Colin Powell Vouches for “Sterling” Sen. StevensAfter nearly forty years in the Senate, there probably aren’t many people in Washington that Ted Stevens doesn’t know.
Sen. Dan Inouye of Hawaii testified yesterday, and today the defense continued its parade of character witnesses, calling former Secretary of State Colin Powell to the stand, who testified to Stevens’ “sterling” character.
From The Hill:
On the stand, Powell called Stevens “a master appropriator” and “a great defender of Alaska’s interests.” He said the senator’s reputation could be summed up in one word: “sterling.”“With Sen. Stevens, I always had a guy who could tell me when I was off-base, tell me when I had no clothes on — figuratively,” he said.
In the late 1980s, Powell said he worked long hours with Stevens, sometimes until “2 or 3 in the morning,” as they worked with Democrats to find ways to support freedom fighters in Latin America. Powell described Stevens as a tough but practical appropriator who forced him to have his facts straight when making a request for more money, including in the late 1980s when the government was trying to build up the Army.