Alaska Senator Found Guilty Of Corruption

Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, the longest serving Republican in history, has been convicted of seven corruption charges by a jury in Washington. The conviction now brings into question Stevens' chances of winning re-election on November 4 against his Democratic opponent Mark Begich, with whom he has been locked in a dead heat according to recent polls.
The 84-year-old Stevens was reportedly ‘visibly shaken’ as he was convicted of every felony charge he faced with respect to lying about free home renovations and other gifts from a wealthy oil contractor. According to an Associated Press report, Stevens’ monthlong trial revealed that employees for VECO Corp., an oil services company, transformed the senator’s modest mountain cabin into a modern, two-story home with wraparound porches, a sauna and a wine cellar.
Though Stevens said he paid $160,000 for the project, which he believed covered all of the upgrades and did not include any freebies, the Washington jury did not buy his story and with their verdict have likely ended the political career of one of Washington’s most well known figures.