1-4-2009 @ 07:22 AM by Karlhungis

Go for it man. I have no strong attachment to mine

reply posted on 1-4-2009 @ 07:24 AM by Karlhungis

reply to post by JacKatMtn

That makes sense. I just don't think that he was likely to sing. I think this is just the good old boys club looking after their own. I doubt he was going to spill the beans on anyone.

Who knows though. I am sure he has dirt on a lot of people.

reply posted on 1-4-2009 @ 07:49 AM by Ferris.Bueller.II

What I love is that Holder doesn't even have the smallest clue as how to run his department! This is hilarious!

reply posted on 1-4-2009 @ 08:10 AM by JacKatMtn

Another angle is brought up in this article:

Stevens Cleared

All criminal charges against former Senator Ted Stevens will be dropped later today, the Department of Justice has announced. Attorney General Eric Holder said that he decided to drop the case because of the severe misconduct committed by Justice Department prosecutors.

The prize? the Dems got the Senator's Seat...

If that was the case, then you would think that the former Senator would move forward to press the case against the prosecution.

Any way you slice it, it will be interesting to see how this develops in the coming days.

reply posted on 1-4-2009 @ 10:04 AM by JacKatMtn

Another article on the news about the dropped charges...

Ted Stevens: Feds drop charges, but can he get his Senate seat back?

When the U.S. Justice Department brought charges during last year's election season against Alaska's political patriarch, Republican Sen. Ted Stevens, some wondered if the feds were over-reaching.

Sure, Stevens had apparently neglected to report hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gifts from a prominent businessman who renovated the Stevens' home in Anchorage without charging him. And true enough, a jury in virtually-all-Democratic District of Columbia convicted the 85-year-old Stevens on seven counts of falsifying his Senate financial forms.

I don't agree with the author's thoughts trying to say that everyone does it so why was Stevens singled out, I think that all of those who abuse their privilege should be brought to justice but it is as stated earlier a good old boys mentality in Congress.

Could he get his Senate seat back? I don't know, but who would really want this man back in Washington...

reply posted on 2-4-2009 @ 08:44 AM by JacKatMtn

Here is a report on how Alaskans are taking the news that the charges were dropped concerning former Senator Stevens.

Some are angry that he lost his seat.

Some are angry he is not in jail.

And the politicians, to include the Senator who won the senate seat, and Gov Palin, are well politicians..

Alaskans have mixed reactions to Stevens' case

GIRDWOOD, Alaska (AP) — Julie Pederson said she always believed her longtime neighbor, former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, was the victim of a witch hunt and innocent of corruption charges brought against him by the Justice Department.

"We knew it all along," Pederson said after the federal government Wednesday moved to dismiss the case against Stevens. "Unfortunately, it's a little too late."

Pederson is among Alaskans who believe Stevens' conviction last October was a lethal blow to his bid for re-election after 40 years in office.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

reply posted on 3-4-2009 @ 09:19 AM by JacKatMtn

You had to know this was coming..

Palin calls for new Alaska vote after Stevens case collapses

WASHINGTON — Gov. Sarah Palin and the head of the Alaska Republican Party said Thursday that Sen. Mark Begich should give his Senate seat up to a special election now that prosecutors have abandoned their case against Ted Stevens. "Alaskans deserve to have a fair election not tainted by some announcement that one of the candidates was convicted fairly of seven felonies, when in fact it wasn't a fair conviction," Palin said in a Thursday interview with the Daily News.

The governor said she does not want to "split hairs" on whether Begich should resign or not but agrees with the Republican Party's call for a special election.

The Republican Stevens represented Alaska in the U.S. Senate for 40 years before Begich, a Democrat, narrowly beat him last fall. The election came just a week after a Washington, D.C., jury convicted Stevens of lying about gifts that he'd received.

I doubt that a new vote will come to fruition but you know that the Republicans will try their best to regain the lost Senate seat.

I, for one, don't want Stevens back in DC.

ed:sp

[edit on 4/3/2009 by JacKatMtn]