Abraxas I Youth and Family Services Center, Marienville, Pennsylvania
February 22, 2008 The Derrick
Two Philadelphia men were charged for their actions during separate riots that broke out this week at Cornell Abraxas I in Marienville. State police said Joseph Clark, 18, and Lenny Scott Cabrera, 18, were involved in both riots that occurred at the facility Monday and Tuesday. Clark was charged with one count of aggravated assault and two counts of riot, police said. They said Cabrera was charged with two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of riot. Both men were arraigned before District Judge George F. Gregory in Tionesta. They were placed in the Warren County jail on $25,000 bail. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Tuesday. Police said three juveniles involved in both riots and five other involved in the Monday riot will face similar charges.

January 11, 2007 The Courier Express
In a last-ditch effort to forestall a strike, representatives of Abraxas I and members of PSSU Local 668 have agreed to meet Friday, according to a press release issued by Abraxas Wednesday. Abraxas I is planning to operate through any strike with qualified employees from other facilities and all employees who want to continue to work, according to the press release. "Any employee who wishes to work may do so at the current wages, benefits and other terms or conditions of employment," the release said. "Abraxas I will not implement its final offer until an agreement is reached." Abraxas I has informed its client-referring agencies about the strike and the company's plans to operate in the interim. It has also decided to stop admitting new residents and plans to accelerate the discharge of residents who are approved for discharge by the courts, said the press release. On Jan. 3, Abraxas Youth and Family Services received notification that the members of SEIU Local 668 rejected the company's offer of Dec. 21. Local 668 also issued a 10-day strike notice, which indicates it plans to strike at 12:01 a.m. Sunday. James Newsome, program director at Abraxas I, said, "We are very disappointed that the union and its members rejected this offer. It was a very fair offer given the economic realities of the Youth and Family Services business. "Our most recent offer includes wage increases ranging from 8.5 percent to 12.25 percent over the proposed three-year agreement," he said. "While we propose increases in employee contributions for medical benefits, our wage proposal also ensures that all employees would receive a real wage increase to offset the increased employee medical contribution. Our request for increased employee medical contributions is consistent with what many unions and employers have agreed to in the face of rising costs of health care." Abraxas I proposes maintaining an HMO medical plan for current employees, but employees hired after ratification would only be able to participate in a PPO plan. Newsome said the HMO plan is a very expensive benefit. "The only way we can continue to afford to provide the HMO is to make it available for current employees only," he said. "The union recognized the fairness of our economic proposals, because they told us that if we were willing to agree to a union shop or fair share - union security - they would recommend ratification. We refused to agree to a union shop or fair share because we believe employees should have a right to decide for themselves whether they wish to belong to the union and pay union dues, not be forced to do so," Newsome said. Abraxas I houses approximately 274 adolescents and provides drug and alcohol counseling, as well as operating a private school, for its residents.

Abraxas Center, Forest, Pennsylvania
 July 8, 2004 Morning Call
A Tamaqua 16-year-old, who was committed to a juvenile center after being charged with shooting a friend in the face with a gun he stole from a borough pawn shop, escaped after attending a funeral Wednesday, police said.  Duane R. Allen II was court-ordered to attend the funeral and told two workers taking him back to the Cornell Abraxas center in Marienville, Forest County, that he was sick, state police at Hazleton said.  The workers stopped about 2:30 p.m. at Pilot Truck Stop in Sugarloaf Township, Luzerne County, where Allen fled from the worker accompanying him to the restroom, police said. 

Alaska Legislature
November 27, 2007 Anchorage Daily News
State Sen. Lesil McGuire was accused Tuesday of making veiled threats to dissuade a lobbyist from testifying in the corruption case against her husband, former state Rep. Tom Anderson. The surprising information came up during the sentencing hearing of Bill Bobrick, a once-prominent lobbyist who began cooperating in September 2006 with the FBI in its investigation of corruption in Alaska politics. In an interview after the hearing, McGuire denied making any threats and said Bobrick was deflecting attention from himself onto her "on the day of his reckoning with the public." Bobrick, 52, pleaded guilty in May to conspiring with Anderson to push the interests of a private prison firm in exchange for money. He funneled nearly $24,000 to Anderson, money put up by a prison consultant who was working undercover for the FBI. In all, Anderson received nearly $26,000. The prison company, Cornell Cos., didn't know about the scheme, federal officials have said. U.S. District Judge John Sedwick ordered Bobrick to serve five months in prison, followed by five months of house arrest on the felony conspiracy conviction. That's the minimum sentence under federal guidelines, which are advisory. It's far less than the two years to 30 months that Bobrick would have faced if he didn't cooperate. And it's much less than the five years that Sedwick sentenced Anderson to serve. The Republican who represented East Anchorage in the Legislature for two terms also initially cooperated with the FBI, then decided to fight the charges against him. He was indicted in December 2006 and a jury convicted him in July of seven felony counts including bribery and money laundering. Anderson reports to a federal prison on Monday in Oregon.

