I am not surprised at the guilty verdict handed down against US Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) on seven counts of making false statements. And nor should anyone else. I stated earlier in the year that Alaskan Republicans needed to find another candidate, but they failed. It amazes me that people like Ted can imagine that they are not only above the law, but that in the midst of failure they should continue on with their struggle for power when they should be focusing on dealing with the issue at hand… planning a appeal. From The Hill:

The senator vowed to “fight this unjust verdict with every ounce of energy I have” and said he would return home to defend his seat.

“I am innocent. This verdict is[...]

Although we may all support the notion that one is innocent until proven guilty, we (and Stevens) have a responsibility to ensure that we not only keep our noses clean, we do all we can to avoid the appearance of impropriaty.  The fact that Ted managed to get himself in a situation where the FBI [...]

There is little need to retrace the Eliot Spitzer story except to say: he got caught with a prostitute and apparently was using a form of structuring (attempting to get around federal bank reporting rules) in an attempt to hide the source and/or use of funds.  Although a lot of hay is being made about [...]