Former Sen. Ted Stevens was confirmed dead at the site of a plane crash in Alaska. The plane was carrying eight other passengers. Four other people involved in the crash are also confirmed dead.

Here at the Sunlight Foundation we spent some time covering the tail end of Stevens' career, which was plagued by a series of corruption scandals. Stevens' career in Congress ended after he was found guilty on seven felony counts of failing to report gifts from an oil services company. Stevens was defeated for reelection in 2008 and, in 2010, found the charges against him thrown out due to gross malfeasance by Justice Department prosecutors.

This was just one aspect to the career of the longest serving Republican in Senate history. While Stevens may have been totally crooked, he is an absolutely fascinating character who nearly single-handedly made Alaska into a state. He was the last pioneer politician and I'm glad that through looking at his finances I got to learn more about an incredibly interesting, soon-to-be artifact of American politics.

Talking Points Memo has a good obit for Stevens. His Wikipedia page also has a nice summary of his career. The Open Congress wiki page also has a good history. Here's hoping he has a safe trip down that final series of tubes.

Late last year, Sen. Ted Stevens was convicted on seven felony counts of making false statements on his personal financial disclosures. The octagenarian had received numerous gifts from an oil services company executive, including a full remodeling of his "chalet," a modest house in Girdwood, Alaska. Stevens wasn't helped in his trial by his cantakerous appearance on the stand and was not only convicted, but subsequently lost reelection, despite having nearly everything in Alaska named after him. Unless this is some cruel April Fool's joke, Stevens is in for some good news:

The Justice Department on Wednesday asked a federal judge to drop all charges against former Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska.

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In a move first reported by NPR, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said he has decided to drop the case against Stevens rather than continue to defend the conviction in the face of persistent problems stemming from the actions of prosecutors.

"After careful review, I have concluded that certain information should have been provided to the defense for use at trial," Holder said in a statement Wednesday. "In light of this conclusion, and in consideration of the totality of the circumstances of this particular case, I have determined that it is in the interest of justice to dismiss the indictment and not proceed with a new trial."

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With more ugly hearings expected, Holder is said to have decided late Tuesday to pull the plug. His decision is said to be based on Stevens' age — he's 85 — and the fact that Stevens is no longer in the Senate. Perhaps most importantly, Justice Department officials say Holder wants to send a message to prosecutors throughout the department that actions he regards as misconduct will not be tolerated.

I'll have to admit that while this is somewhat shocking, it isn't that much of a surprise. The prosecution was a disaster during the case and, if Stevens had not taken the stand and impugned his own integrity, I couldn't imagine a jury going along with such a terrible prosecution. Apparently this has been a serious problem at Justice over the past few years and this is Attorney General Holder putting his foot down.

As lawmakers gain seniority in Congress their influence grows and with that growth comes a sort of manifest destiny to expand. Staffers jump to K Street and begin lobbying on the lawmaker's pet issues or for the pet industries of the lawmaker's state. After a few decades the lawmaker has built a nice little empire with dozens of little territories in the private sector. So, what happens when the emperor is deposed, and the territories are left to themselves. That is the first question all in Ted Stevens-land must ask themselves:

With 40 years of seniority on important Senate committees, Mr. Stevens, a Republican, wielded unrivaled power over industries like fishing, forestry, communications, aviation and the military, steering billions each year to pet Alaskan projects like Eskimo whaling, missile defense and even salmon-based dog treats called Yummy Chummies.

His power made his good will a valuable commodity on K Street, where many lobbying firms are located. During the past five years, just nine lobbyists and firms known primarily for their ties to Mr. Stevens reported over $60 million in lobbyist fees, not including other income for less direct “consulting.” The most recent person to leave his staff to become a lobbyist reported fees of more than $800,000 in just the last 18 months.

So when Alaskan voters narrowly rejected Mr. Stevens’s bid for re-election last month, just days after a jury convicted him of federal ethics violations, it was in some ways like the closing of the plant in a company town.

