McCain, Palin urge convicted senator to step down

HERSHEY, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - U.S. presidential candidate John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, urged fellow Republican Ted Stevens to resign on Tuesday after the veteran Alaska senator was convicted of corruption.

Distancing herself from her former political ally after Monday's verdict, which could help Democrats expand their control of the U.S. Senate in the November 4 election, Palin called on Stevens to do the "statesman-like thing."

"The time has come for him to step aside. Even if elected on Tuesday, Senator Stevens should step aside to allow a special election to give Alaskans a real choice of who will serve them in Congress," Palin said in a statement.

With 40 years of service, Stevens, 84, is the longest-serving Republican in the Senate. He is also one of the most powerful Republicans and used his influence to channel billions of dollars in federal spending to his state.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky inferred that Stevens would not remain in office if he loses an appeal.

"If he is re-elected and the felony charge stands through the appeals process, there is zero chance that a senator with a felony conviction would not be expelled from the Senate," a spokesman for McConnell quoted him as saying.

Stevens, in a tight race for re-election, was found guilty on Monday on all seven counts of lying on Senate disclosure forms to hide more than $250,000 in home renovations and other gifts from an oil executive.

Stevens has called the convictions unjust and said he plans to return to Alaska on Wednesday and resume campaigning against his Democratic challenger, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich.

Over the past decade, Stevens worked closely with Palin during her time as mayor of the town of Wasilla and most recently as governor of Alaska. When the FBI first announced it was investigating Stevens, she urged him to come clean.

In a separate statement, McCain said Stevens had broken the trust of Alaskans and should step down.

"I hope that my colleagues in the Senate will be spurred by these events to redouble their efforts to end this kind of corruption once and for all," McCain said.

ENDING CORRUPTION

McCain said it was a sign of the "health of our democracy" that Stevens was held to account for his conduct.

"But this verdict is also a sign of the corruption and insider-dealing that has become so pervasive in our nation's capital," he said.

McCain and Palin have cast themselves as maverick reformers who offer Americans their best hope of change, while painting Democratic rival Barack Obama as too inexperienced to tackle the Washington establishment.

In his own comment on the Stevens case, Obama said it was a verdict on "the broken politics that has infected Washington for decades."

"It's time to put an end to the corruption and influence-peddling, restore openness and accountability, and finally put government back in the hands of the people it serves. Senator Stevens should step down," Obama said.

Stevens will remain on the ballot whether he steps down or not but there is a debate over what happens if he were to win and then resign his seat, which would force a special election 60 to 90 days from the time the vacancy occurs.

Alaska's Division of Elections said the governor would make a temporary appointment to hold the seat until a new senator is chosen by special election.

Proponents of a citizen initiative passed in 2004 said that measure stripped the governor of the right to make Senate appointments. The initiative was passed after then Gov. Frank Murkowski appointed his daughter Lisa to the Senate seat he vacated to become governor.

Begich stopped short of calling on Stevens to step down.

"That's going to be up to Senator Stevens, but I think Alaskans deserve better," he said.

If Stevens loses the election, that could help Democrats control 60 seats in the 100-seat Senate, enough to overcome potential Republican roadblocks.

The Senate could vote to expel a convicted felon with a two-thirds vote but no action is expected before next week's election. Since 1789, the Senate has expelled only 15 members.

Stevens was the first sitting senator on trial since 1981.

(Reporting by Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Yereth Rosen in Anchorage; Writing by Ross Colvin; Editing by John O'Callaghan)