November 22, 2007 Anchorage Daily News
Once-prominent lobbyist Bill Bobrick almost surely is going to prison. But not for long. His sentencing on a single felony charge of conspiracy, part of an ongoing federal investigation of political corruption in Alaska, is set for Tuesday morning before U.S. District Judge John Sedwick. Bobrick has been cooperating with the government, so will get much less time than the five years slapped on the only other defendant sentenced so far in the corruption probe, former state Rep. Tom Anderson. "I take full responsibility for my crime," Bobrick, 52, said in a brief telephone call on Wednesday. "I can never apologize too much to my fellow Alaskans for the damage I have done to our political system." Prosecutors are asking that he be sentenced to a year and a day, which triggers a rule that requires he do all the time in prison, less only good time. With good behavior, he could be out after about 10 1/2 months. They also want two years of probation, prosecutors wrote in a memo to the judge. The defense wants a sentence of less than a year and is asking that Bobrick be allowed to serve at least part of it under house arrest or in a halfway house. That would allow him to do community service as he's serving his time, which is what his attorney said he really wants. Federal prisoners don't get "good time" for sentences of less than a year. "Bobrick is not pleading for mercy," his attorney, Doug Pope, wrote in his sentencing memorandum. "He is requesting that the court credit him with providing substantial assistance to the government, and give him a chance to atone for his crime." If he hadn't cooperated, he'd be facing two years or longer for the conspiracy conviction under sentencing guidelines. Bobrick is married and has lived in Alaska for 32 years. His wife is in her third year of medical school. Pope filed in court more than 50 letters of support, many trying to convince the judge to fashion a sentence that puts Bobrick to work doing community service rather than serving time in prison. At least six former Anchorage Assembly members and several law enforcement representatives are among the dozens who wrote in. Bobrick's not the type to get in trouble again, his supporters said. Many mentioned good work he's done as a volunteer for years. They said he apologized to his friends, clients and colleagues one by one long before his case became public. "I believe that Bill Bobrick knows that his actions were wrong and that he is full of remorse about the choices he made," wrote Jane Angvik, a former Anchorage Assembly member. She met him in 1986 through political activity and has served on boards with him. She wrote that she's talked with him about the crime and he wept as he described his regret. "He said he had 'lost his way,' that he has changed, and that he is prepared to accept whatever punishment the court deems appropriate." Bobrick pleaded guilty in May to conspiring with Anderson to push the interests of a private prison firm in exchange for money. He became one of the main government witnesses against Anderson in a trial this summer. A consultant to Cornell Cos. funneled $24,000 to Bobrick in the scheme, and Bobrick eventually passed almost all of it on to Anderson. The consultant, former state Corrections Commissioner Frank Prewitt, was working undercover for the FBI and Cornell knew nothing of the bribes, officials have said. Until he was caught up in the ongoing, multipronged FBI investigation last year, Bobrick was a powerful player in the city. He didn't lobby the state Legislature but was active politically and served as executive director of the Alaska Democratic Party in the late 1980s. He then registered as a lobbyist in the municipality. For years, he had more clients than anyone with city business. He's lost all that now. The FBI confronted him in late September 2006 with secretly recorded telephone calls and meetings about the scheme with Anderson. He began cooperating on Sept. 28, 2006. The defense expects the government to agree that his help "has been as broad and as extensive as the government requested, that his assistance extended beyond the 'Cornell Corrections conspiracy' which was the subject of the Anderson indictment and trial, and involved actively assisting in collecting evidence, including recording conversations." Bobrick was vaguely threatened before the Anderson trial, according to Pope. He described it as "contacts implying threats of economic injury." "Those threats were credible," Pope wrote. "It is reasonable to conclude that they were an attempt to influence Bobrick's testimony or to dissuade him from testifying at all." Pope didn't provide details but indicated in his memo that more information was in another filing, which was not made public. The government is seeking a $5,000 fine. But Bobrick no longer can make a living and should not be fined, Pope wrote.

November 13, 2007 AP
A former Alaska lawmaker convicted of seven counts of conspiracy and bribery will begin his five-year federal prison sentence next month. Former Rep. Tom Anderson on Monday told Anchorage television station KTUU that he will report to a federal prison south of Portland, Ore., on Dec. 3. Anderson, 40, a two-term Republican from Anchorage who chose not to run for re-election in 2006, was convicted in July of taking nearly $24,000 he thought was coming from a private prison firm, Cornell Industries Inc., in exchange for his assistance on legislation. The money was supplied by the FBI through an informant under contract to Cornell, Frank Prewitt, a former Alaska Department of Corrections commissioner. Prewitt secretly recorded his conversations with Anderson and a co-conspirator, lobbyist Bill Bobrick, between July 2004 and March 2005. Cornell Industries was not aware of the bribery scheme or investigation. The 60-month sentence fell within the presentencing report guidelines of 51 to 63 months. Anderson was the first of four former Republican Alaska lawmakers arrested on federal corruption charges. Former House Speaker Pete Kott was convicted in October of conspiracy to solicit financial benefits, extortion and bribery. He will be sentenced Dec. 7. Former state Rep. Vic Kohring was convicted earlier this month of bribery, conspiracy to commit extortion and attempted interference with commerce by extortion. He was acquitted of another count of interference with commerce by extortion. Sentencing was set Feb. 6. The corruption trial of former state Rep. Bruce Weyhrauch has been delayed.

November 7, 2007 UPI
The Alaska Public Offices Commission is coordinating with the U.S. Justice Department to probe what Veco Corp. illegally did to benefit Alaska politicians. The commission, which investigates campaign-finance violations, is focusing on matters such as polls the oil-services company may have illegally bought for legislators, as well as illegal Veco campaign contributions, The Anchorage Daily News reported. The Justice Department, the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service are conducting a widespread investigation into alleged political corruption of lawmakers in the Alaska Legislature, focusing in particular on lawmakers' official actions in connection with the oil industry, fisheries and private corrections industry. Former Alaska lawmaker Pete Kott, accused of trading his legislative influence for bribes, was convicted of corruption charges in the scandal Sept. 27. Veco founder and Chief Executive Officer Bill Allen and Vice President for Community and Government Affairs Rick Smith pleaded guilty May 7 to charges of bribery and conspiracy. Because of the chances of overlap between the state and federal probes, the state commission is cooperating closely with the Justice Department, particularly on the issue of subpoenas, the newspaper said.

October 9, 2007 KTUU
For the first time since facing federal corruption charges, former Anchorage Representative Tom Anderson is publicly admitting he broke the law. Anderson was convicted on bribery and conspiracy charges in July. His admission comes about a week before his sentencing. In a memo filed with U.S. District Court yesterday (Monday), Anderson says "I accept full responsibility for the choices I've made and the damge I've done...." Anderson's lawyer says he is seeking leniency - specifically, no more than 33 months behind bars. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Bottini says prosecutors will likely request a sentence of 5 to six years. Bottini says it's too late for Anderson to acknowledge he did wrong, since he could have pleaded guilty before the trial. Anderson was found guilty for taking money he thought was coming from a private prison company. The nearly $26,000 actually came from an FBI informant who secretly recorded conversations with Anderson and former municipal lobbyist Bill Bobrick.

September 19, 2007 KTUU
Cornell Cos. claims it will no longer attempt to sell projects here in Alaska. The company has made big headlines in Alaska over the last several months as the private prison firm used a decoy by government informant Frank Prewitt in crafting a bribery scheme with former Anchorage lobbyist Bill Bobrick and former Anchorage Rep. Tom Anderson. Both Anderson and Bobrick have been convicted of corruption and bribery in the scheme. Cornell has tried building a private prison in Alaska three times -- in Delta junction, Kenai and Whittier -- and has been unsuccessful in each instance. Now Cornell CEO James Hyman said he's done. "We understand how the [Department of Justice] had to use bait to get what they needed. We are a little chagrined to be that bait," Hyman said. Although the government successfully used Cornell as bait to take down Anderson and Bobrick, the company was not involved in the kickbacks and knew nothing of Prewitt's arrangement with federal agents. Instead, Cornell was simply part of an FBI cover in order to keep the bribery framework it was monitoring with Anderson and Bobrick believable. Unbeknownst to Cornell, Prewitt sought Anderson's help on matters key to the company's future plans, including muscling through the complex bureaucracy to prove to the state those projects were needed. During the Anderson trial, Prewitt told the court he made an illegal campaign contribution utilizing money from a former Cornell executive. After hearing that, Hyman said the company wanted to ensure its activities in Alaska had all been above board. Hyman said the company talked to current and ex-employees to try and discover any wrongdoing. He said he is confident there have been no issues since he took over in 2005 and said there's no evidence it happen in prior years either. Among the projects Cornell was pursuing in Alaska, and Prewitt was using to snare Anderson, was a new juvenile residential treatment facility for Anchorage. The project suffered from poor community support for the Downtown location it chose for a detention facility in addition to the paperwork and bureaucratic snags. Cornell currently operates six halfway houses across the state, including three here in Anchorage. A company executive announced that is where its focus will remain for the foreseeable future. "We are not interested in the juvenile sector here. We are not interested in building a private prison here or operating a private prison here. That is not where we are going to focus," Hyman said. Alaska Department of Corrections Commissioner Joe Schmidt said the department's relationship with Cornell is still strong. "Right now, they want to work with us instead of against us, and I think we have a pretty good partnership right now," Schmidt said. The possibility of constructing a private prison in Alaska was taken off the table three years ago when the state legislature passed a bill requiring any prison expansion in the state to be state-run and state-operated.

