Will the Ted Stevens verdict change anything?

[techs]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...0/AR2008101002819.html

With the Ted Stevens trial down to "character witnesses" it seems apparent it will go to the jury very soon. This week, probably.
I don't know Alaska politics, but if not guilty would Stevens be a lock to win his race? If guilty will he surely lose?
And if not guilty, will it affect the Palin controversy by inference?


EDIT: If Stevens if convicted, yet stays on the ballot and wins, then the Senate would not seat him and whatever procedure is in place in Alaska to choose a replacement would go forward?

Yikes! Would Sarah Palin get to pick the Senator from Alaska?
Could she pick herself?

 

[Thump553]

I'm impressed as heck that this thing went to trial so quickly. The usual practice would be his lawyers would have to "study the complex fact situation" for at least six months or a year, and in the meantime Stevens would run as being wrongly persecuted. Huge roll of the dice here, if Stevens is convicted it has to be over, if not all the dirt is still out there for the voting public to see.

He doesn't have the advantage of a home state jury either.

He named (it seemed like) half the bigwigs in Washington on his witness list, including Ted Kennedy. Did any of them ever actually show up to testify?

 

[techs]

Originally posted by: Thump553
I'm impressed as heck that this thing went to trial so quickly. The usual practice would be his lawyers would have to "study the complex fact situation" for at least six months or a year, and in the meantime Stevens would run as being wrongly persecuted. Huge roll of the dice here, if Stevens is convicted it has to be over, if not all the dirt is still out there for the voting public to see.

He doesn't have the advantage of a home state jury either.

He named (it seemed like) half the bigwigs in Washington on his witness list, including Ted Kennedy. Did any of them ever actually show up to testify?

Well, Colin Powell did. The judge limited the character witnesses to five.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Alaska Senate Race: RCP

 

[IronWing]

Colin Powell, tragic hero, as a character witness. The mind boggles.

 

[nageov3t]

based on Alaska's political history, I would think that a guilty verdict would make Alaskans MORE likely to reelect him.

 

[BoomerD]

IF he's found guilty, the Dems will be doing their best to tie Stevens and Palin together in some form of corruption/collusion/conspiracy. Even though publicly, Palin and Stevens don't get along, (didn't they have some "issues" in Alaska?) I'm sure there are places where they could be tied together in a manner that SEEMS inappropriate and possibly illegal. Maybe some kind of " sentence reduction" for old Teddy if he spills the beans on "HockeyMom."

 

[IronWing]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
IF he's found guilty, the Dems will be doing their best to tie Stevens and Palin together in some form of corruption/collusion/conspiracy. Even though publicly, Palin and Stevens don't get along, (didn't they have some "issues" in Alaska?) I'm sure there are places where they could be tied together in a manner that SEEMS inappropriate and possibly illegal. Maybe some kind of " sentence reduction" for old Teddy if he spills the beans on "HockeyMom."

Getting rid of Stevens would be a bigger victory for the Dems than knocking Palin a few more points.

 

[nageov3t]

Originally posted by: ironwing

Originally posted by: BoomerD
IF he's found guilty, the Dems will be doing their best to tie Stevens and Palin together in some form of corruption/collusion/conspiracy. Even though publicly, Palin and Stevens don't get along, (didn't they have some "issues" in Alaska?) I'm sure there are places where they could be tied together in a manner that SEEMS inappropriate and possibly illegal. Maybe some kind of " sentence reduction" for old Teddy if he spills the beans on "HockeyMom."

Getting rid of Stevens would be a bigger victory for the America than knocking Palin a few more points.

fixed :thumbsup:

I think Stevens and Byrd are the worst fixtures in the senate.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Originally posted by: loki8481

Originally posted by: ironwing

Originally posted by: BoomerD
IF he's found guilty, the Dems will be doing their best to tie Stevens and Palin together in some form of corruption/collusion/conspiracy. Even though publicly, Palin and Stevens don't get along, (didn't they have some "issues" in Alaska?) I'm sure there are places where they could be tied together in a manner that SEEMS inappropriate and possibly illegal. Maybe some kind of " sentence reduction" for old Teddy if he spills the beans on "HockeyMom."

