Alaska Republican Senator Ted Stevens has been convicted on federal corruption charges.  “I am innocent,” the 84-year-old Stevens said in a written statement.  “I will fight this unjust verdict with every ounce of energy I have.”

Stevens was convicted of seven counts of making false statements on Senate ethics forms in order to hide hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts and work on his Alaska home by an oil contractor who is currently target of a corruption investigation.

The verdict came just days before Stevens faced voters in a tight re-election bid against Democratic challenger, Mark Begich.  Stevens is the longest-serving Republican senator in history and hopes to retain the seat he has held since 1968.  Stevens also holds the dubious honor of becoming the first senator to be convicted of a felony since 1981.

Stevens faces a maximum sentence of 35 years in prison, though the judge has the discretion to sentence Stevens to little jail time or probation.  Politicians on both sides of the aisle have prompted Stevens to resign, but so far he has refused.  There is speculation that Stevens hopes to win the election and retire immediately after.  This would allow Republicans to retain the Senate seat in a tough year in which Democrats have gained a strong majority in Congress.

“This is a sad day for Alaska and a sad day for Sen. Stevens and his family,” Alaska Governor and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said after the verdict.  “The verdict shines a light on the corrupting influence of the big oil service company up there in Alaska that was allowed to control too much of our state.  And that control was part of the culture of corruption that I was elected to fight, and that fight must always move forward regardless of party affiliation or seniority or even past service,” she said.

After the verdict, assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich said Stevens accepted “hundreds of thousands of dollars of freebies” from a major oil services company in his state.  “This company was not a charity,” he said.  Friedrich claimed the company lobbied Stevens for help in Washington, and in return the company paid to convert Stevens’ single-story A-frame Alaska house into a two-story house with a deck, new gas grill and other goodies.

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This entry was posted on Friday, November 14th, 2008 at 1:30 pm and is filed under Corruption, Crime, Republicans, Senate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.