July 30, 2007 Anchorage Daily News
Federal law enforcement agents are currently searching the Girdwood home of Alaska U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, an FBI agent said. "All I can say is that agents from the FBI and IRS are currently conducting a search at that residence," said Dave Heller, the assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Anchorage office. The search began this afternoon, he said. It's the only such search warrant currently being served, he said. He directed other questions to the U.S. Justice Department's Public Integrity Section in Washington. A spokesman there had no comment. Federal investigators and a grand jury looking into public corruption in Alaska have been asking questions about a 2000 remodeling project at Stevens' home, particularly the involvement of the oil field services firm Veco. Three contractors who worked on the project told the Daily News that their records had been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury, and others connected with the work and with Stevens had been interviewed. One of the contractors who worked on the job said he was hired by Veco CEO Bill Allen for the job, and while his bills were paid by Stevens and his wife, Catherine, invoices were reviewed first by Veco. Allen and a Veco vice president pleaded guilty in May to bribery, extortion and other charges connected with paying off state legislators.

July 10, 2007 KTVA TV
Cornell Cos., whose lobbyist became the federal government's chief witness in the corruption case against former Anchorage Rep. Tom Anderson, wants it known it had nothing to with the bribery scheme. The Texas-based corrections company runs five halfway houses across the state. It hired lobbyist Frank Prewitt to help advance its interest in those and other areas, including developing a privately run prison in Alaska and a juvenile treatment facility in Anchorage. Cornell says while Prewitt may have told now-convicted co-conspirators Bill Bobrick and Anderson that the bribe money he had to offer was coming from Cornell, in reality, the company says they had no knowledge of what was going on. The company also claims it had no idea Prewitt was an FBI informant. However, Prewitt did admit under oath that he had been implicated but not yet charged in an illegal contribution scheme involving a Cornell Cos. executive in 2003. Prewitt testified he helped funnel $3,000 from that executive to an Alaska politician that same year. The FBI has acknowledged the money Prewitt used in the bribe scheme involving Anderson came from them and not Cornell. Cornell Cos. Consultant Charles Seigel said the company does not support bribery.

July 10, 2007 KTVA TV
Alaska Senator Ted Stevens says he's worried about how a corruption investigation could affect his run for re-election next year. The 83-year-old Republican has drawn Justice Department scrutiny over a renovation project in 2000, that more than doubled the size of his home in Girdwood. The remodeling was overseen by Bill Allen -- a contractor who has pleaded guilty to bribing Alaska state legislators. Allen is founder of VECO Corporation -- an Alaska-based oil field services and engineering company that has reaped tens of millions of dollars in federal contracts. Allen is cooperating with the FBI. It appears investigators are looking at whether VECO got anything in return for the home improvement help. Alaska's senior senator is caught up in a larger probe that included FBI raids last summer at offices of six Alaska legislators. Those legislators include Stevens' son, Ben, who was then the president of the state Senate. Ted Stevens told The Associated Press recently that, "The worst thing about this investigation is that it does change your life in terms of employment potential... "It doesn't matter what anyone says, it does shake you up. If this is still hanging around a year from November, it could cause me some trouble." Monday, a federal jury convicted former state Representative Tom Anderson on all seven counts in a corruption trial in Anchorage. Anderson was charged with seven felonies, including conspiracy, bribery, money laundering and interfering with commerce, a charge connected to a demand for payments. Prosecutors said he conspired to take money he thought was coming from a private prison firm, Cornell Industries, Incorporated. The conspiracy called for Cornell to invest in a Web-based public affairs newsletter that Anderson would write for, something a private prison firm would not normally sponsor, as a way to pay off Anderson.

