Will McConnell Strip Stevens of His Chairmanship Ranking Membership?

by Texas Nate, Thu Nov 06, 2008 at 06:24:50 AM EST

Senate Republican rules are clear that a Senator convicted of a felony is to be stripped of chairmanships. As of today, disgraced but re-elected Senator Ted Stevens retains his Chairmanship Ranking Member status of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.

According to an Oct. 22 report from the Congressional Research Service, however, the House and the Senate have traditionally refrained from bringing expulsion charges if a lawmaker wins reelection after his misconduct is known to voters.

From the report:

"The Senate, in a similar manner as the House of Representatives in relation to its members, has express
reticence to exercise the power of expulsion (but not censure) for conduct in a prior Congress when a senator has been elected or reelected to the Senate after the member's conviction, when the electorate knew of the misconduct and still sent the member to the Senate," wrote Jack Maskell, a legislative lawyer for the research service.

Key graph about Republican rules is here:

Committee Chairmanships and Leadership Positions
No specific or formal Rule of the Senate exists concerning the status of Senator who has been indicted with respect to chairmanships or ranking member status on committees of the Senate. However, the political parties in the Senate may adopt internal conference and caucus rules that may affect a
Senator's leadership and committee positions and assignments. For example, Senate Republican Conference Rules provide for the temporary loss of one's position as the chairman or ranking member of a committee, and the temporary loss of one's leadership position, if the Senator has been indicted for a felony; and if the Senator is convicted, the replacement of the chair/ranking member on the committee.

If the Senate is like the House, these rules were passed in a self-righteous paroxysm in 1994 to show how much cleaner and more ethical the Republican majority was going to be than the old Democratic one. We all know how that turned out.

Does evil old McConnell have any shame? We'll find out if he lets Ted "I have not (really) been convicted" Stevens keep his chairmanship ranking member status.

Tags: Mitch McConnell, Ted Stevens (all tags)

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8 Comments

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Stevens is crusty.

Well, I'll give one thing to that old goat Stevens. He sure has guts to run for re-election right after being convicted. And then to win? I guess it is fair to say that Alaska is safely Republican.

by dMarx 2008-11-06 06:42AM | 0 recs
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If Stevens and Young win

...then we should cut off the spigot of pork and earmarks that flood Alaska every year. If they have so much extra money that they can give $3000 to each citizen, they can pay for their own roads and schools.

It's time to say "thanks but no thanks" to Alaska earmarks.

by existenz 2008-11-06 07:07AM | 0 recs
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Stevens Chairmanship

1) Being a minority member, Stevens isn't a committee chair; just a ranking minority member.

2) If he does win, Stevens will most likely resign.  His position in the short lame duck session is of little concern to me.

by Sandwich Repairman 2008-11-06 06:52AM | 0 recs
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you don't know Stevens very well

He would never resign, period. He has no shame and thinks he is an innocent man. So he will stay in the Senate as long as he can.

It all depends on whether the Republicans join Democrats in ousting him, or if they decide to wait for the appeals process to complete.

by existenz 2008-11-06 07:08AM | 0 recs
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Re: you don't know Stevens very well

I worked in the Senate for 3.5 years.  He will be ousted one way or another.  Holding a position as ranking minority member of a committee or subcommittee is not all that important.

by Sandwich Repairman 2008-11-06 07:16AM | 0 recs
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Re: Will McConnell Strip Stevens

Why do you keep saying that Stevens has been re-elected?  According to DKos, Begich is currently expected to take the lead once the provisionals and absentee ballots are counted, and the race hasn't yet been called AFAIK:

"An update from Tom Begich:

Last precincts in  - Mark won them, new numbers are: Begich 103,337 (47%) to  Stevens 106,594 (48%) 100% in. Estimate is 60 - 75 thousand yet to count. We are told 15% are from Juneau which I am trying to confirm. We won 64% of the vote in Juneau."  DKOS

by owlskinner 2008-11-06 08:12AM | 0 recs
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Re: Will McConnell Strip Stevens

It's still tough for him to win:

75,000 * 15% * (64% - 36%) = 3,150

Since he's down by 3,257 by even the most generous estimate, he need more than 50% of the non-Juneau votes.

by khassani 2008-11-06 08:57AM | 0 recs
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Re: Will McConnell Strip Stevens of His

He ain't over until the fat lady sings.  She hasn't sang for Stevens yet.  

by Spanky 2008-11-06 08:44AM | 0 recs

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