November 28, 2008 By Tony Hopfinger
“Politics is a very fickle thing,” said Sen. Ted Stevens. “The ebb and wane of support in a state like ours covers such a short period of time that it’s hard to predict continuity… I see this election as determining whether the state wants someone with great seniority.”
Sounds like Stevens is talking before he lost this fall’s election, right?
In fact, this is vintage Ted Stevens, back in 1988 when the state was trying to pull itself out of recession. The senator was up for re-election in 1990 but had already started talking about whether he planned to run again.
Judge Tosses Out Stevens Conviction
Washington Post Staff WriterTuesday, April 7, 2009; 12:01 PM
A federal judge this morning tossed out the conviction of former senator Ted Stevens after the Justice Department admitted its prosecutors mishandled evidence in the corruption case. The judge also initiated a criminal contempt investigation of six prosecutors in the case.
... ...
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. assigned a team of top department lawyers to examine the case. In a three-page motion filed last week asking Sullivan to dismiss the conviction, Justice Department prosecutor Paul M. O'Brien said he discovered evidence that two prosecutors did not turn over notes from an interview in April 2008 with Allen, the case's key witness.
Those notes contradicted a critical piece of testimony Allen later gave at trial.
Allen is a close friend of Stevens's who allegedly gave him many of the gifts and funded most of the renovations to his house.
At the interview in question, according to the notes, Allen said he did not recall talking to a friend of Stevens's about sending the senator a bill for work on his home, O'Brien wrote.
Under oath at trial, however, Allen testified that he was told by the friend to ignore a note Stevens sent seeking a bill for the remodeling work.
"Bill, don't worry about getting a bill" for Stevens, Allen said the friend told him. "Ted is just covering his [expletive]."
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