Sen. Stevens, R-VECO

The indictment of Alaskan Sen. Ted Stevens on seven counts of making false statements on financial-disclosure forms stirs a curious ambivalence. The long-serving Republican is the meanest, nastiest friend Puget Sound and Washington ever had.

Unless, of course, he was off on some ballistic tangent or feuding with a local lawmaker. Otherwise, the confluence of Alaskan and Northwest interests made him a political figure to be courted, humored and indulged.

That is certainly an element of the indictment that connects him to more than $250,000 in goods and favors from VECO Corporation, an oil field services company and influential employer in Alaska.

This is all about not reporting gifts over a span of eight years, but the Department of Justice also says he simultaneously received solicitations for official actions and he "used his position and office on behalf of VECO during that same time period."

Stevens is the biggest fish snared so far in a four-year-old Alaska political corruption investigation. The list of political figures and business executives convicted or who have pleaded guilty is staggering. Others remain under investigation, including Alaska's only House member, Republican Rep. Don Young.

Curious how the pattern repeats itself. The powerful end up in trouble when they begin to believe the rules no longer apply to them.