What's In a Man's Reputation?

Justice Dept. Seeks To Void Stevens' Conviction

There are many metaphors that are exceedingly applicable in my opinion on this matter. The English idiom of "you can't unring a bell" comes immediately to mind. But something like this goes much deeper than that in my opinion.

But perhaps, John Wooten said it best when he said:

"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are."

And if there has been any case in recent memory where what people thought someone was led to their demise and the end of a career? What better example than that of former Alaskan US senator Ted Stevens.

A man who literally was there when Alaska was nothing but a wilderness and territory. He saw it transformed into the 49th state and then he mentored it into the twentieth century as a US senator representing the people of Alaska.

But all that ended tragically last fall, when under federal indictment for bribery and malfeasance in office and a litany of offenses, he was stripped of the US senate seat that he had held since 1968.

Now, months after the fact, the Justice Department has decided to drop all charges against the former senator. Attorney General Eric Holder summed it up like this earlier today when he said......"After careful review, I have concluded that certain information should have been provided to the defense for use at trial," Holder said in a statement Wednesday. "In light of this conclusion, and in consideration of the totality of the circumstances of this particular case, I have determined that it is in the interest of justice to dismiss the indictment and not proceed with a new trial."

There is irony here in my opinion. The Justice Department has just perpetrated one of the grandest episodes of individual injustice ever against a sitting United States senator? And there isn't even any public apology for the crime. And it is a crime, just as assuredly as the crimes that Ted Stevens has now had dismissed against him.

Nothing. Just a statement from the attorney general that says in essence....."we screwed up, therefore we have no case." And that is the end of it let's move on. But what of Ted Stevens' Reputation?

The American people should be outraged and worse than that, the people of Alaska should be outraged. Ted Stevens may be and may have been a lot of things, not the least of which being a fraternal member of one of the most corrupt bodies on this planet (the US senate), but he isn't a thief or a crook.

At least if he was or is? The most formidable justice department on the face of this earth couldn't prove it. Therefore, as they say in legal parlance, the issue is "moot."

But the tragedy lingers. There is no justice in what what done to Ted Steven or others who were victims of our last election cycle. From the governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin to US senator Norm Coleman who is still battling for his seat and suffering the same and similar character assassinations that Ted Stevens did at the hands of liberal American media.

And now Ted Stevens is left as former US Secretary of Labor Ray Donovan once lamented after his acquittal on trumped up charges that ended his career.

Donovan was famously quoted afterward of asking.....
"Which office do I go to get my reputation back?"

You don't and that is the point.