Stevens files for re-election
Published Thursday, February 21, 2008
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Stumble It!ANCHORAGE — High energy prices and a lack of jobs are choking the Alaska economy outside Anchorage and Fairbanks, U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens said Thursday, and he intends to do something about it.
Stevens, the longest-serving Republican in Senate history, filed for re-election with a familiar campaign message that Alaska must develop its natural resources. With a 40 percent dropout rate in many Alaska high schools, he said, the state’s youth need hope for employment.
“I’m going to work to get them jobs,” he said.
Stevens, 84, filed while under the cloud of a federal investigation. Federal authorities are investigating the senator’s ties to a corrupt oil services contractor who helped remodel Stevens’ official residence in Girdwood. Stevens has not been charged, and has said he paid all bills presented to him.
He answered questions from reporters Thursday but maintained a policy of not discussing pending investigations.
When asked about the effect of the federal investigation on his campaign or his fitness for office, Stevens maintained his reticence by recounting his legal career as a prosecutor, Interior Department attorney and senator.
“I’m telling you as a lawyer that if you were in my place, you’d do exactly what I’m doing, and that is, listen to the people who are advising you, and listen to the people who have been through this before, and don’t complicate this issue with trying to say something that could be misunderstood,” he said. “And if it was misunderstood, you suddenly find yourself charged with obstruction of justice.”
The 2008 campaign, he said, will be more divided and more partisan, with issues that are more complicated. But unlike the rest of the country, which has seen job growth, Alaska’s development has been stymied by extreme environmentalists, he said.
“I think Alaska really is heading for a fall if we don’t wake up and deal with the enemy that is within us,” he said.
The ink was not dry on the Tongass Timber Reform Act, which set aside 87 percent of the southeast Alaska forest, before people who sought the act began to oppose it, he said. The federal government has spent $25 million over 20 years defending itself against lawsuits, he said.
“Up here, you must see it — people are moving in from the villages. They can’t afford to pay for their oil. I got word from along the west coast this year, people don’t think they’re going to be able to pay for their fuel. They won’t be able to go fishing. They can’t afford it. Our jobs are disappearing.”
The state has to have development, he said.
“There just seems to be an opposition to anything that would create jobs for the future,” he said.
Stevens has been a staunch supporter of President Bush’s policy in Iraq and said the United States is doing a good job there. He does not expect reaction to the war to be a factor in his race.
“I think the public now understands the war,” he said. “I don’t think it’s going to be the issue in ’08 that it was in ’06.”
Stevens is the most powerful elected official in Alaska state history.
He was appointed to the Senate in 1968, won election two years later in a special election and has been re-elected six times.
Through positions on Senate committees controlling the country’s purse strings, Stevens has delivered billions of dollars to Alaska, a state rich in land but poor in infrastructure.
Grateful constituents named the state’s largest airport after him, but his legacy was tarnished by the investigation that included a raid last summer by the FBI and the IRS on his home in Girdwood, a ski-resort community on Anchorage’s southern edge.
Bill Allen, the former head of VECO Corp., an oil field service company, who has pleaded guilty to bribing Alaska state legislators, testified in trials that he oversaw extensive renovations at the home of Stevens and sent VECO employees to work on it.
Democrats believe the investigation could make Stevens vulnerable in the November election. Top party officials have encouraged Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, the son of the late U.S. Rep. Nick Begich, D-Alaska, to challenge Stevens. Begich has not announced a decision.
“He’s a very capable young man,” Stevens said. “I knew his father.”
Begich, Stevens said, would face the same problem he did years ago — his young children’s preference to stay in Alaska. His own children went door-to-door with friends, he said, with the message, “Don’t vote for my dad. We don’t want to move.”
So far, the race has only drawn lesser-known candidates, including Ray Metcalfe, one of Stevens’ most vocal opponents.
Other Democrats who remain on the Division of Election’s unofficial candidate list are Rocky Caldero of Dutch Harbor and Frank Vondersaar of Homer.
Jerry Heikes of Palmer has filed for the seat as a Republican. Anchorage developer David Cuddy, a former state representative, has also said he will oppose Stevens in the Republican primary. ———
On the Net:
http://stevens.senate.gov/public/
Community Discussion
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"Federal authorities are investigating the senator’s ties to a corrupt oil services contractor who helped remodel Stevens’ official residence in Girdwood. Stevens has not been charged, and has said he paid all bills presented to him."
Give me a break, this man has worse morals than the man who just robbed Denali State Bank twice! Ted Stevens go pick out your casket, we don't want your old pile of bones in office any longer! You don't even deserve to live in Girdwood you corrupt piece fecal colifrom!
"Federal authorities are investigating the senator’s ties to a corrupt oil services contractor who helped remodel Stevens’ official residence in Girdwood. Stevens has not been charged, and has said he paid all bills presented to him."
Give me a break, this man has worse morals than the man who just robbed Denali State Bank twice! Ted Stevens go pick out your casket, we don't want your old pile of bones in office any longer! You don't even deserve to live in Girdwood you corrupt piece of fecal colifrom!
Anti-Bab Prospector: It's just been a long dark winter, hasn't it? Try to get outside more, you'll feel better.
Uncle Ted: You're 84 now. Isn't it about time you retired? Maybe you and Don could retire together? Maybe Lisa could find something else to do, too. And who knows, just maybe we Alaskans could elect someone who won't continue to make us ever more dependent on federal largess and sully our reputation as people who can stand up and take care of ourselves. Maybe, we could elect someone who remembers what the 10th Amendment of the US Constitution says.
Alaskans need to move on and so you, Uncle Ted.
sorry... "uncle" ted is right. if the environmental facists have their way the only ones living in alaska would be park rangers. ted is right we have to fight to develop a via infrastructure here. we need their power and experience. i've been out in the bush often. it looks like a 3rd world country out there. i don't care if don and ted were even actually the ones who robbed that bank, i'd still vote for them.
sorry... "uncle" ted is right. if the environmental facists have their way the only ones living in alaska would be park rangers. ted is right we have to fight to develop a via infrastructure here. we need their power and experience. i've been out in the bush often. it looks like a 3rd world country out there. i don't care if don and ted were even actually the ones who robbed that bank, i'd still vote for them.
This Comment from this so called Alaskan is terrifying! Don Young or Ted Stevens wouldn't give you their shirt off their back if you were dying in 20 below. Alaska doesn't need to become an industialized wasteland like the rest of the USA.
/* --- From the article --- */
Stevens has been a staunch supporter of President Bush's policy in Iraq and said the United States is doing a good job there. He does not expect reaction to the war to be a factor in his race.
"I think the public now understands the war," he said. "I don't think it's going to be the issue in '08 that it was in '06."
/* --- End article --- */
In a recent budget request to lawmakers, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates asked for $700 billion to pay for the Pentagon's budget and fund the Iraq war.
When considering all of the wars the United States has fought since the American Revolution, adjusting dollar amounts to 2007 figures, the money spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is the second-highest total in U.S. history, second to World War II.
The United States spends more money on defense than every other nation combined. One third of the entire U.S. federal budget is spent on national defense.
I support our troops, but I can honestly say I don't understand this war.
Uncle Ted, you have done a whale of a job, but Buddy, your time has come. Come home and retire in style. I think you and Don have done a good job, even though I do not think lately you have had MY and other Alaskans interest at heart. Come home, you have been there long enough. And maybe Don can just retire at his mansion in Alexandria. His house at the Fort is looking pretty pitiful. I am ready for a change!
I think Begich could do just as well as Ted. We should let Mr. Begich do the job in D.C. now.
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