U.S. v. Stevens
Senator Daniel Inouye testified that he liked and admired Stevens from the moment
he met him in the 1960s because of their common experiences as World
War II veterans.
"I have never heard of him lying under oath," Inouye said. "I have never known him to lie." "I can assure you his word is good enough to take to the bank," the senator from Hawaii testified. |  |
Senator Orrin Hatch  | Stevens is "one of the strongest, toughest, best, most decent people
I've known in the Senate," said Hatch, the latest of Stevens' famous
friends to come to Washington during a congressional recess to testify
to the senator's character. "If he gives you his word, he'll keep it. He's totally honest," Hatch said.
When asked by defense attorney Brendan Sullivan about Stevens'
reputation among senators, Hatch replied: "I'd rate him at the very
top. He's one of the true lions of the Senate along with my friend Ted Kennedy," the senior senator from Massachusetts. Hatch called Stevens one of the "legends of the U.S. Senate." Stevens is a "very, very solid, decent, fine, honorable, decent man," Hatch said. |
"He was someone whose word you could rely on," said Powell. "He always had the best interest of the country at heart," Powell testified... Former Secretary of State Colin Powell called Alaska Senator Ted Stevns' word "sterling" at the senator's corruption trial. Powell testified Friday that he's known Stevens well for 25 years. The former Army general and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says there has never been any suggestion that Stevens "would do anything that was improper." In Army infantry talk, Powell said Stevens is a man "you take on a long patrol." In cross-examination, Powell said he didn't know anything about the case against Stevens. |  General Colin Powell |
De Varona was the youngest swimmer to compete at the 1960 Summer Olympics, while at the following Olympics, she won gold medals in the 400 meter individual medley and as a member of the 400 meter freestyle relay. In her career, she
set 18 different swimming records, as she retired shortly after the 1964 Olympics. In 1965, de Varona signed a contract with ABC, which made her the first female sportscaster in television history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_de_Varona   | Donna de Varona told jurors at Stevens’
federal corruption trial in Washington that the senator, whom she had
known for 33 years, had become the “go-to person” in Congress for
issues related to Olympic sports and that Stevens had a reputation for
consistency, loyalty, responsiveness and courage. http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=cqmidday-000002975224 Then on redirect, the defense made a
move that would have drawn congratulations from my father, a veteran
trial lawyer, who gave me advice on the way to prepare your character
witnesses for cross-examination. He told me that you needed to get
those witnesses so fired up in your preparation of them that when they
were asked about various bad things alleged about the person they were
testifying in favor of they responded "I don't care. I know this man,
and what I know is that he is great." Defense attorney Alex Romain played it just this way, asking de Varona whether—even assuming all of the things that the prosecutor suggested were true—she would still have a high opinion of Ted Stevens. The Olympic star came through like a champ again for the Senator, declaring that she would still hold her excellent view of him. http://www.alaskadispatch.com/news/4-as-it-happens/226-eat-this-bill-and-dont-be-crazy-.html |
Allen has said that Bob Persons, who served as Stevens'
representative on the renovation of Stevens' modest A-frame cabin into
a handsome two-story home, told him the senator's demand for bills was
a ruse.
But Persons denies ever saying that to Allen, who has pleaded guilty to bribing state legislators. "Did you ever say to Bill Allen, 'Bill, don't worry about getting a bill. Ted's just covering his ass,' " defense attorney Robert Cary asked Wednesday. Laughing, Persons said, "No," and added, "That's crazy." http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/727561.html |  Bob Persons http://www.adn.com/news/politics/fbi/stevens/story/482555.html |
 | << Catherine (Mrs. Senator Ted) Stevens (left) Signed Power of Attorney to Bob Persons from Catherine and Ted Stevens (below, from defense exhibits October 15) >>  |
The testimony from Bowman, Kitka, and Johnson illustrated how much better off Ted Stevens would be if this case was being tried in Alaska instead of Washington, D.C. The defense would not need to work hard to show the Senator’s good deeds at a trial in Anchorage, as it’s difficult to throw a rock in any populated place in the Last Frontier and not hit somebody who is personally aware of Ted Stevens going to bat on behalf of some Alaskan. http://alaskacorruption.blogspot.com/2008/10/campaign-rally-mingles-with-parade-of.html |   |
. . Ted Stevens and daughter Susan Stevens Covich (right): | The defense pointed out again on cross-examination that the repair was
done to new equipment, repeating its theme that much of the apparently
free work VECO did for Stevens on his chalet was make-up work for tasks
that the corporation had done poorly the first time. Jack Billings, another electrician, testified that he also went repeatedly to work on repairs and maintenance at the Stevens chalet at the direction of Bill Allen. Billings said that he would pick up a key to the house from Allen’s secretary. Comically, on one visit Billings drove the 40-45 miles from Anchorage to Girdwood to work on a device that produces instantly hot water. It turned out to be a short stop at the site--Billings found that the problem was that the device was plugged into the garbage disposal, plugged it into the right place, and the “Insta-Hot” device worked. |
|  . .   . .  |
