ALASKAN SENATOR, TED STEVENS: "GOOD-BYE & GOOD RIDDANCE!"

Senator Ted Stevens at his corruption trial

It continues to stick in my craw, the vision I saw last month when the Alaskan Republican Senator, Ted Stevens, was forced to leave the US Senate on his 85th birthday.

Here was a man, that had served 40 years in the US Senate, that had also just recently been convicted of a seven-felony string of corruption charges. Stevens was finally found guilty, by a jury of his peers, of accepting an illegal bonanza of expensive home renovations and fancy trimmings from an oil executive, and Stevens was then caught lying about it.

Instead of resigning and just disappearing, as any normal person with a real conscience would do, Senator Stevens then continued to run for re-election, while he was still on trial. Apparently however, even the citizens of Alaska finally had enough, and Stevens lost his bid for re-election to the Democrat, Mark Begich, by a mere 2000+ votes.

What was so disturbing to watch, was the send-off that Stevens received from his Senatorial colleagues.

Instead of being ostracized or avoided by his esteemed colleagues, Stevens was given time to address the Senate floor and he received a very long, standing ovation. He was also praised by a number of the current Senators, both Democrat and Republican.

Not only were there many words of praise for the Senator´s accomplishments, (Stevens had previously held seven Senate committee chairmanships, was the long-time Republican Senate Whip and had a prominent role as an Eisenhower administration official that worked on Alaska's eventual statehood), the tributes to Stevens took a number of hours in an extended morning Senate session.

Here is the full list of US Senators that spoke "glowingly" on behalf of Senator Stevens:

>>> Harry Reid (D-NV), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Robert Byrd (D-WV), Pete Domenici (R-NM), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Patty Murray (D-WA), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Kay-Baily Hutchison (R-TX), Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Norm Coleman (R-MN), Larry Craig (R-ID), Jim Bunning (R-KY), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Thad Cochran (R-MS). John Warner (R-VA) also praised Stevens in advance of the Alaskan senator´s farewell address

In his final comments to the Senate, Stevens said; "I don't have any rearview mirror, I look only forward. And I still see the day when I can remove the cloud that currently surrounds me." By the time he finished, even a few of the Democratic lawmakers and staffers were dabbing their eyes.

However, during the hours of tributes on the Senate floor, the exact nature of that "cloud" was never described: such as the corruption, the gifts and the free home renovations that eventually brought the career of this so called "legislative legend" to an ignominious end.

As reported in the Washington Post; "The recounting of his role in history made it all the more inexplicable that Stevens, a man who controlled billions of dollars, would chuck it all for; a massage chair, some Christmas lights and a wood deck for his Alaska chalet".

With just passing reference to this "cloud," he was done. "That's it, Mr. President: Forty years distilled into a few minutes," the chairman-turned-convict said. "I yield the floor for the last time."

On the other hand, it is expected that very few other senators will shed tears for the grumpy, irritable Stevens. Nor are they likely to lament the end of his politics of greedily funneling massive amounts federal "pork" money to his home state.

But for this final day in the Senate, there was celebration of the "bacon" he brought to Alaska. Everything from the Trans-Alaska Pipeline to the new VA Outpatient Clinic in Anchorage. "No senator in the history of this country has done more for his state than Senator Ted Stevens," said Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

And the scene did have poignancy for another reason: As the old Senators on both sides of the aisle rose to bid adieu to Stevens, they also seemed to be saying farewell to their own era, a time when the Senate was, for better or worse, a true "gentlemen's club".

Here are some comments by some high-profile US Senators regarding Senator Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator in U.S. history:

"We all make mistakes," Sen. Robert Byrd, celebrating his 91st birthday, said from his wheelchair. "I've made more of them than I have hair follicles." The West Virginia Democrat, in failing health, read his colleague of 40 years an old Irish blessing ("May the road rise up to meet you . . .") and, with faltering speech, said, "Bless your heart, Ted. I love you." Stevens crossed the aisle and held Byrd's hand.

Senator Byrd, the Senate's oldest member also offered the most poignant sendoff. "Some in this town would say we've both lived too long, but a long life is a blessing for many reasons," Byrd said, struggling to turn the pages of his speech. "One learns to appreciate small, special moments and the really good things in life, like a good laugh, a good cry, a good dog, and a good meal. Politics is a rough business with lots of highs and lots of lows."

Stevens is the most visible of the "Old Bulls" to be slain, but other Congress elders are also in their twilight.

Last week, Byrd himself, was stripped of his Appropriations Committee chairmanship because of his declining faculties. As he sat listening to the tributes yesterday, he interrupted senators with shouts of "Yes!" and "That's right!" and "You bet!" until an aide wheeled him from the chamber. "Amen!" Byrd bellowed as he rolled toward the door. "Amen!"

In a soft voice, Sen. Daniel Inouye, 84, a Hawaii Democrat whom Stevens called "my brother," told colleagues that "the events of recent weeks have been less than pleasant, and at times dismal and heartbreaking. But to my friend, I say: Stand tall, Ted, because you have every good reason to do so."

And there were tributes just for the heck of it. "I rise now because I look around and I don't think there's any senator left on the floor that's served longer than I with him," said 76-year-old Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), before reminiscing with his colleague of 36 years about "things we shared as men."

Things were no better for the old guard on the other side of the Capital Building.

House Democrats yesterday ousted as Energy and Commerce Committee chairman the longest-serving member of the House Chamber: John Dingell (Mich.), 82, who uses a wheelchair because of knee replacement. The victor, Rep. Henry Waxman (Calif.), taunted the loser in a post-vote news conference. "Seniority is important," said Waxman, 69, "but it should not be a grant of property rights to be chairman for three decades or more."

By the "Dingell standard", the felonious Stevens was treated royally in the Senate chamber. The senators quickly dispensed with a bill extending unemployment insurance in just a few minutes, while the Stevens tributes took about three hours. Twenty-two Republicans and eight Democrats came to hear Stevens' farewell; his wife and daughter also sat in the first row of the public gallery.

Yes, thank goodness, this is the end of both Ted Stevens as a US Senator and the end of an "era" in the Senate.

But, from where I stand, I did not appreciate the senator´s ovation or the celebration of a "Legend" that was leaving with more of the reputation of an AL Capone or a Baby Faced Nelson, not like a positive statesman´s role-model, such as a George Washington or an Abraham Lincoln.

This "good-bye" to both Stevens and to the aforementioned "era" is instead, more of a "good riddance", good-bye, as far as the American taxpayer citizens are concerned.

Copyright G.Ater 2008