Sans Stevens, Lobbyists Down a Sugar Daddy

Hard times fall on careers that hinged on access to Ted

By Gabriel Winant, Newser User

Posted Dec 22, 2008 8:42 AM CST

(Newser) – Some Alaskans make a living off of oil piped from the Arctic. Others, for years, have made it off of federal money, piped from DC by former Sen. Ted Stevens. But with Uncle Ted's downfall, lobbyists who traded on their access to him face disaster, the New York Times reports. “For those of us long on the dole, the coming reality will take some getting used to,” says one.

Stevens maintained positions of such power for so long in the Senate that insider status meant a leg up for would-be lobbyists. “When somebody who had his ear said something would happen, it usually happened. You could really trade on it. It was the coin of the realm,” says a political scientist.

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Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, rides the elevator after speaking on the Senate floor on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Democrat Mark Begich walks into a room where he talks about winning the Senate seat against Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, during a news conference in Anchorage, Alaska, on Wednesday Nov. 19, 2008. (AP Photo/Al Grillo)

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, leaves the Senate chamber after making his last formal speech on the Senate floor and listening to tributes from his colleagues Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008 on Capitol Hill. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke)

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When somebody who had his ear said something would happen, it usually happened. You could really trade on it. It was the coin of the realm. - Ross K. Baker, Rutgers political scientist

Part of the reason why someone might hire me is to help them figure out a way to say, ‘Even though this is not directly an Alaskan issue, here is why you ought to be interested.' - Earl Comstock, lobbyist and former Stevens staffer

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Sans Stevens, Lobbyists Down a Sugar Daddy