July 10, 2007 Anchorage Daily News
Federal jurors said they relied on former state Rep. Tom Anderson's own words to convict him Monday of conspiracy, bribery and other charges related to political corruption. Eleven jurors returned seven guilty verdicts around 1:30 p.m., finding Anderson, 39, guilty of all felony charges against him. Witnesses testified Anderson took money to do the bidding of a private prison firm. In all, Anderson received $25,838 in 2004 and 2005, witnesses said. The money was supplied by the FBI through Frank Prewitt, a consultant for Cornell Cos., who secretly recorded his conversations with Anderson and a co-conspirator, former lobbyist Bill Bobrick. Juror No. 9 was dismissed Monday after a closed hearing for reasons that weren't explained. Both sides agreed to go forward with fewer than 12. Jurors at first were split over whether Anderson had been entrapped by the government, said several reached after the verdict. Jury forewoman Wendy Gilbert of Valdez said the key evidence came from a July 28, 2004, recording of a conversation among Anderson, Prewitt and Bobrick -- the first after the conspiracy began, according to the government. Jurors asked for it to be replayed on Monday and found that Anderson had an idea of what was expected of him from the start. "They started talking about what he could do for Cornell," juror Travis Gardner of Chugiak said. And when Anderson was asked about his credentials, Gardner said, the first thing he said was that he's a legislator. It didn't matter if Anderson would have taken the same actions anyway, such as getting on key budget committees, because he accepted money for doing so, said Gardner, 23. Another juror said she felt prosecutors presented a "substantial amount of evidence." Asked what was key in their decision, juror Marie Gieryic of Eagle River replied in an e-mail: "the recorded conversations of Anderson and others." Those conversations, along with other evidence, showed "Anderson understood he was taking part in illegal activities," wrote Gieryic, a mother of three who works in a child care center. MESSAGE TO JUNEAU The verdict should help "reinject ethics" into the Legislature and send a message "that there is a significant price to pay for abusing the public's trust in this manner," she wrote. Legislators need to think twice before they sell out. Anderson and his attorney seemed stunned by the verdict. When the jury left the room, Anderson uttered a weary sigh. "I'm devastated," he said. He said he'd appeal. "The prosecution has criminalized being a legislator over this past year. And I think I fell victim to that," Anderson said. Anderson's attorney, Paul Stockler said Anderson will need to think over what to do next after consulting with his wife, state Sen. Lesil McGuire, and a circle of advisers. "I'm speechless right now," Stockler said. "But when you go up against the government, you risk losing." Anderson never tied the payment of money to any official acts as a legislator, Stockler said. "He was always willing to help, and it had nothing to do with money." For the reading of the verdict, the courtroom quickly filled with FBI agents, prosecutors and staff members. McGuire wasn't there. She and other friends and family came to the trial but couldn't get to the federal building in downtown Anchorage in time after jurors announced they had reached a verdict, Anderson said. McGuire was not accused of wrongdoing. In fact, prosecutors used the fact that Anderson hid the payments from her as further evidence of a shady deal. NO ENTRAPMENT With seven counts and an entrapment defense, the case was particularly complex, said Gilbert, the jury forewoman. "There's a lot on the line and a lot on your shoulders, and you want to make sure you do the right thing," said Gilbert, a pipeline lab technician and mother of three. A common thread for jurors was that none knew much about the case beforehand from news coverage. In the end, jurors concluded Anderson had not been lured to commit crimes by a government agent. He was not "entrapped." Juror Gardner, who works for a trucking company, said the case was a lesson in Alaska politics. "I didn't even know what lobbying was," he said. But it didn't make him cynical, he said. Businesses should have a way to get their interests heard -- just not by paying legislators, he said. The public corruption case against Anderson provided the first real test for the FBI and prosecutors in their ongoing investigation of Alaska state legislators. Three other politicians are awaiting trial, though the schemes alleged in those cases are different. Those cases involve allegations of bribes paid by executives with oil field services contractor Veco. Lawyers for indicted former Reps. Bruce Weyhrauch and Pete Kott, whose trial is set for Sept. 5, said the guilty verdict won't have any impact on their strategy because the facts are so different. State Rep. Vic Kohring, whose trial is set for Oct. 22 and who is stepping down from his post next week, said he was saddened for Anderson but that his own resolve to fight the charges against him had not waned. Nick Marsh and Joe Bottini prosecuted the case against Anderson. They didn't comment on the verdict, nor did the FBI in Alaska. The only government statement came out of Washington, D.C. "Anderson has been held accountable for his crimes thanks to the hard work of federal prosecutors and FBI agents, and the Department of Justice will continue its pursuit of public corruption at all levels of government," U.S. Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher said in a written statement. KEY WITNESS One of the government's main witnesses was former lobbyist Bobrick. Gardner said jurors didn't find Bobrick that believable. Bobrick pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy in the scheme and agreed to cooperate with the government in the hope of getting a lighter sentence. Bobrick told jurors about a series of checks he wrote to Anderson or his consulting business that went far beyond the initial payments revealed before the trial: $3,000 on Feb. 14, 2005, $1,500 on Feb. 25, 2005, and more, on into June 2005. In all, Bobrick passed nearly $24,000 through to Anderson, and Prewitt gave him another $2,000 directly, according to their testimony. Bobrick testified he had an idea for a political Web site that he had hoped would become a real business with Anderson, but it never did. Anderson was paid "for being a legislator," Bobrick told jurors. But, as jurors indicated, Anderson's own words were most damaging. On a Nov. 16, 2004, recording of a meeting in his Anchorage legislative office, Anderson brought up money and told Prewitt he didn't want to split the next payment with Bobrick. Anderson served in the state House from 2003 to this year. He didn't run in 2006. U.S. District Court Judge John Sedwick set sentencing for Oct. 2. Anderson faces certain prison time and significant fines.

July 6, 2007 Anchorage Daily News
On June 13, 2005, an FBI agent left a message on then-state Rep. Tom Anderson's cell phone asking for his views on an upcoming federal appointment because he had been such a friend of law enforcement in the past. But when Anderson showed up at the FBI building in downtown Anchorage the next day, he discovered that was just a ploy. He was the target of an undercover FBI investigation. Huge blown-up pictures from a five-hour-long Prince William Sound sailing trip on the boat of Cornell Cos. consultant Frank Prewitt were on the wall. Agents played secretly made recordings of his conversations with Prewitt and lobbyist Bill Bobrick. The agents wanted to get Anderson to cooperate in its ongoing corruption investigation. And for a time he did, prosecutors said. The defense in Anderson's corruption trial wrapped up Thursday after five quick witnesses. The case is expected to go to the jury today after closing arguments. Anderson is charged with seven federal felonies, including bribery, extortion and money laundering. Defense lawyer Paul Stockler maintained that Anderson never took any legislative actions for money. He tried to portray Anderson as a man who had no inclination to do anything shady but was lured in to doing questionable things by the FBI. Anderson didn't take the stand. After court ended for the day on Thursday, Anderson said he trusted Stockler's judgment in directing his defense. With the case about to go to the jury, he said he felt anxious but didn't want to say much. Earlier in the trial, Bobrick testified that he created a business that was supposed to produce a Web site about Alaska politics. But he told jurors that it ultimately became a sham used to funnel illegal payments from Prewitt to Anderson. Prosecutors assert that the money was used to get the legislator to do Cornell's bidding on halfway houses, a juvenile treatment center and a private prison. Though Anderson was supposed to have produced material for the Web site, witnesses have testified that he never did. Bobrick has pleaded guilty and Prewitt worked undercover for the FBI, making recordings "as a cooperating witness."

July 4, 2007 Anchorage Daily News
On the stand for a second day in federal court Tuesday, former lobbyist Bill Bobrick told jurors that his idea for a political Web site started as a real business venture in 2004 with then-state Rep. Tom Anderson. It wasn't supposed to be a way "to bribe Tom Anderson or channel him funds. But it certainly ended up that way," Bobrick testified. Ultimately, its only real purpose was to disguise payments to Anderson, he told jurors. Anderson never did any real work for the Web site and received the money "for being a legislator," Bobrick said. The Web site never got off the ground. Prosecutors rested their corruption case against Anderson on Tuesday afternoon after calling eight witnesses over four days. The trial began June 25 with jury selection, which lasted 2 1/2 days. Prosecutors contend that Bobrick's Web site business was used to funnel payments from a Cornell Cos. consultant to Anderson so that he would do the company's bidding on halfway houses, a juvenile treatment center and a private prison. Anderson faces seven felony counts. Bobrick has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and said he is cooperating with the government in the hope of getting a lighter sentence. In all, Anderson received a total of $25,838, based on testimony about various checks. That's much more money than was previously disclosed. The charges list $12,838 in payments to Anderson. The FBI actually provided the money. Cornell was unaware of any scheme, the government has said.

