Melanie Sloan issued this response to the conviction of Senator Ted Stevens:

The jury has come to the right conclusion today. Evidence clearly showed that Sen. Stevens had failed to disclose a large number of gifts. Given his conviction for making false statements, the best thing for the people of Alaska is for Sen. Stevens to resign immediately.

Other members of Congress should watch Sen. Stevens fall and take heed. For example, an investigation should be spearheaded into Sen. McCain’s failure to disclose his gambling winnings on his financial disclosure forms.

Even while the House and Senate Ethics Committee continue to turn a bind eye to corruption, the Justice Department does not.

Senator Ted Stevens has been found guilty on all counts.  From the Anchorage Daily News:

A jury has found U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens guilty of all seven counts of lying on his financial disclosure forms.

It is the highest-profile felony conviction in a sweeping four-year federal investigation into corruption in Alaska politics, and an almost unprecedented conviction by a jury of a sitting U.S. senator.

Jurors found that Stevens willfully filed false financial disclosure forms that hid such gifts as the renovations that doubled his home in size. Those gifts, valued at as much as $250,000 over seven years, came mostly from his former friend Bill Allen, the star prosecution witness in Stevens' trial and the former owner of Veco Corp. The oil-field services company was one of Alaska's largest private employers before Allen, caught up in the federal corruption probe, was forced to sell it last year.

There was a major development in the case of Ted Stevens over the weekend.  One of the jurors had to be replaced, which means the jury has to restart its deliberations:

A new juror has been added to the panel deciding whether Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens broke the law by accepting gifts from friends.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan had dismissed a juror who flew to California because of her father's death. The judge on Monday added a new female juror to replace the woman he dismissed.

Because of the switch, the jury must start its deliberations over from the beginning. Jurors had been considering the case since Wednesday.

The jury began deliberating in the the Stevens trial today -- and already, the judge has bee told the deliberations were "kind of stressful":

With Sen. Ted Stevens' fate and possibly the outcome of his re-election race hanging in the balance, jurors in his corruption trial declared themselves stressed out after a few hours' deliberations Wednesday and went home early.

Four hours after U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan declared, "the case is yours," the eight women and four men passed the judge a note.

Things had become "kind of stressful," jurors said, and they asked to go home for some "clarity." They left without reaching a verdict.

Yesterday, jurors in the case against U.S. Senator Ted Stevens heard closing arguments.  They should begin deliberations today.  The Anchorage Daily News has a in-depth article detailing the closing arguments from the prosecution and the defense.  The last word came from prosecutor Brenda Morris, who cross-examined Stevens last week:

Look beyond his title of senator, said Brenda Morris, the lead Justice Department prosecutor on the case, as she concluded the government’s closing arguments.

“I ask you to do something that very few people have done,” Morris said, recalling Stevens’ sometimes snarling responses to her cross examination. “Stand up to him. Behind all that growling, and all those snappy comebacks and that righteous indignation, he’s just a man. He should stand up and take responsibility like everyone who comes into the courtroom. Make him responsible.”

Stevens was eloquent on the stand when he spoke of his own accomplishments, Morris said. But when he was asked about the renovations, she said, “he started stuttering and sputtering. Because he can’t answer that because what he was telling you nonsense.”

More than the other two lawyers, Morris tried to connect personally with the jury, asking them to think what it would be like to talk about the case in a friend’s kitchen.

“Don’t leave your common sense at the door,” she said.

Recalling all the times Stevens said that he was surprised to find items left by Allen, Morris said: “Maybe since the defendant lives so close to the North Pole, maybe Santa and his elves came down and did this work and completed it. He had no idea.”

Last week, when the wife of Senator Ted Stevens was on the witness stand in her husband's corruption trial, she expounded upon the work performed for the couple by one of Senator Stevens' staffers, Barbara Flanders:

And prosecutors, in their cross-examination, portrayed her and her husband as abusers of the senator's official staff.

"Did Barbara Flanders" -- one of the senator's aides -- "walk your dogs?" prosecutor Brenda Morris demanded of Catherine Stevens. "Did Barbara Flanders feed your cats? Did Barbara Flanders pay your Saks Fifth Avenue bills? Didn't staff for your husband cut your grass? Did they pay for your parking tickets? Did Barbara Flanders pay bills to Blockbuster video for overdue amounts? Did she wrap Christmas gifts for your family? Did you send notes to Barbara Flanders to tell her you needed cash? So, in essence, she was your human ATM machine?"

That may have violated Senate Rules, The Hill reported, relying on the expertise of Melanie Sloan:

Melanie Sloan, executive director of the Citizens for a Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said the admission indicates that Stevens violated the rule.

“The rule is very strict,” she said. “Congressional staff are only allowed on payroll for taxpayer purposes.”

According to the Senate Ethics Manuel, Senate aides must act within the purposes appropriated by law.

“Funds are appropriated to compensate federal employees for the performance of Senate duties,” the guidelines say. “That is, Senate staff are compensated for the purposes of assisting Senators in their official legislative and representational duties, and not for the purpose of performing personal or other non-official activities for themselves or on behalf of others.”

