Toss this stinker in the sea

Los Angeles Times: Ted Stevens thinks the Alaskan fishermen and processors he represents shouldn't have to comply with federal rules they don't like. So the powerful Republican, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, attached a rider to the Commerce, Justice and State appropriations bill to give Alaskan industry a pass.
Stevens insists that Alaskans have done a better job husbanding their fish-teeming waters than have other states. Regardless of whether he is right about the health of the Alaskan crab, salmon and pollock populations, he's wrong to use the appropriations process to grant favors that rewrite federal resource law behind closed doors.
One provision of his rider would freeze all funds to enforce federal laws imposing new limits on crabbing and fishing in sensitive ocean habitat. Another legal barnacle guarantees certain processing companies 90 percent of the lucrative Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands crab catch, which would favor some processors, unfairly exclude others and hobble fishermen from offering their prized catches to the highest bidders.
Stevens' rider also would set destructive precedent. California, Florida or Maine lawmakers could decide they want to suspend federal rules protecting their fish.
When the mammoth spending bill that this rider is hooked to comes before the Senate, senators should cast Stevens' smelly deal into the deep.