Getting rid of Stevens would be a bigger victory for the America than knocking Palin a few more points.

fixed :thumbsup:

I think Stevens and Byrd are the worst fixtures in the senate.

If we just go ahead and rename the state West Byrdginia maybe he'll retire.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: ironwing
Colin Powell, tragic hero, as a character witness. The mind boggles.

Another sad day for him, from lying to the UN to support a needless war, to using what remains of his good name to help a corrupt politician tty to escape justice.

I can see why he now tours the country as a motivational speaker along with Trump, since they're apparently birds of a feather.

 

[Craig234]

Originally posted by: loki8481

Originally posted by: ironwing

Originally posted by: BoomerD
IF he's found guilty, the Dems will be doing their best to tie Stevens and Palin together in some form of corruption/collusion/conspiracy. Even though publicly, Palin and Stevens don't get along, (didn't they have some "issues" in Alaska?) I'm sure there are places where they could be tied together in a manner that SEEMS inappropriate and possibly illegal. Maybe some kind of " sentence reduction" for old Teddy if he spills the beans on "HockeyMom."

Getting rid of Stevens would be a bigger victory for the America than knocking Palin a few more points.

fixed :thumbsup:

I think Stevens and Byrd are the worst fixtures in the senate.

And I think OJ Simpson and you are terrible husbands, and you and Lee Harvey Oswald are bad citizens.

What did Byrd do to deserve being equated with such a criminally corrupt figure?

Go back and watch Byrd's speech on the Iraq War resolution, and you see a man who has some real principles for the people, whatever his other flaws.

 

[Thump553]

Byrd is a true giant of the Senate and has done many great things over the years (and yes, I'm familiar with his early links with the KKK). But he definately has gone past the time when he should have retired.

Stevens on the other hand, has been a money grubbing thug his entire career. He is the equivalent of a Chicago machine politician.

 

[Perknose]

Originally posted by: Craig234

Originally posted by: loki8481

Originally posted by: ironwing

Originally posted by: BoomerD
IF he's found guilty, the Dems will be doing their best to tie Stevens and Palin together in some form of corruption/collusion/conspiracy. Even though publicly, Palin and Stevens don't get along, (didn't they have some "issues" in Alaska?) I'm sure there are places where they could be tied together in a manner that SEEMS inappropriate and possibly illegal. Maybe some kind of " sentence reduction" for old Teddy if he spills the beans on "HockeyMom."

Getting rid of Stevens would be a bigger victory for the America than knocking Palin a few more points.

fixed :thumbsup:

I think Stevens and Byrd are the worst fixtures in the senate.

And I think OJ Simpson and you are terrible husbands, and you and Lee Harvey Oswald are bad citizens.

What did Byrd do to deserve being equated with such a criminally corrupt figure?

Go back and watch Byrd's speech on the Iraq War resolution, and you see a man who has some real principles for the people, whatever his other flaws.

Thanks for exposing loki's little logical slide. Byrd has his faults, but as Thump said, Stevens has been a greedy little thug and nothing much else his entire career. You can't even begin to compare them.

 

[Lemon law]

Hell, I do not even know if I would vote for Stevens conviction if I were on the jury. Its a case built entirely on his ex buddy Allen who is even more corrupt than Stevens. And then when the prosecution shot itself in the foot by not providing minimal proper disclosure, the Judge quite properly instructed the jury to disregard the bulk of the State's case.

As for Steven's, does it matter, he is 84, and has one foot in the grave anyway. And will likely be replaced by someone smarter and equally corrupt. As Palin laughs all the way to the bank, and pockets all of the bridge to nowhere money.

Before I think about the next move, I will wait for the Jury to vote.

 

[Aegeon]

Originally posted by: Lemon law
And then when the prosecution shot itself in the foot by not providing minimal proper disclosure, the Judge quite properly instructed the jury to disregard the bulk of the State's case.

This is utterly and completely false.

The part the judge ordered the jury to disregard was actually a fairly small portion of the overall amount of gifts and by no means the bulk of prosecution's entire case.