Taken to the extreme, Stevens could have violated a federal law that prohibits using taxpayer funds for non-appropriated purposes. More likely he would have to answer to the Senate Select Committee on Ethics, but it’s unclear what actions – if any -- that panel would take against the senator if he is acquitted and wins re-election in November. A spokeswoman for the panel declined to comment, and Stevens's spokesman could not be reached for comment.

Within the past hour, the defense rested in the corruption trial against Senator Ted Stevens.  Closing arguments are scheduled for tomorrow.

The Hill had a report on Stevens' testimony today: 

Sen. Ted Stevens was visibly agitated Monday when pressed to explain how a prominent Alaska oil tycoon could remodel his mountainside home without his knowledge.

It was the Alaska Republican’s third and final day defending himself on the witness stand against charges that he concealed more than $250,000 in gifts and home renovations from Bill Allen, the former head of the Veco Corp. oil services company that stood to benefit from Stevens’s role in Washington.

Stevens sparred with government prosecutor Brenda Morris, who sought to undercut the senator's central defense that he paid $160,000 to a separate contractor and was unaware of other bills that Allen paid. Stevens said Augie Paone of Christensen Builders charged him a fair price and he believed that covered all costs for the renovations.

The wife of Ted Stevens took the stand in the criminal trial of her husband yesterday.  The Washington Post's Dana Milbank wasn't very impressed with this star witness.  In addition to the her role in the underlying scandal, it sounds like Mrs. Stevens took full advantage of the Senator's staff for some of her personal needs:

Catherine Stevens had much to be unhappy about as she took the stand yesterday at the corruption trial of her husband, Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska.

The stairs that were built for the Stevens chalet, gratis, by a company seeking help from the longtime Republican lawmaker? "I was extremely upset because they were very, very dangerous," she testified.

The huge stainless-steel grill that magically appeared on their deck? "I was very angry," she said. The armchair and ottoman they were given? "I was very unhappy when I saw it." The chairs? "Very upset." The black leather sofa? "Not to my taste." The puppy? "I was very concerned." The bronze fish statue? "It's very big and heavy." The massaging recliner from Brookstone? A "stupid chair."

Now Mrs. Stevens has a couple of more reasons to be unhappy. Her husband's lawyers were happy yesterday to let her take the fall, in part, for the senator's failure to disclose the gifts he received from the pipeline company Veco. And prosecutors, in their cross-examination, portrayed her and her husband as abusers of the senator's official staff.

"Did Barbara Flanders" -- one of the senator's aides -- "walk your dogs?" prosecutor Brenda Morris demanded of Catherine Stevens. "Did Barbara Flanders feed your cats? Did Barbara Flanders pay your Saks Fifth Avenue bills? Didn't staff for your husband cut your grass? Did they pay for your parking tickets? Did Barbara Flanders pay bills to Blockbuster video for overdue amounts? Did she wrap Christmas gifts for your family? Did you send notes to Barbara Flanders to tell her you needed cash? So, in essence, she was your human ATM machine?"

Mrs. Stevens ran her hands through her hair and struggled for answers ("I don't know what you're talking about") but came up mostly empty. And just when it seemed things couldn't get any worse for the Stevens family, Sen. Larry Craig walked into the courtroom after lunch and planted his wide stance in the audience to lend his support to his friend and colleague.

Via a breaking news alert from the Anchorage Daily News, we learned that United States Senator Ted Stevens is testifying in his criminal trial this afternoon.  We'll have more details of the testimony as they emerge:

Sen. Ted Stevens has taken the stand in his defense as the final witness in his corruption trial.

"It's a privilege and a duty," Stevens said when warned by the judge out of the presence of the jury that he doesn't have to testify.

The 84-year-old Alaska Republican is on trial for failing to report more than $250,000 in alleged gifts and services, largely from the oil field service company Veco and its chief executive, his former friend Bill Allen. Most of the gifts are connected to renovations that doubled the size of the Stevenses' home.

His testimony follows that of his wife, Catherine, who was a defense witness earlier in the day.

Today is the last day of testimony from the defense.  It looks like both Senator and Mrs. Stevens will be taking the stand.   That could change, of course.  We'll continue to monitor the action:

Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens appears poised to take the bold step of testifying in his own defense at his corruption trial.

The senator's lawyers have told the judge they expect him to take the stand as the final defense witness as early as Thursday afternoon, saying their examination would take about two hours. His wife, Catherine, would testify before him, they said.

Stevens, 84, is charged with lying on Senate financial disclosure forms about more than $250,000 in home improvements and other gifts from his friend Bill Allen, the former chief of oil services company VECO Corp. Defense attorneys say Catherine Stevens paid every bill received by the couple for the extensive renovation on their Alaska cabin — $160,000 in all — and Allen kept Stevens in the dark about the extent of the work and its cost.

Legal experts say taking the stand could be treacherous for Stevens and cautioned that the longtime Republican legislator and former prosecutor still could back out at the last minute.