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Stevens: The Senator Who Cried Libel
On Friday, we noted Sen. Ted Stevens' (R-AK) vague threats to the media, particularly The Anchorage Daily News. If reporters didn't stop tying him and his son to the ongoing Veco bribery scandal, then he'd... well, he didn't say what he'd do. But he'd do something, and those reporters would be sorry.
Well, that wasn't the first time, TPMm Reader DW pointed out to us. Back in 2005, Stevens was furious that journalists were asking about a 2003 earmark of his which gave exclusive fishing rights of pollock to Alaska natives in the remote Aleutian community of Adak. The papers were zeroing in on a lawsuit which claimed that Stevens' son, Ben, had an option to buy 25 percent of the fishery there at the time of the earmark. The FBI has since launched an investigation of the Adak measure among many other entanglements between Stevens, his son, and area fisheries.
Reporters' questions about Adak sent Stevens into a flurry of threats. From the Daily News:
"I know who you're after," he said, wagging his finger at the Daily News reporter in his office. "You're after me, and you've done a good job so far of keeping me tied down."He said the "attack" on him involving his son in effect alleged a criminal conspiracy and was "very close to libel."
And when would that suit come? "I'm going to wait and see just how far you go in libeling me," he replied, according to The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner account of the remarks, which he made to four reporters in his Capitol Hill office. Apparently neither the Daily News, nor KTUU, Anchorage's NBC affiliate, have gone far enough, because Stevens never sued.
But the possible retaliation wasn't limited to just legal reprisal. Stevens lamented that he used to have such a good relationship with the Daily News. But then McClatchy Newspapers came along and bought it. From the News-Miner:
Stevens said he personally helped the Daily News with at least two financial challenges over many decades."Why the subsequent owners, the McClatchy people, have decided to continue this malicious attack on me, I don't know," he said.
"I intend to pursue to find out why it is the owners of these media that I have had a relationship with for over 40 years have changed and decided to maliciously attack me as consistently as they have."
So, what to do? Maybe McClatchy needed to be taught a lesson. Again, from the Daily News:
He said he didn't know why McClatchy Newspapers, the California-based company that owns the Daily News, would pursue the "malicious attack" on him."But people that live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones," he said.
He noted that McClatchy has been sued in Minnesota for allegedly inflating circulation figures for its largest paper, the Star Tribune in Minneapolis.
"I intend to find out if they're pursuing that activity in our state," Stevens said. "And I intend to show them we can fight back."
The Minnesota lawsuit was brought by four advertisers. According to a Wall Street Journal account of the case, a Star Tribune distributor whose husband works for one of the advertisers said a Star Tribune field representative told her to order extra papers to boost circulation numbers.
McClatchy maintains the claim is without merit.
Stevens hinted at some kind of congressional action.
"I believe there should be a law, a federal law, that requires truthful disclosure of circulation, and we intend to pursue that," Stevens said, in the course of venting his ire with reporters.
Is there a connection between his interest in accurate circulation numbers and his anger at media coverage of him?
"I don't see a connection, any more than you see the connection in connecting me with my son. OK? You draw your own conclusions," Stevens said.
Comments (22)
Rusty Austin wrote on November 19, 2007 3:41 PM:There ought to be a senility test for the Senate...
TJ wrote on November 19, 2007 3:44 PM:Surprise, surprise... what do you expect from a republican?!
Finally the fascists are occasionally being caught & also the media is doing a better job, of, doing their job.
warren terra wrote on November 19, 2007 4:25 PM:Time to put Ted and Don on an iceberg and float them out to sea. Do it soon. The ice is melting fast
dcs wrote on November 19, 2007 4:45 PM:Stevens to media: I am a very serious politician and not a caricature. I have many real enemies, they are not imaginary. Please respect my privacy or vague threats.
Anonymous wrote on November 19, 2007 4:49 PM:Why does Barbara Flanders make $150,000 as a clerk for you?
How much equity did Ted have in JL properties on 35th Ave and C Street
Was privatized Elmendorf housing on the Anchorage property tax rolls for the full amount? Did Ted have an equity stake in JL properties at the time of Elmendorf transaction?
Did Mayor Mark Begich also have an equity stake in other JL properties deal concerning lease to federal agencies in Anchorage?
jvill wrote on November 19, 2007 4:53 PM:"I will put the Senate on notice -- and I don't kid people -- if the Senate decides to discriminate against our state and take money only from our state, I will resign from this body," Mr. Stevens vowed. Sounds awfully tempting to us -- but not, apparently, to Mr. Stevens's colleagues; the amendment failed 82 to 15.
-- WaPo editorial, on an amendment to cut funding for the Bridge to Nowhere, 11/23/05
The man has been using the tactic well-known to two-year olds the world over, The Tantrum, successfully for some time now.
