Aside from having a governor who charged the state for multiple family jaunts with modified expense reports along the way, and RNC donors for a new wardrobe, Alaskans also have a Senator whose staffers function both as policy mavens and gift-wrapping peons.

The ADN calls out the abuse of power:

Undisputed evidence shows that Sen. Stevens allowed his wife, a highly-paid Washington, D.C., lawyer, to use his government-paid Senate staff as a personal errand service. Catherine Stevens used her husband’s Senate staff to keep the family checkbook. She used the senator’s staff to pay her credit card bills from luxury stores like Saks Fifth Avenue. Catherine Stevens had the senator’s staff make runs to an ATM to fetch cash for her. The senator’s staff wrapped Christmas gifts for the Stevens, walked the family dog, fed the family cat, cut the family lawn, paid personal parking tickets and handled overdue personal video rental bills. Much of that help came from someone who reportedly cost U.S. taxpayers $126,000 a year, supposedly to perform official U.S. government business. Using Senate staff as a household helper is a clear violation of Senate ethics rules, as stated in the Senate Ethics Manual.

Not only has Sen. Stevens tried to blame his own piss poor ethical lapses on his wife, but his snippy demeanor on the stand only served to highlight his own highly inflated personal opinion of himself and his entitlement to it.

The jury is deliberating evidence on his criminal charges, but the verdict on Stevens appears to already be in: too much ego, not nearly enough humility or common sense. And an utter disregard for ethics altogether. Does this mean voters will send him down the toobz come November?

(YouTube — a Connie Francis classic)