Ted Stevens...another Bad Boy Repiglican

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Last updated August 2, 2008 11:41 a.m. PT
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/373228_carlson03.html

Gay sex trumps corruption on Senate sin list
MARGARET CARLSON
SYNDICATED COLUMNIST

Let's take a civics quiz. In Congress which is worse: being corrupt or being gay? Time is up. Pencils down. If you answered being gay, you've been paying attention, class. Of the 10 Commandments, it is much better to break the one about stealing than the one about sex.

This teaching moment comes to you courtesy of His Holiness, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who took a powder from reporters crowded into the Capitol this week after the indictment of Ted Stevens, the Senate's longest-serving Republican and once third in line to the presidency.

You would think McConnell had been ambushed by the National Enquirer. He punted, saying he had just learned of the news and would "have more to say about it later." In less than 30 seconds, he was gone.

No disgust. No outrage. No pressure on Stevens to skulk back to his much-improved chalet in Alaska.

Contrast this with McConnell's instant reaction upon finding out that Sen. Larry Craig had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for disorderly conduct stemming from a foot-tapping encounter with an undercover cop in a Minneapolis restroom.

That, McConnell said, was a "serious matter" that he immediately referred to the Ethics Committee. He vowed he would look at "other aspects of the case to determine if additional action is required," with the implication that tarring and feathering Craig might not be harsh enough.

Pressure just short of waterboarding was applied to get Craig to resign. He decided to serve out his term.

Stevens has suffered little of that. He was implicated in a federal investigation of corruption among Alaskan lawmakers after a raid on his home by FBI agents last year.

He had to step down as ranking member on various committees, as Senate rules require, but got to keep his seat on those panels, including appropriations, where he was still called "vice-chairman" and continued to send home huge sums as the proud "King of Pork."

The Alaska investigation has yielded seven convictions so far and sped up once Bill Allen, the chief executive of VECO Corp., a now defunct oil company, agreed to cooperate after pleading guilty to bribery, admitting to $400,000 in illegal payments to state lawmakers and "other public officials."

The office of Stevens' son Ben, former president of the Alaska state Senate, was also raided. Payments made to Ben Stevens listed in lobbying reports coincide with checks paid out for "consulting" by one of the indicted co-conspirators.

Among those convicted so far are three state legislators and the chief of staff to former Gov. Frank Murkowski. Rep. Don Young of Alaska and Stevens' son remain under investigation.

The elder Stevens squandered his 40 years in Congress over $250,000 worth of home improvements, including a new first floor for his house, which was raised up on stilts to accommodate it, a garage, wrap-around deck, plumbing and electricity, furniture, and an outdoor Viking grill.

It doesn't sound like a big enough payoff for the trouble he's in. Unlike cash, you can't hide a stainless-steel gas barbecue, at least not if you're going to get any use out of it.

It's why so many of these cases turn on things, and not accounts in the Cayman Islands. Former Rep. Randy Cunningham, a California Republican, is remembered for a 19th-century Louis-Philippe commode, a Rolls Royce and a yacht he obtained; former Rep. Bob Ney exchanged legislative favors benefiting Jack Abramoff's Indian casinos while being treated to golf outings in Scotland and staying at posh hotels.

The Stevens indictment says the senator used "his office on behalf of VECO," which included meetings to discuss building a natural gas pipeline and "multiple federal grants and contracts to benefit" the company.

But prosecutors didn't charge bribery. They brought the lesser charge of seven criminal counts of failing to disclose improper gifts.

Craig, one of a quartet of singing senators, was liked well enough on Capitol Hill. Now he's radioactive. By contrast, Stevens is a nasty piece of work, feared more than liked. He remains powerful, holding sway over appropriations for almost a dozen years and once serving as president pro tem of the Senate.

What if he survives? He often sought revenge against colleagues who didn't rubber-stamp his egregious efforts to ship money back to Alaska for dubious projects. When his "Bridge to Nowhere" was voted down after becoming the epitome of wasteful spending, he said he'd be taken out on a stretcher before letting the action stand. He stayed upright. Alaska got its money.

A full ranking of congressional sins would put gay sex at the top (Craig and former Florida Rep. Mark Foley, both quickly abandoned); heterosexual sex next (bad but not fatal, with Republican Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana surviving his extensive dealings with the D.C. Madam); and way, way down, corruption. You can practically be caught with a bag of cash, as Rep. William Jefferson was (in his freezer) and continue serving.

If you quickly passed the one-minute quiz above, take the rest of your time to call McConnell and tell him the bribery of public officials, the reign of lobbyists and the mortgaging of democracy to special interests are what's crippling Congress, not sex.

The pity is how long these guys hang on (it's always guys) when the facts are overwhelming, the quid pro quo obvious, and the republic's reputation at stake. The Constitution guarantees you're innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, but it doesn't guarantee you a Senate seat in the meantime.

Margaret Carlson is a columnist for Bloomberg News; mcarlson3@bloomberg.net