Ted's back at work...with a whole new media posse

Here's NBC Today's coverage this morning:



per Alaska Politics Blog:

Sen. Ted Stevens returned to work Wednesday morning as though he hadn't been indicted the day before -- although he had a bigger-than-usual crowd of reporters and photographers trailing him all day.

Stevens will be arraigned at 1 p.m. tomorrow in federal court here in Washington. Federal arraignment hearings are typically short, and about all that happens is that defendants face their charges and then are asked by a judge to enter a plea.

If I only had a port key to D.C...(I felt a geek reference was needed to break the tension).

So, since the indictment:

- Ted put out a statement.

"I am innocent of these charges and intend to prove that," he said in a prepared statement. "I have proudly served this nation and Alaska for over 50 years."

- Ted stepped down from his "ranking Republican" positions on committees.

- Ted decides not to resign from his Senate seat, in spite of calls to do so from the Democratic Party. (Yet, he threatened to resign when he wasn't getting his way.)

- And ever the unselfish man, Ted decides to remain in the Senate race, much to the delight of his rivals' campaign managers. (Because only the campaign managers/workers feel "glee" over this. The candidates, Republican and Democrat, are properly respectful and sad...we swear! OK...maybe not Ray Metcalfe...)

For the next 100 days, this is going to be one hell of a rollercoaster ride...as if it wasn't already!

Speaking of "Abuse of Power"...

There were many media folks out there trembling with anticipation for the Governor's Press Statement regarding the Halcro accusations/PSEA Press Conference. Imagine everyone's surprise when spokesperson Sharon Leighow's former radio partner Dan Fagan was reading this Press Release on the air at 3:38...before anyone else even received it!

A certain Program Director immediately called Leighow and was told that the release wasn't ready but would be in a few minutes. When he asked why Fagan was reading it, he got the cold shoulder on later calls to Leighow. He then called Janice Mason (the Governor's scheduler...can we say "where the real power lies?") who said she didn't have it either. When he informed her that Dan Fagan had just read it on the air, she made some exclamation and went to investigate. About 5 minutes later, the statement came from Leighow's office to his direct email.

It seems that others were also left in the lurch by Leighow when it came to the release. (***UPDATE*** While the Program Director got his about 4:05 PM--after he contacted Janice Mason and she seemed as surprised as he--one reporter didn't get his until 7:10 PM!!!)

Interestingly, the ones I know of were all folks who have been publicly friendly/supportive of a certain person who has a rather large defamation lawsuit in the works against Leighow and Fagan (among others).

Coincindence?

If Sharon Leighow is trying to earn badges on her road to "Evil Overlord" status she's already halfway there...she's got the "Evil" down pat. She just needs a lot of help with the "Overlord" part. I would highly recommend that she reads "The Top 100 Things I'd Do if I Ever Became an Evil Overlord" in order not to crash and burn early:

48. I will treat any beast which I control through magic or technology with respect and kindness. Thus if the control is ever broken, it will not immediately come after me for revenge.

I think this might qualify, if you think of "access to the Governor" as "magic or technology."

Sharon, ask your boss how well that whole "alleged" "treating-people-badly-through-revenge" thing is working for her.