July 2, 2007 AP
Government informer Frank Prewitt had plenty of chances to call off a scheme to funnel payments to former state Rep. Tom Anderson but did not, Anderson's attorney contended in federal court Monday. In a second day of questioning of the prosecution's star witness in the corruption case against Anderson, defense attorney Paul Stockler hammered away at conversations secretly recorded by Prewitt and his motives for doing so. Prewitt is a former Corrections Department commissioner and a consultant for a private prison company, Cornell Industries Inc. At least 10 times, Stockler said, Anderson or the man he's accused of conspiring with, Bill Bobrick, posed questions to Prewitt as to his comfort level with their plan to have Cornell spend money on their proposed Web-based public affairs newsletter. Prewitt, cooperating with an FBI investigation, acknowledged he did not halt their plan. "My role was not to advise them as to what was and wasn't illegal ... My role was to have conversations and see where they went," Prewitt said. Anderson was arrested Dec. 7 and charged with single counts of conspiracy and bribery, three counts of money laundering and two counts of interfering with commerce, a charge connected to a demand for payments. He's accused of conspiring with Bobrick, a former municipal lobbyist in Anchorage, to solicit and obtain money for Anderson's influence as a lawmaker. According to prosecutors, the newsletter company was a front for Cornell to pay Anderson money that could not be traced directly to Cornell. Prewitt testified that Cornell, whose entire business in Alaska comes through government contracts, had no use for advertising in a newsletter or sponsoring it. Bobrick in May pleaded guilty to bribing Anderson. Following testimony by Prewitt and former Corrections Commissioner Marc Antrim, Bobrick took the stand for the last half hour of proceedings Monday. Stockler contends Prewitt cooperated with investigators because Prewitt himself also was being investigated, and that Prewitt steered recorded conversations with Anderson to payoffs. In his cross examination of Prewitt, Stockler's questions followed several themes: — Prewitt never gave his opinion that Cornell's payments would be illegal or directly tied Anderson's help to them. — Even before the alleged conspiracy, Anderson supported Cornell's interests. — Anderson's interest in shielding his link to Cornell was connected to his re-election and not offending corrections constituents whose jobs could be threatened if Cornell's private prisons were built. Stockler also closely questioned Prewitt on his instructions for recording conversations from the FBI, and whether he was instructed to lie. Prewitt acknowledged one lie — his promise to run the newsletter and payment scheme "up the flagpole" to the principles at Cornell. He never did. "So that was a lie?" Stockler asked. "I guess that would be true," Prewitt said. But Prewitt kept his composure as he methodically responded to Stockler's other questions. He acknowledged that other lawmakers, including Rep. Mike Hawker, R-Anchorage, had intervened for Cornell, even fielding "talking points" composed by Prewitt for making Cornell's case. The difference was, Hawker did not receive payments, Prewitt said. In some instances, Bobrick's concern that Prewitt might consider the arrangement over whether Prewitt considered the scheme a "bad idea" or "sleazy" was because Bobrick was afraid it would jeopardize his own $5,000 per month annual contract with Cornell, Prewitt said. In another, Bobrick expressed concern that Prewitt would experience "sticker shock" over the amount of money requested — three payments of $8,000. Under a questioning by Nicholas A. Marsh, a trial attorney in the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, Prewitt said that acknowledging the illegality of the payments to Anderson or Bobrick would have defeated the purpose of the investigation. "That would have had an immediate chilling effect on the inquiry," Prewitt said. He denied that he was ever told by the FBI that he had to "bag a state legislator." Marsh asked whether Anderson had "many times" acknowledged that Cornell had no interest in the newsletter and knew it was a sham. "No question about it, the purpose of this arrangement was not the Web site?" Marsh asked. "No question," Prewitt replied. In the half hour he was on the stand, under questioning from Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph W. Bottini, Bobrick had time only to lay out his background as a construction worker, union official, director of the Democratic party and legislative aide. Bobrick said he befriended Anderson in 2001 when Anderson was a member of the Anchorage School Board and they eventually discussed going into business. Anderson, a moderate Republican, would lobby in Juneau and Bobrick, then a Democrat, in Anchorage. Anderson approached him in early 2004 and told him he needed money. He asked Bobrick if he could find him contract work. "He was my friend and I wanted to help him out," Bobrick said. He is scheduled to continue testifying Tuesday.

July 1, 2007 Anchorage Daily News
A former deputy corrections commissioner whose name came up Friday in the Tom Anderson corruption trial was working as an informant for the FBI in 2004 when he asked a prison company consultant for money, an FBI spokesman said Saturday. Former Cornell Cos. consultant Frank Prewitt testified Friday that he worked with deputy commissioner Don Stolworthy that year to develop a compromise on competing bills to build a new prison. One measure could have led to a Cornell-run prison in Whittier. The other, supported by the Murkowski administration, pushed a state-run prison in the Valley. Prewitt, a state corrections commissioner in the 1990s, testified Stolworthy told him he was worried about losing his job because of union opposition to a private prison. Prewitt said he assured Stolworthy that “people would be there for him” if that happened. Prewitt told jurors that Stolworthy eventually began seeking money, as a sort of insurance policy, if he lost his job. But he only did that because the FBI asked him to, FBI spokesman Eric Gonzalez said Saturday. Stolworthy was working for the FBI as a “cooperating witness,” he said. “We approached him out of the blue,” Gonzalez said. “We asked for his help and he said he’d be glad to help us.” Stolworthy “was squeaky clean,” Gonzalez said. The fact that Stolworthy was working undercover for the FBI never came up during the trial on Friday. Prewitt testified that he was shocked that Stolworthy was asking for money and read him the ethics act. The FBI won’t discuss what evidence it may have collected on Prewitt through Stolworthy. But in his opening statement on Wednesday, federal prosecutor Joe Bottini said that Prewitt may have tried to improperly influence a state corrections official. The matter came up because Prewitt is the government’s star witness in the corruption case against Anderson, a former state representative. Defense attorney Paul Stockler cross-examined Prewitt on Friday about possible illegal activities in his background and pressed him on whether he was just testifying against Anderson to save himself. Efforts to reach Stolworthy Saturday were unsuccessful. When the state issued a statement announcing his resignation in January 2005, it said he accepted a job for the U.S. Justice Department as warden of a prison in Iraq. Anderson’s trial resumes Monday as Stockler’s cross-examination of Prewitt continues.