Of course, Sen. Stevens' Washington empire is not the only one suffering. Rep. John Dingell, recently deposed by Rep. Henry Waxman from his perch atop the all powerful Energy & Commerce Committee, built himself a large following in the lobbying world over his 53 years in Congress. Other lawmakers who have built large K Street empires include Ted Kennedy, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Max Baucus, and Arlen Specter.

For a whole database of staffers-turned-lobbyists check out the Open Secrets Revolving Door Database.

Ted Stevens is toast; Hawaii is the Big Kahuna; and K Street says hello and goodbye. Today's news round-up below:

Down the tubes. Sen. Ted Stevens did not become the first convicted felon to win election to the Senate, as was previously thought. After counting all the votes (that's always a good idea), Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich became the first Democrat to win election to the United States Senate in 30 years (the previous Democrat being Mike Gravel). Stevens was the longest serving Republican in Senate history and not only shaped modern Alaska, but helped it to win statehood when he worked in the Eisenhower administration. The Alaska Daily News has an article on "The rise and fall of Sen. Ted Stevens." I suggest you read it.

With Stevens out and Sen. Robert Byrd stepping down as Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Hawaii is poised to become the Big Kahuna in Washington. Chief among the reasons that Hawaii is set to high-jump over the competition is that the frail 90 year old Byrd is being replaced as Appropriations Chair by the spry 84 year old Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye. Hawaii already gets its fair share of federal money, including huge sums from earmarks.

With Democrats ascendent in Washington, K Street is kicking their GOP lobbyists to the curb or leaving them lonely in their offices with little to do. Meanwhile, frosh Democratic lawmakers are being introduced to business lobbyists in process not too different from an arranged marriage. Two young calves for a vote on the farm bill. "'Introductions are being made to the business community of key moderates coming into Congress, so we can get an early start building relationships,' one Democratic lobbyist said."

In some ways it is unbelievable to think that a candidate for the United States Senate, fresh off of seven felony convictions, could win reelection. Never underestimate the power of resentment and incumbency. At the moment it appears that felonious Sen. Ted Stevens will be reelected to an eighth term. Sen. Stevens joins a few other scandal plagued lawmakers winning reelection.

Stevens' congressional partner, Rep. Don Young, under investigation by the Justice Department for various earmark schemes, appears headed back to Congress. Also, Rep. William Jefferson, facing a 16 count indictment on corruption charges, won handily in his New Orleans district. (Update: Jefferson's election was actually delayed due to new rules in Louisiana related to elections and hurricanes.)

Two Florida lawmakers embroiled in scandals did fail to win reelection. Rep. Tom Feeney, one of the last of the Abramoffian congressmen, lost badly. Feeney had to cut a commercial during the campaign in which he apologized for going on a golfing trip to Scotland that was secretly paid for by Jack Abramoff. Freshman Florida Rep. Tim Mahoney, caught in a TMZ style adultery scandal, was crushed in his attempted reelection.

Despite his likely victory, Sen. Stevens will be expelled, or forced to retire, from the U.S. Senate. As Yoda might say, "Convictions on felony counts do not a Senator make." Speeding up the process may be the desire for Republicans to finally purge their ranks of the members tainted by corruption. Republican Sen. John Ensign has already expressed the likely position of the Republican caucus, stating that expulsion would not wait until after Sen. Stevens' appeal process is complete.

Not much news today. A Chicago congressman gets caught up in a widening local investigation into the political fixing of zoning by developers. Sen. Ted Stevens is still fighting back as more rats jump ship.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez is catching flack in the Chicago Tribune for lobbying Mayor Richard Daley to support a "controversial multimillion-dollar development for a campaign contributor who had just lent the congressman $200,000 in a real estate deal." This all has to do with a development project spearheaded by Calvin Boender, who was involved in the Galewood Yards project. The project that Rep. Gutierrez lobbied in support of was not located in his congressional district. Over the years, Rep. Gutierrez received at least $5,000 in campaign contributions from Boender. The information regarding the congressman's lobbying of Mayor Daley, a letter written on U.S. House stationary dated July 7, 2004,  was obtained as part of a federal grand jury investigation into potential pay-to-play politics in the city's zoning decisions.

