Press Room:

A bill is a proposed law in Congress. Anyone with an idea for a bill may draft one, but it must be sponsored by a member of the House of Representatives or the Senate. Bills can be public, addressing groups of people, or private, concerning an individual, such as a grant of citizenship or an armed service decoration. Once a bill has a sponsor, it is placed in a box called a “hopper,” introduced by the majority floor leader of the House and assigned a number. (The majority floor leader is chosen by his or her party to represent that party in the Senate or House. The Senate Majority Leader for our 112th Congress is Harry Reid (D-NV) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is leader of the House. For more information on party leaders go to this page on the US Senate website.) After introduction, the proposed bill then goes to an appropriate committee for research and study. Informational hearings are held, and often the proposed legislation will be assigned to a subcommittee for further study. Next, the committee votes to report the bill, or to take no more action. If reported, a date is set on the calendar for a general debate on the floor of the House, with both parties receiving the same amount of debate time. The next step is the amending phase, where amendments to the bill are made, which can kill a bill or make it more palatable to the opposition. A lively debate can win notoriety and publicity for a representative. After amendments are made, the House votes, and if accepted the bill passes to the Senate, as bills must be approved by both chambers of Congress. The Senate is a smaller body than the House, with less formal rules, and time for debate is theoretically unlimited. This can lead to a filibuster, where a senator can speak for hours, as long as he or she can remain standing, in order to delay, defeat or amend a bill. When debate is finished, the Senate conducts a roll call vote to decide if the bill will pass or fail. If the “yeas” have it, the bill goes to the President to sign or veto. Hundreds of bills are introduced in each two-year Congressional session, although few make it out of committee for debate.

SUBMITTED BY MARYANNE

In mid-February, the FBI posted nearly 3,600 pages of information gathered about Senator Ted Stevens in over 50 years of Stevens’ service to the State of Alaska. Much of the material was already public source available elsewhere, such as news clippings. I’ve not spent a great deal of time with the files, but most engaging to me is the older material that provides glimpses into the political climate in the era surrounding Alaska’s early statehood. Aside from interesting items of a historical nature, Stevens’ released FBI files, complete with obligatory redactions, turned out to be a nonstory, but it did get me thinking about the thorny and very current issue of the FOIA, the United States’ Freedom of Information Act, and suspicion of government secrecy. Although the FBI often releases posthumously the files of well-known public figures, the release of Stevens’ files was the result of a FOIA request.

The Freedom of Information Act became a federal law in 1966, establishing the public’s right to information in the records of public agencies. Anyone may file a FOIA request to any federal agency entity or branch. The process can be lengthy, and there are several exemptions to FOIA by which a request can be denied, such as items containing national security information, the right to personal privacy, or confidential business information. In the early application of FOIA, resistance from government bureacrats often took the form of foot-dragging in supplying requested information, and before the practice of redaction became standard, access could be denied to material containing one restricted item in a document that otherwise would be made available. Changing political climates influence the secrecy/openness power struggle. A shift in public perception of government occurred in the 1930s, amid changes in the role of federal agencies under the Roosevelt administration. Agency bureacrats realized more power in crafting and administering public policy through Depression-era New Deal programs such as the Citizens Civilian Corps (CCC), the Securities and Exchange Commision (SEC), and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Fears of a too-powerful government grew among some in the constituency; a theme that continues today. The underpinnings of the 1966 FOIA began in the 1930s with journalism professor Harold Cross, a severe critic of what he believed was an overreach of power by President Roosevelt. The Cold War chilled progress toward a more transparent government under the Truman and Eisenhower administrations. In 1950, as legal counsel to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Cross proposed a new law addressing the people’s “right to know “ and access to government records that became the basis for the first iteration of FOIA. The Watergate scandal, leading to President Nixon’s impeachment, impacted the public’s perception of transparency standards in government, and in 1974, Congress passed amendments to the original FOIA bill, loosening restrictions. Exploring the culture of government secrecy versus public perception, cultural anthropologist Michael Powell posted an essay in the Huffington Post in December 2010, Shadow Elite: WikiLeaks, FOIA and the Cultural Life of Government Secrecy. Powell observes that the custom of redaction on FOIA requests began as one of the 1974 FOIA amendments, with the purpose of allowing release of more records while also protecting privacy. Powell points out the irony that black-marker redactions soon became an icon for cover-up, a symbol for unchecked government power in the public imagination. Redaction functions as a red flag, empowering people, stimulating questions and raising awareness about legitimate uses of power and possible misuse. Julian Assange, editor in chief of WikiLeaks, dramatically entered the transparency/secrecy power play recently with his outing of classified diplomatic documents, ostensibly in the spirit of total governmental openness. lt can be argued that the threat of total transparency may keep sensitive records from being created at all. Whether or not WikiLeaks’ document dumps will usher in a new transparency in government and a new power redistribution, or create a reinvigorated climate of secrecy remains to be seen.