June 28, 2007 Anchorage Daily News
Prosecutors say Tom Anderson was a debt-ridden politician who sold his office for $12,838 and knew exactly what he was doing. The defense says the real culprit is former state corrections commissioner Frank Prewitt, who was under investigation himself and exploited Anderson to save himself. Anderson was a hard-working legislator who never took any official actions in exchange for money, said defense attorney Paul Stockler. Jurors on Wednesday heard those contrasting views as the two sides gave opening statements in the public corruption trial of Anderson. The first witnesses will be called today. Anderson, a two-term state representative who didn't run again in 2006, is fighting seven felony charges including bribery, extortion and money laundering. A jury of eight women and four men, plus four alternatives, was seated Wednesday afternoon. They were picked from a pool of 102 after hours of questioning by U.S. District Judge John Sedwick and lawyers spread over three days. Some scribbled notes as the lawyers gave their opening statements. A small crowd of spectators came to hear. A friend of Anderson's who has been collecting money for his defense sat in, but Anderson's wife, state Sen. Lesil McGuire, didn't attend. Jurors will be asked to absorb complicated information over the next few days, prosecutor Joe Bottini told them. Neither of the central figures in the case against Anderson -- Prewitt and former lobbyist Bill Bobrick -- are "squeaky clean witnesses," Bottini acknowledged. Bobrick has pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in the case and has agreed to testify against Anderson. Bobrick came up with a scheme to create a phony company and use it to funnel payments from the private prison firm Cornell Cos. to Anderson, prosecutors assert. Cornell didn't know about the scheme, and after the FBI got involved it provided the payments. PREWITT'S PAST: The other key witness will be Prewitt, whose own flaws the prosecutor discussed at length. Prewitt, who became a consultant to Cornell after leaving his state post, was being investigated for various actions when the FBI confronted him in April 2004, Bottini said. He agreed to help the FBI in its "broad public corruption investigation," the prosecutor said. Anderson is one of four legislators or former legislators indicted in the past seven months. Cornell had been trying for years to open a private prison in Alaska, and Prewitt may have tried to improperly influence a state corrections official regarding it, the prosecutor said. He also was being investigated for a practice in political campaigns known as "conduit contributions" in which someone gives money to other people to pass on to candidates. That is done to bypass campaign contribution limits. Bobrick also was involved in "conduit contributions," Bottini said. In addition, while Prewitt was state corrections commissioner, he accepted $30,000 from a friend who had business with the department, Bottini said. The government has no deal with Prewitt that he won't be charged with any crime in exchange for his help, but certainly he's hoping for a break, the prosecutor said.

June 22, 2007 Juneau Empire
Former state Rep. Tom Anderson, R-Anchorage, goes on trial Monday in Anchorage, in a case which may be linked to the ongoing political corruption investigation involving VECO Corp. executives and other state legislators. Also involved, likely without her knowledge, may be Anderson's wife, Sen. Lesil McGuire, R-Anchorage. Regardless of VECO's involvement, Anderson's attorney has already begun preparing for a trial under increased public scrutiny of political corruption cases. Paul Stockler, an Anchorage attorney representing Anderson, has already asked a federal judge for permission to question potential jurors about how much they know about "this and other well publicized cases." He also wants to be able to ask about what they know about Anderson "or the other well publicized witnesses." The FBI investigation in Alaska, led by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Public Integrity became publicly known in August of 2006. At that time FBI agents served search warrants on the offices of six members of the Alaska Legislature, though not Anderson, as well as VECO and other offices. Three of the six legislators and two top VECO executives have been indicted on corruption charges. The executives have pleaded guilty, while the legislators have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial. A series of indictments, guilty pleas and legal maneuverings have kept those VECO-related issues in the news for months. According to documents filed by U.S. attorneys to outline their case, the investigation had been in the works for more than two years before the raids. It was in the summer of 2004 that an unnamed lobbyist with ties to Anderson approached a confidential source working undercover for the FBI with a scheme to bribe Anderson, the documents say. The confidential source's "efforts at the time were directed to other, unrelated investigative matters," the DOJ documents said. It did not specify whether those matters involved VECO. The charges against Anderson accuse him of using his position as a legislator, including the chairmanship of the Administrative Regulations Review, to benefit Cornell Companies, a Texas-based firm which operates private prisons. In Alaska Cornell was seeking state approval to build a private prison and a juvenile psychiatric treatment facility, as well as regulatory changes to help its Alaska operations, which include a string of halfway houses around the state. The court documents allege that Anderson pressured state officials, such as former Department of Corrections Commissioner Mark Antrim, to benefit Cornell. He also advocated for Cornell at a public meeting in Anchorage, but said he was there not on the company's behalf but as chair of the regulatory review committee. Cornell is not accused of any wrongdoing, federal and Cornell officials have previously told the Empire. Prosecutors said they expect to take a week to present their case.

June 19, 2007 KTUU TV
New details are emerging in the government's corruption probe against former state Rep. Tom Anderson as attorneys prepare for his trial Monday. The government has filed a trial brief laying out who is involved, how the pitch was made and the meetings and actions it says Anderson took. Anderson's attorney wouldn't comment on the details, but said he is outraged at the inclusion of what appear to be references to Anderson's wife, Sen. Lesil McGuire. The brief also makes it clear that other, unrelated investigations were underway when the federal government's unnamed source was approached to participate in a bribery scheme. Based on court records and sources close to the investigation, Channel 2 News believes the confidential source who allegedly recorded every move is former lobbyist Frank Prewitt. Prewitt worked for Texas-based Cornell Companies, a private firm looking to open a private prison in Alaska and a juvenile treatment facility in Anchorage. The company also runs halfway houses throughout the state. Anderson is accused of taking money from the government source on behalf of Cornell in exchange for official acts. Another lobbyist, Bill Bobrick, has already entered a guilty plea in connection with the scheme. He is expected to testify at Anderson's trial. In the trial brief, prosecutors cite a recording in which Bobrick tries to convince the informant the scheme was worth the money, suggesting Cornell would have two legislators working for them in Juneau because of Anderson's romantic involvement with another lawmaker. "Cornell would get two legislators," Bobrick is quoted as saying. "You know, chair of labor and commerce, and chair of judiciary ... That's the minimum we're going to have next year." At the time, Anderson was dating Rep. Lesil McGuire, chairwoman of the House Judiciary Committee. The couple went on to wed during the summer of 2005. In its filing, the government goes on to cite a recorded conversation between an unnamed state representative and the Cornell lobbyist. In it, the representative talks about contacting a state commissioner overseeing regulations Cornell needed help with. "Tom called me on the phone and he said, ‘I don't care what you are doing, I need you to get on the phone right now ...'" states the brief. The representative said Anderson asked for calls to be placed to the lobbyist and the Cornell representative and goes on to say, "I was on the phone because of Tom." During late 2004 and early 2005, Anderson joined subcommittees key to Cornell's interests and, according to the government, pushed Cornell's agendas without disclosing he was being paid. Anderson's attorney, Paul Stockler, maintains Anderson's innocence and said they are ready to clear his name at trial. Stockler also added that no allegations have been made against Anchorage Sen. Lesil McGuire, and there is no indication she has done anything inappropriate. There has been no public link between the prison case and other corruption cases, including the VECO bribery claims. However, VECO Corp. and Cornell do have a relationship -- in 2003, VECO and Cornell Companies teamed up on trying to get a private prison built in Whittier.

