Ted Stevens (R/AK/crook) faces setbacks in court

[babylonsister]

:nopity:

Stevens faces setbacks in court
By Manu Raju
Posted: 09/10/08 02:17 PM


Sen. Ted Stevens's lawyers braced for setbacks Wednesday as a federal judge indicated he would rule against their motions aimed at weakening the case against the Alaska Republican.

Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said he would deny arguments that the Justice Department violated the Constitution by charging Stevens with failing to report more than $250,000 worth of gifts from a now-defunct oil-services company, Veco Corp., on his Senate financial disclosure forms.

Stevens has pleaded not guilty to all seven charges.

Stevens's team had argued the Senate, not the Justice Department, has the authority to enforce questions over financial disclosure forms under the Constitution’s separation of powers clause.

Dealing another blow, Sullivan said he is inclined not to remove language from the indictment that suggests Stevens performed legislative action favorable to the company in return for the gifts — something he is not charged with doing.

Sullivan also said he would reject arguments that the evidence brought forth in the indictment is "unconstitutionally vague" and does not meet a sufficient legal standard.

"I'm going to deny these motions for the reasons stated by the government," Sullivan said.

more...

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/stevens-faces-setbacks-in-court-2008-09-10.html

[DrDan]

1. does not sound like he has any friends here . . .

he may be facing some hard time . . . what a shame that would be . . .

[Blue_In_AK]

2. Thanks, Babylon.

I didn't post this because it wasn't about Sarah. :rofl: A little more information here: http://www.adn.com/news/politics/fbi/stevens/story/521331.html


The Hill left out the part about Bill Allen and Bambi Tyree, the underage hooker. Now, if we can put Bill Allen and Bambi Tyree in Ted Stevens' penthouse, that would be REALLY good.

[babylonsister]

4. I hear ya, Blue; a bit of overkill on Sarah? We need to keep tabs

on this weasel and the ongoing drama. :hi:

OT, I remember having a conversation w/you about Palin months ago. Then you really liked her because she did seem moderate. Has your opinion changed?

[Blue_In_AK]

5. I'm disturbed by the way Rove, et al. are packaging her.

She has worked well with the Democrats in the legislature here over the past two years, has kept her right-wing religious stuff to herself and has seemed to be open to the media. When I sat down to watch her speech at the convention, I was hoping that she would at least come off well, like the Sarah that we've seen here. I would never have voted for McCain/Palin, of course, even had she done well, but for the sake of Alaska's reputation, I was pulling for her to give a good speech and let her rather likeable personality come through. I couldn't believe it when she started attacking Obama, because she is on record speaking positively about him, not being too concerned if he took Alaska, and lauding his candidacy of change. She never publicly endorsed McCain that I'm aware of. My progressive friends and I were shocked at the tone she took, which we had never seen before.

It's obvious to me, since she's being shielded from the press, that they have her on a very short leash and are making sure that she doesn't come off script. She has never seemed afraid to talk to the media before, even when she's been controversial -- I think it's McCain's team who is afraid to let her speak for herself.

I think all the vetting that's now being done by bloggers (since McCain's team never asked anyone up here about her) is really going to hurt her in Alaska when she comes back to finish her term. A lot of things, the per diem, etc., would probably have been overlooked, and certainly no one would have been doubting Trig's parentage. Bristol would have been just another pregnant teenager, because we're really pretty forgiving up here, and Sarah hadn't especially put herself out as some kind of paragon of virtue, with the perfect family, etc., that's been portrayed. Troopergate would have been dealt with -- Sarah actually had much of the public on her side on this one, because Trooper Wooten is by all accounts not a good cop. Sarah said she welcomed the investigation, and everything was going fine until McCain stepped in here and placed her in the "cone of silence." I just think he's done her irreparable harm here in Alaska politically. I could be wrong, but I know she's lost a lot of the good will of Democrats and independents through her bellicose tone.

Now people think that Alaskans are just a bunch of redneck fruitcakes, if we could have elected a woman like this for our governor. It wasn't THIS woman that we thought we were electing (I didn't vote for her, but I know many people who did), and it hasn't really been this woman who's been governor for the last two years.

Frankensarah, perhaps?

[babylonsister]

6. That's what I figured, she's showing a whole 'nother side of herself

than you saw, sculpted by Rove. Too bad she let this happen to her, but I have to give her a lot of the credit for allowing it. And don't worry, I don't think Alaskans are redneck fruitcakes, at least not all of them. :hug:

[Blue_In_AK]

7. Thanks, Sister.

The fact that Sarah would let Rove do this to her is what's going to hurt her the most here. Alaskans are proud of being independent thinkers and being able to speak their minds (even Ted and Don do this, much to our embarrassment), so to see Sarah cave so easily to this manipulation is pretty disheartening.

Oh, and, by the way, I hope you all will be very safe when Ike pays you a visit.

[babylonsister]

8. Thanks; we're watching Ike very closely. If he decides to ring

our bell, we're out of here!

[Blue_In_AK]

9. I'm glad to hear it.

And more about Sarah Palin, here's a piece I found in one of Alaska's progressive blogs that sort of validates my opinion above. My experience on meeting her personally was very similar to Steve's. He makes some very good points.

http://whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com/2008/09/would-your-mother-make-good-vp.html

[gratuitous]

3. "Setback"?

That's what you call it when the judge plays Solomon and cuts the baby in half. When the judge denies your motion and specifically says that it is "for the reasons stated by" your opponent, you got frickin' slammed. The judge didn't even have to come up with his own legal reasoning, he just adopted the opposing brief as the basis for denying the motion.

Ouch, Hulk-boy.