Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), currently on trial for accepting gifts from powerful oil company VECO, netted more than $238.5 million in earmarks for Alaska this year, narrowly edging out Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) as the top-scoring politician. In his four decades in the Senate, 84-year-old Stevens has built a reputation for steering funding his state’s direction, earning the nickname “Uncle Ted.” The ranking, compiled by the non-profit Taxpayers for Common Sense, showed that the special-interest spending included $2 million on a study about hibernation as treatment for battlefield trauma. (Wall Street Journal)
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=174337