June 19, 2007 AP
State Rep. Vic Kohring said today he will resign after nearly 13 years of public service so he can concentrate on defending himself against federal bribery and extortion charges. He told The Associated Press that he will leave office July 19. "I take the job as a legislator very seriously, but my life is on the line, so I have chosen to defend myself so I can prevail in court," Kohring said. "It's a very, very ugly decision to have to make, frankly." Kohring said he plans to disclose his decision during a luncheon at the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce later today, as he previously announced. "The easy route would be not face the people who supported me and not to face those people who oppose me," said Kohring, a Wasilla Republican. "I could just issue a press release and be done with it, but that’s not the right way to do it." Kohring and two former state lawmakers were indicted May 4 on bribery and extortion charges related to alleged dealings with Anchorage- based oil field services company Veco Corp. Also charged were former Republican Reps. Pete Kott and Bruce Weyhrauch. All have pleaded not guilty and have had their original July trial dates pushed back to the fall. Federal prosecutors accuse the lawmakers of selling their votes to Veco officials while they were considering a rewrite of the state’s petroleum production tax, which could have levied a 20 percent tax on profits and a 20 percent credit on capital investments.

June 17, 2007 Anchorage Daily News
A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., heard evidence last month about the expansion of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens' Girdwood home in 2000 and other matters connecting Stevens to the oil services company Veco Inc. As the far-reaching federal investigation into corruption in Alaska politics spreads to Washington, Stevens family friend and neighbor Bob Persons was ordered to appear before a grand jury in Washington on May 25. The government directed him to produce documents related to the work on Stevens' Girdwood house, especially to work that might have been performed by Veco and contractors who were hired or supervised by Veco. Another close associate of Stevens, Anchorage businessman Bob Penney, testified two weeks ago before the federal grand jury in Anchorage that has been gathering evidence in the corruption cases. The house expansion project, first reported in the Daily News on May 29, more than doubled the size of the home. The Stevenses had asked Persons, who lives above the Double Musky restaurant he owns in Girdwood, to help them oversee the addition while they were in Washington. The existence of the Washington grand jury investigation is the strongest indication to date that Stevens himself has become a subject of the wide-ranging federal probe that surfaced with FBI raids on state legislative offices last August. Former State Sen. Ben Stevens, Ted Stevens' son, was among the legislators whose offices were searched. Ben Stevens has denied wrongdoing. The FBI said at the time that it also had executed a search warrant in Girdwood, among other places, although the location of that search has never been disclosed. VECO GUILTY PLEAS: The investigation by the FBI and the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section has so far led to guilty pleas by former Veco chief executive Bill Allen, former Veco vice president Rick Smith and private-prison lobbyist Bill Bobrick. Four current or former state legislators have been indicted and are awaiting trial on corruption charges, three for taking bribes or attempting to take bribes from Veco, the other for taking bribes from the private prison interest. How the Girdwood home fits in with the broader investigation, or what possible crimes are being investigated, is not clear.

May 29, 2007 Anchorage Daily News
The FBI and a federal grand jury have been investigating an extensive remodeling project at U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens' home in Girdwood that involved the top executive of Veco Corp. in the hiring of at least one of the key contractors. Three contractors who worked on the project said in recent interviews with the Daily News that the FBI asked them to turn over their records from the job. One said he was called to testify about the project before a federal grand jury in Anchorage in December. The remodeling work, which more than doubled the size of the house, occurred in the summer and fall of 2000. The four-bedroom home, about two blocks from the day lodge parking lot at the Alyeska ski resort, is Stevens' official residence in Alaska. An old friend of Stevens in Girdwood, longtime Double Musky restaurant owner Bob Persons, has been questioned by the FBI about the project. He monitored the remodeling for Stevens and his wife while they were in Washington, D.C. "I will be testifying. That's all I can tell you," Persons said in a brief interview last week. "It is an ongoing investigation that I'm not supposed to talk to or see anybody about it." Persons would not elaborate on whether he meant that he would testify before a grand jury, at a trial, or both, or for whom. He said he believed Stevens did nothing wrong. Ted Stevens and his wife, Catherine, declined to answer questions about the Girdwood house. In a prepared statement issued by his office, Stevens said: "While I understand the public's interest in the ongoing federal investigation, it has been my long-standing policy to not comment on such matters. Therefore, I will withhold comment at this time to avoid even the appearance that I might influence this investigation." The FBI and the U.S. Justice Department's Public Integrity Section, which are in the midst of a broad investigation of corruption in Alaska, would not comment. "This is a pending investigation and we're just not going to confirm or deny any aspect, any rumors, any allegations out there," said FBI spokesman Eric Gonzalez.

May 7, 2007 Anchorage Daily News
Bill Allen, a welder who took the Veco Corp. from a small Kenai oil-field company to a billion-dollar international contractor and a major political force, pleaded guilty Monday to bribing at least four Alaska legislators, including former Senate President Ben Stevens. In a plea bargain with the U.S.Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, Allen and Rick Smith, Veco’s vice president for community and government affairs, each pleaded guilty to three identical felony charges — bribery and two counts of conspiracy. Both men accepted responsibility for making more than $400,000 in illegal payments and benefits to public officials or their families. More than half the money went to Stevens in the form of phony “consulting” fees, the government charged. Stevens, son of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, has not been charged. He was named in the plea documents as “State Senator B,” but his identity was unmistakable. In return for special consideration at sentencing, Allen, 70, and Smith, 62, agreed to cooperate in the ongoing federal investigation. The government also promised to not seek charges against Allen’s son Mark, a Veco official, his daughter Tammy Kerrigan, or any other relative. The federal plea bargain doesn’t bar state prosecutors from seeking additional charges against Allen and Smith. Both men acknowledged violating state campaign finance laws in their plea. The plea deals were formalized in secret last week and opened in U.S. District Court Monday morning in unannounced back-to-back hearings before Judge John Sedwick, each lasting about 40 minutes.

May 6, 2007 Anchorage Daily News
The chairman of a key state House committee was deposed and Alaska's most important oil tax law fell under new scrutiny Saturday as lawmakers reacted to the arrest of one current and two former legislators on federal corruption charges. Rep. Vic Kohring, R-Wasilla, will lose his chairmanship of the Special Committee on Oil and Gas, House leaders said. Kohring was charged with selling his vote on oil taxes last year to oil field services company Veco. The House committee had an important early role in shaping gas pipeline legislation this year. Republican majority leaders placed Kohring in charge of the committee this session, even though he was one of six legislators whose offices were raided by the FBI in a Veco-related probe last fall. Kohring appeared before a federal magistrate Friday in handcuffs to face charges of bribery, extortion and conspiracy. Also appearing were two Republican colleagues from last year's legislative session, Pete Kott of Eagle River and Bruce Weyhrauch of Juneau. All three pleaded not guilty. In detailed indictments, the three were charged with selling their votes and influence over other legislators for money and jobs during the 2006 legislative session. The legislation in question was an overhaul of the state's oil production tax, which pays for most of state government and adds to the Alaska Permanent Fund. Veco wanted to keep the oil tax low and also was pressing for construction of a gas pipeline from which it would profit, according to the indictment.

