On Ted Stevens
Former Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) reportedly died yesterday in a plane crash during a killing fishing trip. In the wake of his death, the media will likely avoid accurate contentious discussion about Stevens’ record. So, we give you the real Ted Stevens, by his own deeds:
Ted Stevens repeatedly voted to reduce the government’s program roster and balance sheet — unless his own priorities were at stake. Ted Stevens used his position on the Appropriations Committee to funnel billions of dollars in federal revenue to his own state, making Alaska the highest recipient of federal money per capita in the entire country by the time he was booted from office in 2008. In doing so, Alaska leeched heavily off of the federal taxes paid by residents of other states. In 2005, apparently the latest year with complete data available, Alaska ranked as the third-worst “recipient state” in the country, receiving $1.83 in federal money for every $1 they paid in federal taxes.
Ted Stevens voted to defund alternative and renewable energy programs. Ted Stevens voted against factoring climate change into federal project planning. Ted Stevens voted repeatedly to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge up to oil drilling and pipeline construction — even despite the fact that geological studies placed the range of retrievable oil and natural gas reserves between none and hardly any. Ted Stevens voted to keep smokestacks exempt from toxic mercury emission regulations. Ted Stevens voted to build roads in old-growth national forests and to open them up for massive logging. In 2007, after years of actively sabotaging meaningful legislative action to combat climate change, Ted Stevens claimed he was “concerned about the human impacts on our climate.”
Ted Stevens voted no on a bill that would have outlawed job discrimination based on sexual orientation. Ted Stevens voted no on a bill that would have added a sexual orientation category to existing hate crimes laws. Ted Stevens voted yes on a constitutional amendment to ban LGBT marriage.
Ted Stevens voted no on a bill that would have provided funding for contraception and education to reduce teen pregnancies. Ted Stevens voted yes on a bill that would have prohibited minors from crossing state lines to receive an abortion.
These are just a few of Ted Stevens’ odious acts, and his death does nothing to mitigate the selfishness, lack of integrity, and dismissiveness that marked his life’s work.
Voting Record Sources: OnTheIssues.org; Wikipedia.org
