Here is the letter to the editor that I wrote about Ted Stevens.

Uncle Ted had his uses when Alaska was a brand-new state

Mike Gravel was recently asked whether all politicians in Alaska are corrupt. That is how the Lower 48 sees us right now. And I know that is embarrassing many of us. But if you are surprised by the fact that our politicians may bend or break the rules, then you must be new here.

I am not comfortable defending Sen. Ted Stevens. But he did what we needed him to do when we were a brand new state with very little bargaining power. He put earmarks on bills to get us money that nobody would have ever given us any other way. He bullied others and stomped his feet until he got what he wanted. And we benefited.

So thank you, Uncle Ted. Our state owes you much.

But it is time for you to go. We need to look to a future without big oil paying all of our bills and owning all of our politicians. We need to look to a future where integrity and honesty rule the day.

Our future will not have as much money flowing in our direction. But we will be able to hold our heads high and say that Alaska cannot be bought anymore, by anybody.

My main point in writing this was in response to a number of letters that have shown up lately all indignant about how Ted Stevens and Don Young are just too damn cozy with the oil companies. In my mind it is totally disingenuous to suddenly act as if we thought our lawmakers were carefully following all of the rules as they brought home barrels of pork and convinced the oil companies to pay all of our bills.

I voted for Ted several times and I knew the reason I did it is because he was going to make sure we got ours. So I lent my support to the other side of the political aisle in exchange for good roads and no state taxes.

Ted Stevens was good for our state. But he certainly did not play by the rules. He made up his own rules. And we benefited. So he was good for us, but not necessarily good.