The struggle to find a balance between transparency and secrecy should not stop. I agree with Powell: “Black marker redaction doesn’t stop communication. It is an invitation for suspicion, skepticism and paranoid interpretation. The word may be gone, but a form and trace remains. We become aware that we cannot know something that we want to know–and that gets us wanting to know why we can’t know. And this is actually a very healthy kind of paranoia for a democratic society to have.”

SUBMITTED BY MARYANNE

As the Ted Stevens Papers Project progresses, materials processed so far make it clear that Senator Stevens had a vested interest in sports on and off the Hill. An avid tennis player, he was able to see the value in sports and recreation reflected in both his personal and professional lives. This is evident through numerous photographs of Stevens with professional athletes who looked to Stevens as a role model and protector of their rights to sports, and also through photos of the Senator himself participating in health and wellness activities. Additionally, Stevens’ crafting of, and impact on, legislation regarding equal access to athletic opportunities is apparent . Constituents and peers respected Senator Stevens’ staunch support of sports through any avenue available.

Stevens reputation for standing behind sports, and equality in sports, is reflected in two primary pieces of legislation that embody his belief that equal access to sports is an individual right, and a responsibility of the government to protect. Title IX, supported by Stevens as part of the Equal Education Amendments Act of 1972, and the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 came to define his political stance regarding sports. Title IX provided that young women would have an equal opportunity to their male counterparts to participate in school athletics and other sports programs, and his support gained him the reputation of ‘protector’ of Title IX. As a sponsor of the Amateur Sports Act of 1978, Stevens was a leader in crafting the legislation, working to establish the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), and National Governing Bodies (NGBs) for each individual sport, as well as providing legal protection for individual athletes. The 1978 Act was revised in 1998 to reflect the reality that many competitive athletes were not “amateurs”, expand the USOC’s domain to include the Paralympics, and establish avenues to provide athletes with advice and advocacy on grievance procedures. Rosey Fletcher, a lifelong Alaskan and three time Olympian who benefited from the passage of the Acts, claimed in the Anchorage Daily News in November 2011 that Ted Stevens’ name warrants a place in the Sports Hall of Fame for his contributions to athletes of all ages and abilities.

Similarly, both the USOC and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) observed the impact Stevens’ support had on athletes and sports. The IOC recognized Stevens by presenting him with their highest honor of the Olympic Order; Stevens became the first member in Congress to receive the award from the IOC. The USOC awarded Stevens the Olympic Torch Award, the highest honor presented to individuals in recognition of outstanding service in the US Olympic movement. Most recently, in 2012 Stevens was inducted posthumously into the US Olympics Hall of Fame for his contributions to the Olympic movement.

SUBMITTED BY ELSIE

The Ted Stevens Papers Project requires a team effort on the part of the faculty and staff of the Alaska and Polar Regions Collections of the Rasmuson Library where the Stevens Papers reside. This week we asked Elsie Eckman, Stevens Project Assistant, “What are you working on?

My name is Elsie Eckman and I am the Ted Stevens Project Assistant. To date, most of my time has been taken up with processing the photograph collection of Ted Stevens, which has been very interesting. I input information about the photographs into our database, including date, creator, original box number, series, peoples’ names, location, notes about the event, and any Library of Congress subject heading associated with the person or event. Some of the photos are attached to a form that Stevens’ staff created, and sometimes information is given with the date, creator,location and event. When this information is not given, in some instances I can identify the persons, and research the date and place if it was a notable event. In some cases I can even correct the spelling of a place or name, for example, my Uncle Robert is pictured with Stevens along with other Native Corporation leaders, and his last name was misspelled by Stevens’ staff.

The Ted Stevens Project archivist and I go to the warehouse several times a month and we process boxes there, including legislative material, casework, correspondence, news clippings, and memorabilia from his office. I’ve also had an opportunity to present at an Alaska Historical Society conference in Valdez. The conference theme was Northern Waters, so I researched Stevens’ involvement in marine and inland water issues, and was able to share some photographs and other printed material as artifacts from the collection as I recapped our Senator’s influence.
It has been very interesting to come across photos of Stevens with world leaders, with famous people, both celebrities and history makers. I have gotten a glimpse into the Stevens’ private lives with family photos and personal artifacts. I have increased my understanding of the scope of a senator’s legislative work and influence, and how Stevens has transformed the quality of life in Alaska.

We are starting to post a photo of the month, and our photo this month was taken in 1978 and shows Stevens’ Mobile office at Bridal Veil Falls near Valdez.

Today commemorates the transfer of the Alaska territory from Tsarist Russia to the United States on October 18, 1867 in Sitka, Alaska. This year’s Alaska Day Festival has an aviation theme, “Celebrating Alaskan Aviation,” highlighting the importance of aviation to Alaska economically and culturally, as well as the courage and skill of the many pilots in the past and currently, flying and maintaining aircraft.

United States Senator Lisa Murkowski is scheduled to speak about Alaska Day on the Senate floor at 2:30 AKDT today, October 18, 2011. C-SPAN2 will carry a live broadcast of the speech.