July 30, 2008 1:37PM # The Stevens Scandal By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) --- SHARE [Don Boudreaux](http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2008/01/globalization-b.html) of George Mason University sent out the following missive about Ted Stevens’s indictment. I don’t see it posted at [Cafe Hayek,](http://cafehayek.typepad.com/) though it might yet be. But since I can’t improve on his pithy commentary, I offer it here: > I’m delighted to see Sen. Ted Stevens face jail time for his crimes while in office. To charge him with concealing gifts totaling $250,000, however, is the equivalent of charging a confessed mass murderer with jaywalking. If that’s the only way to bring the criminal to justice, fine. But Sen. Stevens’s most significant misdeeds — ones of which he boasts! — are his decades-long success at directing billions of taxpayer dollars to special-interest groups for no reason other than the fact that he possessed the power and position to buy himself even greater security in office by doing so. > > > Of course, punishing all the criminals guilty of THAT offense would depopulate Capitol Hill. ##### Related Tags [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).