Stephen Taufen wrote on November 19, 2007 6:18 PM:Come on Ted, you can do better than that! You know that the libel laws have little to no application on a major political figure. No one defamed you by hurting a private business, did they?, as your only obvious business is ripping off the taxpayers. Why is it that the situation has gotten so bad that you, Ben, Bobby T and all the other culprits can do is act like threatening crybabies? You lied and got caught on it about hearing no opposition during your trip to Alaska with buddy Inouye, who you brought along to praise you (thanks for the signatures guys! I plan to sell that signed article on EBay some day).
But then again, when's the last time you opened your mouth and didn't lie?
Doesn't the Senate building have a corner room you can go pout in?
heh wrote on November 19, 2007 7:22 PM:Ted's problem is that he'a lifer in the Senate. He needs to go and so do the rest of the dinos in that august body.
Kuparuk wrote on November 19, 2007 8:06 PM:We need some people with integrity, you know the kind, honor and trustworthyness; the kind Ted seems to have lost in all the years in the Senate.
HULK MAD!
HULK SMASH!!
Anonymous wrote on November 19, 2007 8:21 PM:I think that could be a plausible threat of blackmail. If you investigate my misdeeds, I will pass legislation that will cause you problems.
Anonymous wrote on November 19, 2007 9:05 PM:
W Action wrote on November 19, 2007 9:12 PM:amazing how mediocre our Alaska media has always been
Stevens: "I'm not connected to my son." A perfect expression of the mind of the typical GOP mobster.
eriday wrote on November 19, 2007 9:51 PM:Stevens said he personally helped the Daily News with at least two financial challenges over many decades.
Anonymous wrote on November 20, 2007 12:23 AM:Complaining to the press because the new owner won't take bribes. I know things are different in Alaska, but come on!
start of Ted's "dunno" years
FBI a/v team probably has videotapes of Ben which will be aired in a trial
Ted's strategy is going be like that Seinfeld episode when he catches his old uncle shoplifting. i am confused i am an old man
can't wait for the Bill Allen Ben audio
must be scary in the bathroom stall- wide stance- with agents in all the booths around you waiting for the inevitable evidence to drop. all the agents have to do is scoop it up with a wide snow shovel and head on down to court! no low key conviction on this one
aklocal wrote on November 20, 2007 1:24 AM:smell RICO
Give Ted a break. Just because he's paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get him.
I still want to know about Don Young and the TEA-LU change. I'd like to see some people testifying under oath about how the bill got changed after being voted on by the House and Senate.
Paul, any updates?
rucreus wrote on November 20, 2007 6:16 AM:Today, 11/19/07 Ted held a presser and then refused to answer reporter's questions.
Happened at a hug-fest in the Diamond Mall in Anchorage. Organized for all Ted's supporters to come on out and 'show' that they love him still.
Should be video soon.
I loved the audio on NPR a couple of days ago, he got so mad he started to stutter in a really high voice.
Sounded exactly like he was channeling Porky Pig.
I really wish I could type a reasonable facsimile. It was maybe the best Ted interview ever.
....and, even I can't make this stuff up.
Dana wrote on November 20, 2007 9:55 AM:Man, I am SO in the wrong profession. As a gay guy, I could have gone into Republican politics, made mega bucks, gotten other hot gay guys to remodel my (many) homes for free, gotten to travel on junkets to Thailand (to check on Democracy), married my fav fag hag, gone on Limbaugh every so often and made $40k per speech.
Then I could have started my own church, and when I wanted to retire I could have come out to my congregation and then gone off to the aforementioned Thailand where I'd been keeping a cute asian bf the past 20 years.
Plus, I'd get to act surly all the time, which would help me in my final career as bad actor in an asian soap opera.
Being a Republican is SO KEWL!
Ted! I wanna know, how do I get a brochure to find out more about joining the Republican Party?
T wrote on November 20, 2007 10:51 AM:There's only one appropriate answer to Ted: "Shut up and sue."
Frank wrote on November 20, 2007 11:16 AM:Surreptiously slipping the pork line item "the bridge to nowhere" forever defined this angry senator's character.
Bringing it to light in a libel suit would do wonders for the public, and the jury.
dan Kurtz wrote on November 20, 2007 11:48 AM:If Teddy Tubes had his way with the truth requirement, I suppose the wing nut media would actually have to stop making shit up.
Dave Bowman wrote on November 20, 2007 12:39 PM:I continue to maintain that the best thing Stevens could do for his constituents, and this country, is to lend his name to the future Ted Stevens White Collar Penitentiary, which would create many needed jobs in Alaska.
Perhaps Bill Allen and VECO could help decorate Ted and Ben's cells!
steve childers wrote on November 20, 2007 1:32 PM:Don't forget after the Adak-pollack (fish) allocation deal, Ted directed 50% of the federal "bypass" mail money to subsidise Adak flights, at the expense of Alaska's remote villages it was supposed to help.