Sen. Ted Stevens is doing all he can to fight back against his seven convictions for making false statements on his personal financial disclosures. Today, the Alaska senator asked the Justice Department to begin an investigation into the conduct of the prosecution in his case. Stevens is asking Attorney General Michael Mukasey to appoint an impartial investigator to look into the "numerous, serious constitutional violations" by the prosecution. Meanwhile, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and South Carolina's two Republican senators called for Sen. Stevens to resign his seat.

Sen. Ted Stevens may have been convicted yesterday, but his saga continues. Which occupation saw a 13% rise in wealth over the past year? Congressman! That and more in today's news:

Yesterday, Sen. Ted Stevens became the first sitting senator to be convicted of a felony since Sen. Harrison Williams in 1981. Despite the seven convictions for filing false statements to the government, Sen. Stevens vowed to fight on and appeal his conviction on the grounds that the prosecution was flawed, "I am innocent. This verdict is the result of the unconscionable manner in which the Justice Department lawyers conducted this trial." Stevens' chances in his quest for reelection appear to have dimmed as presidential candidate John McCain, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman John Ensign all rebuked the convicted Alaska statesman. Still standing by Stevens is Alaska's lone representative in Congress, Don Young. Young's endorsement of Stevens' innocence was marred by Young's praise for and comparison of another political figure to Sen. Stevens, "I think he can win. He's the best thing for that, for the Senate. Alaskans know this. [...] I think that's going to be, you know, a matter of opinion. I can remember Richard Nixon, you know, his years of service, what he's done, and everybody were ridiculing him and he ended up being the greatest president in the history of our century." With friends like these...

Over the past year, members of Congress saw their collective wealth increase by 13%, according to personal financial disclosure data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics. McClatchy reports that 2 out of 3 senators are millionaires, while 39% of the entire body of 535 members are also worth more than $1 million. As the paper points out, "Only 1 percent of all Americans are considered millionaires."

MAPLight.org released a study looking at in-state vs. out-of-state campaign contributions to members of the House of Representatives. The findings are noteworthy, "Virtually all House members, 97%, raised more than half of their funds from out-of-district (408 out of 421 members)." Check out the report and this graphic below (which is interactive at the MAPLight site):

Sen. Ted Stevens found guilty on all seven counts against him.

Contrary to rational thought, Sen. Stevens will not have to resign his seat in the Senate. On Nov. 4th, he will face the voters in his bid for reelection to an eighth term. They will decide his fate.

If Stevens were elected to an eighth-term, his future would still be in doubt. The last senator to be convicted of a felony was Sen. Harrison Williams. Michael Stern, in responding to a question I posed that, in light of the conviction, is no longer relevant, provides some excellent background on Williams' case:

The most difficult issue is what happens if Stevens is convicted and re-elected. While the principle of respecting the decision of the voters would weigh heavily against expulsion, there would also be a countervailing tradition that Members of Congress, when convicted, normally resign their offices. If Stevens were not to follow that tradition, the Committee would have to face a serious question of whether to expel him.

The most relevant precedent would seem to be the case of Senator Harrison Williams, who was convicted on bribery charges in 1980 after being videotaped agreeing to accept a bribe during the Abscam investigation. The Senate allowed Williams to remain in the Senate for more than a year while he pursued post-trial remedies. Some Senators thought expulsion was too harsh a remedy for Williams’s conduct. Eventually, however, the Senate scheduled a vote on expulsion; Williams chose to resign before the vote. As Dennis Thompson notes, “even in a case of almost pure individual corruption, it took unusually explicit evidence and confirmation provided by a criminal conviction to bring the Senate to the point of imposing its ultimate sanction. In most cases the accused’s motives are less evident and his colleagues’ judgment less severe.” D. Thompson, Ethics in Congress 105 (1995).

