Week #9, Blog #1

As of 12:45pm on 10/28/08 Fox News is covering a statement that Senator John McCain made that Senator Ted Stevens should resign his Senate seat and scuttle his re-election campaign. Senator McCain made the following statement on the campaign trail, "It is clear that Senator Stevens has broken his trust with the people and that he should now step down. I hope that my colleagues in the Senate will be spurred by these events to redouble their efforts to end this kind of corruption once and for all."

Senator Stevens has been convicted of seven felony corruption charges by a grand jury in Washington D.C. Stevens now only has a week to go in his campaign which will be his eighth full six year term. He was previosuly appointed in 1966 following the death of Senator Bob Bartlett. Stevens is the longest serving Republican currently in the Senate. He has been in the Senate for forty-two years. He maintains that he is innocent and will appeal the decision. He has no plans to step down or recede his campaign.

I believe that the culture of corruption runs rampant in Washington and in other state legislative bodies through-out our country. Somehow some of these men and women feel that they are above the law which is fact they are not. If anything I believe that they should be held to a higher standard because they are in public office and are an icon through-out our country. Stevens should not step down or cancel his campaign for another term. We should let the judicial process function and then see where it goes from there. Even if he wins another term next week the Senate could expel him from the chamber with a 2/3 vote by the full Senate. I believe that this unlikely to happen but never say never...