Stevens' campaign fires back at Begich challenge
Published Saturday, May 31, 2008
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Stumble It!Mark Begich is running the wrong race and should be going after his Democratic opponents in the Aug. 26 primary, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens’ re-election campaign said this week.
The comment from Tim McKeever came in response to Begich’s challenge last week of Stevens to disclose his and his wife’s personal incomes down to the dollar. Begich also issued a news release criticizing Stevens for his position on veterans’ benefits.
McKeever said Begich, the mayor of Anchorage, is prematurely treating Stevens like an opponent.
Begich is one of nine people so far to file for the seat held by Stevens since 1968. Monday is the filing deadline.
“It appears that his request for detailed information was only to Sen. Stevens and not the other candidates,” McKeever said. “That’s a little odd.”
Begich’s two opponents in the Democratic primary are Ray Metcalfe of Anchorage and Frank Vondersaar of Homer.
Stevens, who has been under investigation by the FBI but has not been charged, is being challenged by five other Republicans: Michael Corey, David Cuddy and Rich Wanda of Anchorage; Jerry Heikes of Palmer; and Rick Sikma of North Pole.
Bob Bird of Kenai is running under the Alaskan Independence Party.
Begich made the challenge after announcing an ethics platform in which he promised to detail his and his wife’s incomes on the Internet, starting by placing 21 years of financial disclosure reports on his campaign Web site.
U.S. senators are required to disclose their finances but in superficial reports that are not published online.
It’s still unclear whether Stevens is willing to open his finances to public review. McKeever said the campaign is pondering how it will respond to Begich’s challenge.
“We already report more than we’re required to report,” McKeever said, pointing to another area of financial disclosure — campaign contributions.
Stevens discloses the names of campaign donors regardless of the amount even though U.S. Senate candidates are not required to name donors who give $199 or less.
“The real issue in the campaign, of course, is who is able to represent Alaska in Washington, D.C.,” McKeever said.
Begich press secretary Julie Hasquet said her candidate would consider releasing a full list of donors if Stevens discloses all of his personal finances.
“Once again, we’d ask Senator Stevens, when he gets asked difficult questions, to stop trying to change the subject,” Hasquet said. “Ted Stevens’ main opponent in this race is Mark Begich, and Mark Begich’s main opponent is Ted Stevens. I think most Alaskans recognize that, and surely Ted Stevens does as well.”
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its time these crooks report to the penny,and after .99 cents thro them out of office.the oil industery counts pennys and makes billions of dollars, i wonder how much they really steal from us by taken dollars ???????????
...everyone is ready to throw Stevens under the bus...I will say this until the "cows come home"...it's better the devil you know than the devil you don't know. Be very, very careful in this election...
Its too late for us, so what about our children and grandchildren,,, TERM LIMITS... keep from making Washington D.C. a very expensive retirement home... what a shame...
begich is a LIBERAL and he is from ANCHORAGE! how many more red flags do you need? no term limits unless every state has the same limit laws.
Gotta go with the devil I don't know. I think Mark Begich will serve and represent us well.
Stevens supports the war - but not the veterans, Republicans seem to think that wounded vets are a cost of doing business that they can't be held responsible for.
Begich gets my vote!
Suomi: If it's federal money you're after, it might help to have at least one member of our delegation in the majority party. We're not going to see a Republican majority again for quite a while.
with the current popularity ratings of congress (worse then the president's) it won't be long before the republicans are the majority again.
We don't need another Demon-ocrat Senator in Washington that doesn't have a clue about the war on terror......not to mention if the godless democrats win a veto proof majority we will be at the mercy of a socialist , tax us to death government....to wit...CARBON taxes....Carbon! What plants use to create OXYGEN....Hellooooo Anybody home? We need Carbon dioxide to survive!
we are now at a stage where mere facts, reason and truths are powerless in the face of the global warming propaganda.
Global warming is being championed by scientists and other environmentalists whose careers and funding requires selling the public on global warming.
It is in the hands of climatologists and other related scientists who are highly motivated to look in one direction only
We don't need to give more power to Harry Reed and company to implement this deceitful carbon tax and a whole bunch of other schemes to destroy our freedoms and independance...
Begich, stay in Los Anchorage where u belong
Polarmark, you must not be following the news very closely. Congress's overall approval rating is not a useful predictor. You have to look at individual races.
Consider: The Republicans keep losing special elections (in historically Republican districts), the RNC's fundraising apparatus is in disarray, they're having a hard time finding strong candidates to run for open seats, and GOP incumbents are announcing their retirements left and right. Five Republican senators are retiring (vs. zero Democrats) and more than 20 Republican reps are retiring (vs three Democrats). Overall, the Republicans are almost guaranteed to lose at least a handful of seats in each house, and there is no realistic scenario in which they could retake either.
Does it make sense for us to have our entire delegation in the minority, especially when we might have a Democratic president as well?
Bulls, what have you been puffing? Oh, carbon.
Ted Stevens is no longer useful to people from this State. He did his best to bring home the pork while he could, but he is corrupt and made his money off of us. From day one he was bought by big oil, and the Native people are not intellectual enough to know they have been had by him. We have no hunting and fishing rights. He made sure we did not have any rights and gave it to rural people, no matter who they are. A common criminal in a village has as much rights as those of us practicing our culture as best we can. All he left is a way for big oil to keep taking from us, until they have it all, resources and our lands. Anybody other than Ted in office is fine with me, he is corrupt and arrogant, and big money owns his soul.
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