Why I miss Alaska - Federal Corruption indictments for everyone!!!

http://www.adn.com/news/politics/fbi/story/460986.html

Cowdery indicted on two corruption charges

By LISA DEMER
[EMAIL="[email protected]"][email protected][/EMAIL]
Published: July 10th, 2008 04:18 PM
Last Modified: July 10th, 2008 04:22 PM
The federal indictment filed today against state Sen. John Cowdery revolves around the oil tax legislation pushed so hard by Veco Corp. and its executives in 2006.





The Anchorage Republican is charged with conspiracy and bribery, accused of scheming with Veco executives to win over another senator in the battle for the tax favored by North Slope oil producers.

According to the 16-page indictment, Cowdery and others conspired to give the other state senator $25,000, characterized as campaign contributions.

The indictment was handed up by a grand jury Wednesday but not filed in U.S. District Court until today.

A magistrate judge has set the first court hearing for Cowdery for Aug. 11 at 1:30 p.m.

Cowdery will fight the charges, said his attorney, Kevin Fitzgerald of Anchorage.

"Senator Cowdery will be exonerated, and that this will be exposed for the mistake it is," Fitzgerald said in a written statement this morning.

"We believe that in the indictment the government has seriously misinterpreted the few comments made by Senator Cowdery and has exacerbated the problem by presenting short snippets of conversation out of context," Fitzgerald said.

Gov. Sarah Palin called for Cowdery to resign.

"It was disturbing to learn that another public official has been charged with violating the public trust. I urge Senator Cowdery to step down, for the good of the state," Palin said this morning.

Cowdery at 78 is the oldest member of Alaska's Legislature. Until January, he was chairman of the powerful Rules Committee. He has been in poor health.

The indictment identifies the senator Cowdery was trying to influence only as "state Senator A," but Fitzgerald said that person is Donny Olson, D-Nome, who at the time was running for lieutenant governor.



The document describes a series of phone calls as well as a June 25, 2006, breakfast meeting. Olson, Cowdery and Veco chief executive Bill Allen met at the Sunshine Grill in Anchorage, Olson's lawyer, Paul Stockler of Anchorage, said this morning.



Olson has recently testified to a federal grand jury, Stockler has said. He said he needed to read the indictment before he could comment further.



Cowdery and Olson are among six legislators whose offices were searched by the FBI in August 2006.

Allen and Veco vice president Rick Smith have pleaded guilty to bribing legislators, including Cowdery, to push through a version of an oil tax favored by North Slope producers.

Two former legislators, Pete Kott of Eagle River and Vic Kohring of Wasilla, are serving federal prison sentences after being convicted of corruption charges related to the push for the tax. A third former legislator, Bruce Weyhrauch of Juneau, was indicted too and is awaiting trial while courts consider an appeal on what evidence can be heard.



Allen and Smith are not named in the Cowdery charging document either, but court papers filed in their cases cover some of the same events. Fitzgerald confirmed that they are the executives cited in the indictment and Veco is the company.



Most of the events described in the indictment occurred during June 2006 when Olson was running for lieutenant governor.



The Legislature met that summer in special session to haggle over a new way to tax oil companies that would bring in more state revenue during times of high oil prices. Veco was pushing for a relatively low tax rate among the options under discussion.



According to the indictment, on June 22, 2006, the company vice president -- Smith -- told Cowdery that Veco needed help -- "Gotta have some votes here." Company executives would help Senator A if he would "step up to the plate," Smith said, according to the indictment.



Cowdery said he had told Olson, "Maybe we can buy some gasoline," the indictment says.

"You know, he's got planes," Cowdery told Smith. A doctor and pilot born in Golovin, Olson owns Olson Air Service Inc.



"Yeah. Yeah," Smith answered.



"That'd be pretty easy and clean," Cowdery said.



Smith and Cowdery agreed Cowdery would "work that" angle, the charging document says.

Smith said the company didn't "have a problem gettin' some checks to (Senator A) ... if he can come through on this PPT ... and the gas line," according to the indictment. The tax at issue was called the Petroleum Profits Tax.



At the June 2006 breakfast meeting, Cowdery told Olson that the prospect of a natural gas pipeline and an oil tax were important to Veco, the charging document said. Oil companies wanted "certainty" on taxes before they'd commit to a gas line, Allen has testified in court.



Olson said he had a problem in that he needed to get through the primary battle for lieutenant governor, the charges say.



Allen asked him how much money he needed.



"I don't know. I've got $100,000 of my own. ... But I may fall short, and that's why I haven't had a fundraiser because I've got all this other stuff I'm trying to organize," Olson said, according to the indictment.



"Well, I think the way (Allen) could do that is by check. Probably the best way for everybody," Cowdery said, according to the indictment.



"There are a couple of issues I can certainly help you out on. But I gotta be real careful on some of the other ones," Olson said.

Later in the meeting, according to the charges, Olson asked Allen, "How much are you good for?"



"Oh, we can probably go 25," Allen answered.



According to the charges, Olson answered: "That's a good start."



Later in the meeting, the indictment says that Cowdery told Olson that "I think we can make this work if you vote the way me and (another senator) were to vote when we get down (to Juneau)."

Olson said if they had 11 votes in the Senate and 21 in the House "I'll be there with you," according to the charging document.



Olson lost in the August primary to Democrat Ethan Berkowitz.

Fitzgerald, Cowdery's lawyer, said the fundraiser never occurred and wasn't even pursued after this meeting.



"Our understanding was that while Senator Cowdery was present at this breakfast meeting on June 25, 2006, more than two years ago, he made more comments about the ham being served than he did about the discussion between Allen and Olson," Fitzgerald said in his statement.

Legislators are gathered in Juneau this month for a special session on a possible natural gas pipeline. Cowdery was at a hearing Wednesday but hasn't appeared this morning.



Fitzgerald said he warned Cowdery on Wednesday night about the expected indictment.



"He didn't want to have a public spectacle or anything," Fitzgerald said.



At their home on Lake Otis Parkway this morning, Cowdery's wife, Juanita, said he was not there and said she had nothing to say.