Sen. Ted Stevens Indicted

Bad news for him considering the fierce competition for his seat....

From McClatchy news:

WASHINGTON — Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, at 84 the longest-serving Republican in the Senate and one of its most powerful members, was indicted Tuesday on seven felony counts alleging that he lied to conceal his acceptance of $250,000 in gifts and services from a now-defunct Alaska oil services and construction company.
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The indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in Washington, charges that Stevens made false statements on his annual Senate financial-disclosure statements for the years 2001 through 2006 to conceal gifts from VECO Corp. and its chief executive officer, Bill Allen. If he's convicted, Stevens could face an unspecified fine and as much as five years in prison.

If hope that if he is found guilty that he punished to the fullest extent of the law. Additionally I hope that he is the last of the corrupt Republicans still in office. I have little doubt that had the GOP not been in the majority he either would have kept his nose clean or been indicted sooner. That brings me to one of my chief concerns about an Obama presidency. I fear that should the Dems control the house, the senate, and the Oval Office that we'll see the same level of corruption and excess. To me this is one of the most important functions that divided government serves. By that I mean as long as one party feels that the other is is breathing down their neck waiting for them to screw up they tend to stick to the straight and narrow.

Not that that alone is enough to push me into the McCain camp mind you. He's not the McCain of 2000. However as both he and Obama are moving to the middle the differences in the views on major issues are starting to dissapear. If that continues and both of them prove to politicians rather than leaders in my case the divided government arguement may prove to be the tipping point in McCain's favor.

That is of course provided that I don't become totally disgusted with both candidates and throw my vote Bob Barr's way. After all in Texas that vote would be just as a significant as a vote for Obama.

H/T Memeorandum

Thanks to DWSUWF for linking to this post