(Washington, D.C.) – The nation’s premier taxpayer watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today issued the following statement on the news that Sen. Ted Stevens was found guilty on seven counts of failing to report more than $250,000 in improper gifts he received from 1999 to 2006.  He faces a possible five-year prison sentence on each count.  Sen. Stevens was CAGW’s top Porker during that period of time.    

            “The Stevens trial will go down in history alongside the trials of lobbyists Jack Abramoff and former Rep. Randy ‘Duke’ Cunningham as just another sad, but not surprising spectacle of corruption and cynicism in the nation’s capital,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz.  “The congressional spending process has become rife with examples of politicians skirting the spending rules, skirting the ethics rules and stepping over the line.  Sen. Stevens abused his position of power as the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Committee for years to bilk the taxpayers in order to aggrandize himself and his cronies.  He did so with impunity and arrogance, until today.  Astonishingly, since the Senate does not preclude a convicted felon from serving, Sen. Stevens could win reelection and remain in office.  Members of Congress, who have so far been unwilling to police themselves and stop the grotesque, runaway federal spending spree, ought to view Stevens’ conviction as a cautionary tale.  He will not be the last to get sideways of the law over greed and the unaccountable spending of taxpayer dollars.  In fact, the taxpayers, in their wisdom, have already given their verdict on Congress with a single-digit approval rating,” concluded Schatz.          

            Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.