Didn't Ted Stevens get CONVICTED and defeated for this reason?

Hat tip: Craig Hickman

From The New York Daily News:

Conflict-of-interest issues grow for President Obama's new urban czar Adolfo Carrion
BY Greg B. Smith
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
President Obama's new urban czar, Adolfo Carrión, admitted Tuesday he has not paid an architect who designed a renovation of his Bronx home two years ago.

Updated Wednesday, March 11th 2009, 9:15 AM

That presents conflict-of-interest issues because at the time the architect was a key player in a Bronx development that needed approval from Carrión, then the Bronx borough president.

In a statement to the Daily News, Carrión admitted he hadn't paid architect Hugo Subotovsky to design a porch and balcony for his City Island home.

The renovation occurred more than two years ago. The last document filed with the city Buildings Department is dated Feb. 2, 2007. The work permit on the job expired that same month.

Most documents stamped by Subotovsky on Carrión's house renovation date even further back, to October and November 2006, including a blueprint for the extensive work done on the front of Carrión's house.

In his e-mailed response to The News, Carrión claimed the architect spent 51.5 hours on the renovation for a total bill of $3,627.50, "based on their usual rates." That works out to about $71 per hour.

Read more »

Buh-bye TED! Stevens loses in Alaska!

From MSNBC.com

Stevens loses Alaska Senate seat to Democrat

Associated Press
updated 9 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Convicted Sen. Ted Stevens lost his re-election bid to Democrat Mark Begich on Tuesday after the last large batch of votes was counted.

The longest-serving Republican in the history of the Senate trailed Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich by 3,724 votes after Tuesday's count of about 24,000 absentee and contested ballots.

That's an insurmountable lead with only about 2,500 overseas ballots left to be counted.

Rest of article at link above.

This is a positive for so many reasons.
1. Stevens is a felon.
2. Stevens has been a GOP thorn in the side of progress.
3. This nails shut any chance for Caribou Barbie to slide into the Senate.
4. Crooked #($* didn't win out this time.

Ted Stevens And The Bridge To Federal Prison?

Ted Stevens, the longest serving Republican Senator in history, has been indicted on Federal corruption charges (7 felony counts). Stevens was caught taking gifts from an Alaskan oil services company and then lying to authorities in an effort to cover it up. (It's probably no coincidence that the Republicans have been so adamant about drilling for oil in Alaska). This could not have come at a worse time for Republicans. It will surely remind voters of "The Republican Swamp" of corruption that helped fuel the mid-term election rebuke from American voters back in 2006.

What was once a safe Republican Senate seat in Alaska will now be up for grabs in November, with Democrat and Mayor of Anchorage Mark Begich looking to unseat Stevens. The Democrats will need all of the Senate seats that they can get this November to get over the Liar-berman obstructionist problem, and to gain the 60 votes they need. I don't think they will quite get to 60, but the closer the better. There are a handful of Moderate Republican Senators who may be willing to join Democrats and a Democratic President in order to get things done.

The fact that Stevens is the longest serving Republican Senator carries a certain level of symbolism...the kind of symbolism that Republicans probably don't want.

Hopefully this will cause the media to finally take a look at other Republican members of Congress and to take another look at John McCain in particular to examine his relationship with lobbyists, especially those who have been connected with his campaign.

I am hoping that the Stevens case drags on well into 2009, after Bush leaves office. That way, Bush won't be able to set his buddy free. Hopefully, if Obama can win in November by some strange miracle, Stevens will actually have to face punishment. Unless Obama sets him free. Hopefully Obama is not going to bring that kind of "Change" to the White House. Of course Stevens's lawyers will site his age as a reason to keep him out of prison (which would be club Fed anyway).

Read the Indictment (pdf)

More from NPR

Links From Around the Sphere, August 1, 2007

Stories that have been on the 'Mirror On America' Radar

1. USA: The Beacon of Freedom? See a report on the experience of protesters in Illinois.

2. Special U.S. Inspector for Iraq, Stuart Bowen, reports problems with Reconstruction. Iraqis are not taking care of their responsibilities.

3. Finally there has been some movement on Darfur.

4. Errington Thompson has more on the investigation of Republican Sen. Ted Stevens. Also covered here on Mirror On America thanks to Rikyrah.

5. Juan Cole offers his expert analysis on the latest in Iraq. More information from the Daily Kos.

6. Our friend Pelican1 from Independents Unbound tries to make sense of the Bush Mafias idiotic policy towards the Middle East. Lord Have Mercy!

7. This is why The Democrats will need more than just the Iraq War to get into the White House. This has been the prevailing trend for the last couple of years. Even in bad times, Republicans still lead in a General election matchup with Democrats. See Post from Central Sanity.

8. The ladies over at WhatAboutOurDaughters.org are still busy. D.L. Hughley is planning to do a show in the wrong city later this month. I have a feeling that he won't be coming back to Texas after this next trip.

9. While our soldiers die and get maimed in order to buy time for some nonexistent political reconciliation to take place in Iraq, the Iraqi Parliament will be on a month-long vacation. Bush should be the one to personally notify the families of each soldier who dies in Iraq in August...and he should explain why they had to die.