Senator's fingerprints are all over Alaska
By Kyle Hopkins | Anchorage Daily News
He's the "Alaskan of the Century." The guy the state's major airport is named after. Our "Uncle Ted."
In Alaska, U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens -- the man who was three heartbeats from the presidency and whom the feds indicted on corruption charges Tuesday -- is as powerful as it gets.
From the price of groceries in far-flung villages to military base expansion, Native health care, road construction and who owns Alaska's fish, Stevens' fingerprints have been on nearly every facet of Alaskan life for decades.
Between 1995 and 2008 alone, Stevens helped bring Alaska about 1,450 projects worth roughly $3.4 billion in federal spending.
That's according to Citizens Against Government Waste, a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group that sees such spending as anything but a point of pride. They gave him the "Hogzilla" award in 2006.
But what critics call pork, many grateful Alaskans see as gravy.
Read the complete story and more on the indictment of Sen. Ted Stevens at adn.com.
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