The ruling might in of itself help Stevens avoid getting convicted on one or two of the charges, but not the rest of the 7 felonies.

 

[techs]

So basically, in Alaska, a felony oconviction is not necessarily a bar to be re-elected a Senator?

I am guessing if he is convicted he will still be on the ballot? And if he wins whatever procedure there is in Alaska to choose a replacement would go forward?

Yikes! Would Sarah Palin get to pick the Senator from Alaska?
Could she pick herself?

 

[DrPizza]

She wouldn't pick herself as Senator. Just look at her history. When she couldn't get a tour of the state dairy, she fired the entire agriculture board, so that she could hire a new agriculture board who could then fire the people who made her wait for an hour for a tour of the dairy. The person she hired at the top was one of her high school friends whose main qualification was "her childhood love of cows." here and here

So, she just needs to find someone in Alaska who likes large white domed buildings. That should be enough to qualify them for senator. Search a few igloos, and offer to send someone to work in the biggest igloo shaped building in the land.

 

[nageov3t]

Originally posted by: Perknose

Originally posted by: Craig234

Originally posted by: loki8481

Originally posted by: ironwing

Originally posted by: BoomerD
IF he's found guilty, the Dems will be doing their best to tie Stevens and Palin together in some form of corruption/collusion/conspiracy. Even though publicly, Palin and Stevens don't get along, (didn't they have some "issues" in Alaska?) I'm sure there are places where they could be tied together in a manner that SEEMS inappropriate and possibly illegal. Maybe some kind of " sentence reduction" for old Teddy if he spills the beans on "HockeyMom."

Getting rid of Stevens would be a bigger victory for the America than knocking Palin a few more points.

fixed :thumbsup:

I think Stevens and Byrd are the worst fixtures in the senate.

And I think OJ Simpson and you are terrible husbands, and you and Lee Harvey Oswald are bad citizens.

What did Byrd do to deserve being equated with such a criminally corrupt figure?

Go back and watch Byrd's speech on the Iraq War resolution, and you see a man who has some real principles for the people, whatever his other flaws.

Thanks for exposing loki's little logical slide. Byrd has his faults, but as Thump said, Stevens has been a greedy little thug and nothing much else his entire career. You can't even begin to compare them.

they're basically the pork kings of the senate... fuck, Byrd admitted to enjoying being called "The Pork King."

"He's like pork emeritus. He's graduated to a point where we can't even talk about him in a normal way anymore. He's actually set the benchmark for the rest of congress in terms of irresponsible spending," said Citizens Against Government Waste media director Leslie Paige.

http://abcnews.go.com/politics/5050/story?id=5830414

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Originally posted by: techs
So basically, in Alaska, a felony oconviction is not necessarily a bar to be re-elected a Senator?

I am guessing if he is convicted he will still be on the ballot? And if he wins whatever procedure there is in Alaska to choose a replacement would go forward?

Yikes! Would Sarah Palin get to pick the Senator from Alaska?
Could she pick herself?

She could, although I doubt she would, considering her initial taste of national politics.

And IIRC a felony conviction wasn't a bar to Robert Toricelli running in NJ. The party replaced him but he wasn't required to remove himself from the ticket.

As for the polling data... Most polling orgainizations tend to stick to Anchroage which tends to lean futher left than the rest of the state. There is a real possibilty that Uncle Ted could get reelected again despite the RCP averages. Alaskans know that ANWR will never be opened with a D rep/sen in office. Elect the criminal R and have him replaced with someone else. My guess is Ralph Seekins or Jay Ramras.

 

[Lemon law]

I am guessing the only way that Palin could appoint herself to Stevens seat is the following scenario. (a) Stevens is re elected despite a conviction. (b) Stevens goes back to Washington in January 2009 and the Senate refuses to seat him due to the felony conviction. (c) Steven then resigns the seat and caching, Palin appoints herself. Because Palin is still governor because McCain lost the election.

Or we could get to the same place if Stevens is re-elected at age 84, and the grim reaper decides to collect an 85 year old debt. At that age, sudden heart attacks, strokes, and any manner of totally fatal or debilitating maladies become very probable.