It was DOJ action that changed the course of our nation in 2008 — giving us, for example, ObamaCare.
Flashback to 2008 … you know, the year that Barack Obama was elected.
Well, the DOJ didn’t indict Sen. John McCain for anything … nor did it overtly pave the way for Obama’s election.
But the DOJ did tilt the legislative scales in a defining way.
Who did they indict?
=======
The DOJ indicted Alaska’s Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican Senator in U.S. history. He was indicted during his 2008 re-election campaign.
What were the charges, what were the implications, and how was the case ultimately resolved?
==========
The charges:
The DOJ presented a Federal grand jury with charges accusing Stevens of concealing “lucrative gifts” on his financial disclosure statements, including a Viking gas grill, a tool cabinet and a wooden deck.
It was also alleged that a Stevens-friendly contractor under-charged Stevens for jacking up his mountainside house to put it on stilts and adding a new first floor. Source
There you have it.
No security breaches, no evasion of the Freedom of Information Act, no links to his wife’s charitable foundation (since she didn’t have one).
A Viking grill and a jacked-up house.
Pretty garden-variety stuff in politics, right?
=========
The small implication:
Dogged by the legal proceedings, Stevens was defeated in his re-election bid by Democrat Mark Begich
=========
The big implication:
Had Stevens retained his Senate seat, Obama wouldn’t have had a filibuster-proof Senate … and he wouldn’t have been able to ram ObamaCare through on a straight party line vote (coupled with later “reconciliation” shenanigans).
And, some speculate, if Obama didn’t have the luxury of a super-majority, perhaps he would have tried harder to work on a bi-partisan basis, rather than just declare “I won” and start the divisive jamming process.
=========
The ultimate resolution:
Stevens was convicted of failing to report improper gifts.
But, long after the political damage was done …
Obama’s Attorney General Eric Holder (yes, you read that right) moved to have the verdict set aside in 2009 after finding widespread problems in the prosecutors’ handling of the case.
Specifically, it was revealed that “Federal prosecutors knowingly concealed exculpatory evidence and allowed false testimony to be presented at trial in their overzealous pursuit of criminal charges against Sen. Stevens.” Source
==========
The lesson to be learned:
It takes 60 votes to get anything done in the Senate.
Obama had 60 votes for awhile … thanks, in part, to the Steven’s fiasco.
The GOP is nowhere close to 60, and Dems vote as a block.
So, there’s not much the GOP can do unless the nuke the legislative filibuster.
Don’t be surprised to see McConnell pull that trigger …
==========
#HomaFiles
Follow on Twitter @KenHoma >> Latest Posts
==========
The Homa Files 
July 19, 2017 at 11:47 am |
I’ve managed to avoid the inevitable political confrontations by biting my tongue from time to time.. However, I did interject in a frenzied conversation with some Hillary supporters a few months after Trump won, that I was indeed a deplorable. Hardly worth it. But it’s getting harder and harder to listen to the insane rhetoric – and hatred – from the left and remain silent. The hypocrisy and arrogance from the left is sickening.And they want to thwart the voter fraud investigation? Let’s hear more about that!