Corruption runs rampant in Alaska politics

Less than two weeks after Sarah Palin was found guilty of violating a state ethics law in the Troopergate scandal, Senator Ted Stevens (R, Alaska) was found guilty yesterday of seven counts of corruption. This morning, John McCain called for Stevens to step down from the Senate. Stevens said that not only does he NOT intend to resign, but he is also going to continue his current campaign for re-election.

If Alaskans vote to return Stevens, a convicted felon, to the Senate, it will show just how easy it is for anyone, regardless of qualifications, to get elected to public office in their state (i.e. Sarah Palin).

The McCain campaign and Sarah Palin have strangely remained coy about whether Palin supported Stevens re-election and whether she would vote for him now that he's a convicted felon. On MSNBC Tuesday morning, McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds talked around the point when asked whether Palin and Alaskans should vote for a convicted felon:

"I don't expect that they [McCain and Palin) would cast their ballot for Ted Stevens if they were Alaska voters."

Seems like political spin to me, not a straightforward answer. McCain isn't an Alaskan so take him out of the equation. Palin is an Alaskan so she's either going to vote for Stevens, vote for his Democratic opponent, or not vote at all.

Yesterday, after Stevens' conviction was announced, Palin was purposely non-committal in her response to the news saying, "I'm confident Senator Stevens will do what's right for the people of Alaska." Which means what? Palin stopped short of calling on Stevens to resign or drop out of the Senate race against his opponent Mark Begich. Palin has previously declined to reveal whether or not she supported Stevens' reelection bid even though she once served as a director of a Stevens-steered 527 group.

As a fellow law-breaker, perhaps Palin has some empathy for Stevens. As a potential VP of the U.S., she should clearly state whether she supports his continued bid for re-election. It's time for Palin to step up to the microphone and speak the truth for a change.