Lord Acton said, "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Meet Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, the powerful Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. You might find him zipping in and out of Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage. For the last 35 years, Stevens has been in the United States Senate fleecing the taxpayers of this fair land for his own benefit--oh, and for the benefit of some folks in Alaska, too.

But the Ted Stevens story is less about Ted Stevens than it is about the cesspool our Congress has become. Incumbents are entrenched like never before--over 98 percent reelection rates cycle after cycle. Rarely are incumbents even seriously challenged. No term limits. No process to recall them.

And the system pays awesome rewards. It is not hard to see how it works, what it takes to stay in office and to make yourself a bundle of dough in the process.

A recent Los Angeles Times article details how Senator Stevens has invested in sweetheart deals, which made him a millionaire, while he in turn steered hundreds of millions of our tax dollars to these same partners. One partner told the Times, "Clearly, a phone call from Senator Stevens does not hurt. But there was no quid pro quo, plain and simple."

Welcome to Washington folks.

In several investments, Stevens was not required to take the same risk all the other investors faced. "I am a passive investor," Stevens argues in his defense. "I am not now nor have I been involved in buying and selling properties, negotiating leases or making management decisions." In other words, the Senator doesn?t even have to do any work to become a millionaire!

Yet, what Stevens brings to the table is the ability to bestow enormous favors on his business partners. Favors paid for by you and me--the American taxpayers. As powerful head of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Stevens sits on top of $800 billion in federal discretionary spending.

"If I want to invest at home, with the things I've done in 35 years, I would have a conflict with anything..." the Senator recently explained. "Now whether that conflict is sufficient to become a violation of ethics rules is another matter."

The Los Angeles Times also reported on the involvement of the Senator?s wife and brother-in-law in various business relationships with a number of Alaska companies showered by the Senator with our tax dollars. And Stevens?s son, Ben, is a lobbyist. "It seems every major interest in Alaska has found a reason to hire the son of the powerful senator who misses few opportunities to help them," the Times reported last June.

Of course, Stevens is far from alone in making favorable policy for interests that employ relatives. The Los Angeles Times called it "an increasingly widespread pattern in Washington: Senior senators doing favors for special interests that pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in lobbying and consulting fees to the senators? children, spouses and other relatives." The Times? list includes Senators Daschle, Lott, Boxer, Breaux and Hatch and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.

There are more ways to bribe politicians and for politicians to shake down interests, Horatio, than dreamt of in your campaign finance laws.

"I have not done my job just to make money for myself or Catherine, or for any of our family," Stevens responded.

No. Of course not, Mr. Senator. It wasn?t just for your enrichment. Much as a bank robber who divides the money with his fellow crooks certainly cannot be accused by responsible commentators of committing the crime for purely selfish reasons.

Yet, is Stevens? whole parade of pork and sundry conflicts of interest (so richly imbued with the appearance of corruption) really even newsworthy? I?ve reported on dozens of similar actions by other congressmen in my Common Sense e-letter, available free to all freedom-loving Americans. In fact, it is difficult to keep up with all the sleaze in Congress.

After the defeat of the pork-laden energy bill, Robert Novak wrote: "More now than at any time since I started covering Capitol Hill in 1957, Congress is a giant, bipartisan, bicameral marketplace."

How did we get here? The Ted Stevens story is illustrative of the systemic problems. Stevens has spent the last 35 years in the U.S. Senate, but has never won an election to the U.S. Senate except as an incumbent. Twice he ran for the office and was defeated. Then, in 1968, Stevens was appointed to the Senate and has stayed there ever since. He has fared quite well as an incumbent, with the power of the federal Leviathan behind him.

In 2002, his campaign spent $2.8 million against an opponent who spent $893 and some-odd cents. In 1996, he had no major party opposition at all, but spent $2.7 million to run for reelection. In 1990, his challenger spent $445 to Stevens? $1.6 million. At least in 1984, he faced stiffer financial competition--only outspending his opponent by a little more than 14 to 1.

But don?t get the idea that Stevens? fundraising prowess has put him in power. Clearly, it is the reverse, that power has put money in his campaign account. And denied money to his opponents.

Stevens?s toughest challenge may have came in 1996 in the Republican primary. The challenger was a wealthy and well-respected Anchorage banker named David Cuddy. Cuddy, a conservative reformer, wanted to end the reign of pork. Continued...