Saxby Chambliss Says He’d Vote to Expel Alaska Senator

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

November 13, 2008

Saxby Chambliss said Wednesday that he’ll vote to expel Republican colleague Ted Stevens, should the long-time Alaskan senator win his re-election bid.

Stevens was convicted of seven felony counts last month related to the failure to report gifts from lobbyists. He is leading narrowly in his re-election bid but has not officially been declared the winner of a seventh full Senate term.

“First of all, I hope Senator Stevens is successful in being re-elected. And assuming that he is, I intend to support any motion to remove him,” Chambliss said during a press conference with John Ensign of Nevada, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina has served notice that he’ll seek to expel Stevens from the Senate Republican Conference at a meeting next Tuesday.

While Ensign said that he, too, would vote to expel Stevens from the GOP circle — a move that would foreshadow expulsion by the entire Senate — the Nevada senator counseled waiting to see whether Stevens wins his race.

“If he actually wins the election, then you have to expel him twice. And so it’s probably better to let Alaska — it’s probably going to take a while to count all the votes up there — let that take place, then after the first of the year deal with it,” Ensign said.

Expulsion or, more likely, a resignation would trigger a 90-day special election to replace him, Ensign said. It would also give Republicans a chance to keep the seat out of Democratic hands.

Gov. Sarah Palin, the former GOP vice presidential candidate, has been mentioned as a candidate if Stevens leaves or is ousted. And just by coincidence, she was interviewed this afternoon on CNN’s “Larry King Live.”

In the interview, which airs at 9 p.m. tonight, King asked Palin if she intends to finish out her term. ” I will do what the people of Alaska want me to do,” Palin replied. “If they call an audible on me, and if they say they want me in another position, I’m going to do it.”