Federal prosecutors should be investigated themselves after the now-failed case against Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska. Stevens, who served in Congress for 40 years, nearly won re-election despite the federal case successfully brought against him during the 2008 election season. There is no doubt that if the case has been postponed until after the election he would have prevailed.
This instance of prosecutorial abuse is itself the scandal now and should be subject to legal scrutiny. The influence on the conduct of Congressional business is extensive and irremediable. Stevens' ouster has provided something close to a filibuster-proof majority for Democrats. Alaskans, meanwhile, should be furious now that their election decision was prejudiced by rogue prosecutors in Washington, D.C. The state lost a senator with historic clout. The Stevens prosecution also was used to taint other officials with whom he was connected, including Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire--who lost his re-election race, too.
What ideological and political zeal lay behind the pursuit of Stevens? The public needs to know.
Please don't suggest that since the problem arose while G. W. Bush was president there couldn't have been a political motivation. The White House then was terrified about the possibility that it might be seen as second-guessing the "professional" prosecutors. This is only one case, of course, where the Mr. Bush would have been entirely correct to take an interest, and didn't.
The ability to attack your ideological opponents with ethics prosecutions is a terrible power in a democracy; and therefore, misuse of that power is worse than any supposed ethics violations that were under investigation.
Leave a comment