Based on the Williams precedent, it seems likely that Stevens would not be expelled at least until he had exhausted his post-trial options. If he was at the point of actually going to prison, however, the Senate would presumably expect him to resign. If he failed to do so, at that point the Senate would most likely proceed to expel him.

The last senator to be expelled from the Senate was Sen. Jesse Bright of Indiana. Bright was expelled from the Senate for Confederate sympathy, recognizing Jefferson Davis as President of the Confederacy, and sending letters to Davis regarding the acquisition of munitions.

I'll have more about Stevens in another post.

There is only one lobbying game in town: grabbing for bailout bucks. Changes at the Stevens trial, while more stories unfold regarding the Alaska senator's earmarking. Earmark disclosure in the Senate is still woefully inadequate. All of that in today's news:

What's bad for the goose, is good for the gander. Crisis in business tends to mean profits for lobbyists, especially when the private sector is seeking direct payments from the government. The AP reports that the quest for a piece of the $700 billion bailout pie is currently the only lobbying game in town. I can see the scene now, blue power suits swarming past Albert Gallatin as they enter the Treasury Department building on Pennsylvania Ave. to beg for their clients like so many street corner hobos. I can't wait for those 4th quarter lobbying disclosures.

The judge hearing the charges against Sen. Ted Stevens replaced a juror after attempts to contact a juror on leave for the death of her father failed. The judge instructed the jury to begin deliberations anew today. Meanwhile, the AP reports on another questionable earmark Sen. Stevens sought and received for a campaign contributor Bob Persons. Persons, an Alaska restauranteur, is also the provider of the nearly $3,000 massage chair that is at the center of one of the seven charges filed against the senator. The new earmark revelations show that after seeking $10 million for road projects in Girdwood, Alaska, Sen. Stevens pushed hard for the state transportation agency to use $2.7 million in funds to pave a road connecting directly to the Double Musky Inn, a Cajun restaurant owned by Persons. Stevens insisted that the road paving project be priority number one, despite it ranking sixth in importance on a list of road projects.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Sen. Bob Bennett finally released a list of his defense earmark recipients, but only due to confusion between his office and the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. Unlike in the House, senators are not required to reveal the recipients of earmarks. Instead, they operate on a voluntary disclosure agreement, with 50% of senators revealing who they earmark funds to. Sen. Bennett has not been one of those 50% until now after the subcommittee told his staff that they were going to make the information public also. The subcommittee never did release the earmark information, but Bennett did. The Senate should scrap voluntary disclosure and institute mandatory earmark disclosure requirements as the House has done.

Jury deliberations continue in the Stevens ethics case. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart faces questions about an earmark to a company doing business with Venezuela. Today's news:

Yesterday, the Stevens jury deliberated for the first time and decided to call it a day after 4 hours of what they termed "stressful" negotiations. Today, the jury has already sent three notes to the presiding judge. One note asked for the specifics in the law requiring the reporting of liabilities on financial disclosures. The judge wanted to tell the jury that liabilities with a value of more than $10,000 must be disclosed, but the defense team said that was too specific and asked the jury simply be handed a copy of the requirements. Another note was more serious and could lead to a juror's removal from the trial. A female juror is identified as "being rude, disrespectful and unreasonable” and engaging in "violent outbursts with other jurors". If the juror is removed she will be replaced by an alternate, likely a man in his 20s. The Alaska Daily News covers another aspect of the trial: what happens if Sen. Stevens is found guilty and then wins reelection? I have another question, what does the Senate Ethics Committee do if Sen. Stevens is acquitted?

Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart earmarked funds to a defense firm that previously shipped surveillance equipment to Venezuela, not exactly the best friend of the United States. Phoenix Worldwide Industries President Esquivel Shuler called the pursuit of the earmark, "a shot in the dark for us." Diaz-Balart has faced a number of questions regarding earmarks he sought for large campaign contributors.