May 5, 2007 Alaska Daily News
Three more state legislators were arrested on federal corruption charges Friday, accused of selling their votes and influence to the oil field services company Veco Corp. and its chief executive, Bill Allen, during last year’s debate on oil taxes. Acting on felony indictments brought by the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section, federal agents arrested the three Republicans in Juneau — one a sitting legislator, Rep. Vic Kohring of Wasilla, and two others who left office in January, Reps. Pete Kott of Eagle River and Bruce Weyhrauch of Juneau. Each was brought in handcuffs before a federal magistrate judge, and each pleaded not guilty to bribery, extortion and conspiracy and was released on $20,000 bond. The charges carry penalties of between five and 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines. The indictments, unsealed with the arrests, describe a conspiracy among the legislators, Veco, Allen and Veco's vice president for government affairs, Rick Smith, to steer an oil-production tax bill favored by the industry through the Legislature last year. The bill was seen as a prerequisite for the North Slope oil producers to agree to build a natural gas pipeline. Ultimately, Veco, Allen and Smith wanted to see a gas line built that would help the company through contracts with the oil companies, the indictments charged. Veco, Allen and Smith were neither charged nor directly named in the indictments. But “Company A,” “Company CEO” and “Company VP” are described in long passages in the indictments, and those descriptions point unmistakably to them. Veco’s attorney, Amy Menard, confirmed the identifications. Allen’s lawyer, Bob Bundy of Anchorage, wouldn’t comment on what might be in store for his client. “Veco and Bill have cooperated completely with the government’s investigation,” Bundy said. WADS OF CASH The charges describe the three lawmakers seeking money, jobs or both for themselves or family members, and Veco willing to oblige. Much of the activity described in the charges took place in Veco’s suite in Juneau’s Baranof Hotel, Room 604, during the 2006 legislative session. Direct quotes attributed in the indictments to the three legislators and to Allen and Smith suggest the FBI conducted some form of electronic surveillance in the room and perhaps on telephones as well. Kott’s lawyer, Jim Wendt, said the room contained a hidden camera. He learned about the surveillance when the prosecutors offered to make a deal with him. They revealed snippets of their evidence, including video from inside a Baranof room, Wendt said. FBI spokesman Eric Gonzalez wouldn’t confirm whether agents used wiretaps or hidden cameras. A Baranof employee on Friday said the hotel would not discuss the use of the suite.

May 4, 2007 Anchorage Daily News
Former Alaska state legislators Pete Kott and Bruce Weyhrauch have been indicted by a federal grand jury on several counts of extortion, bribery, wire fraud and mail fraud. Kott was arrested at home in Juneau around 9 a.m. Friday, a spokesman for the FBI said. Weyhrauch was arrested later in the morning. Both are being held in the federal courthouse in Juneau. FBI spokesman Eric Gonzalez would not say if additional arrests are coming. "It’s a continuing investigation," he said. Some of the charges against Kott and Weyhrauch involve the Legislature’s consideration last year of a natural gas pipeline and a petroleum production tax proposed by former Gov. Frank Murkowski. Kott, a former House speaker from Eagle River, is accused of seeking and accepting bribes to push positions favored by executives of a company that is not named in the indictment. Weyhrauch traded votes for the promise of a job, according to the charges. The company is referred to throughout the indictment as "Company A" and is described as a privately owned company that "provided services to the energy, resources and process industries" and "took an active interest" in the Legislature. The indictment also refers to a prison in Barbados the company was constructing. That description matches Veco Inc., a huge Anchorage-based oil-field services company that has been active in lobbying the Legislature for years. Kott lost his Eagle River seat in the state House in last year’s Republican primary. Weyhrauch, an attorney, did not seek re-election to his House seat representing Juneau. Both left office in January. Both were among the six lawmakers whose offices were raided by federal agents in August as part of an investigation into corruption. Kott was scheduled to be arraigned in Juneau at 1:30 p.m. today. The indictment covers a period from September 2005 until the end of August 2006. The Legislature considered the pipeline and oil tax proposals during regular and special sessions during that time. Lawmakers in both political parties reacted to the indictment today with disgust.

April 17, 2007 Anchorage Daily News
High up in City Hall on Friday, the Anchorage Assembly talked for hours about road projects and budgets and the kind of things you usually don't sit through unless you're paid to be there. Listening from the back of the room was lobbyist Bill Bobrick. Four months after Bobrick was linked to a federal bribery case that led to the indictment of Anchorage state Rep. Tom Anderson, he remains one of the busier lobbyists of the city. He's got to earn a living, he says to friends and acquaintances. He also tells them his role in the bribery case is about to get bigger. "My understanding, real clear, is that Bobrick's going to go in and plead guilty here real quick to a felony," said Assemblyman Dan Coffey. Coffey said Bobrick told him just that after a late March town hall meeting at a local school. Mayor Mark Begich, who was best man at Bobrick's wedding in 1998 and has known him for more than 20 years, said the longtime city lobbyist told him something less precise: "He told me he was going to plead. I don't know what that means. And honestly, I didn't dive into it. That's an issue that, again, doesn't relate to the city." Bobrick hasn't been charged with a crime. He fits the description of an unnamed conspirator described in the indictment of Anderson, who is accused of money laundering, bribery and extortion. Public records show Bobrick as owner of a company that federal prosecutors say was set up to funnel Anderson bribes. In exchange, Anderson helped promote in the Legislature a private prison and juvenile treatment facility, the indictment says. Anderson left office when his term expired in January. Bobrick declined to be interviewed for this story.

January 14, 2007 Juneau Empire
Federal prosecutors who accused Rep. Tom Anderson of bribery and other crimes say he also used another, unidentified legislator to carry out illegal acts. While Anderson was advocating for Cornell Companies, a Texas-based developer of private prisons, he also tried help Cornell win approval for a juvenile mental-health treatment center in Alaska. To do that, he got another legislator to try to pressure the state Department of Health and Social Services to grant a certificate of need for Cornell's project, according to the Anderson indictment. In competition with Cornell was North Star Behavioral Health Systems, an Alaska nonprofit that already had operations in Anchorage and Palmer. It was supported by a number of influential legislators, including Senate Minority Leader Ethan Berkowitz, D-Anchorage, and Sen. Lyda Green, R-Wasilla, president-elect of the Senate. The indictment says Anderson, an Anchorage Republican, prevailed upon an "elected public official" to lobby for the certificate. Documents obtained by the Empire show that Kohring was the only legislator who wrote a letter in support of the certificate during the time frame described in the indictment. Kohring did not return repeated phone calls last week. In Kohring's letter to Health and Human Services officials, he wrote, "It has come to my attention" that Cornell was seeking a certificate of need for its project, but he didn't say how it had come to his attention. Anderson's attorney, Paul Stockler, denied that the unnamed elected official was Kohring. The only other letter to the state on behalf of the certificate was written by Rep. John Harris, now speaker of the House of Representatives. Harris said he did not recall how his letter came to be written. "I write letters for a lot of people," he said. Harris said he didn't recall talking with Anderson about the matter. "He and I were never close," Harris said. Prosecutors say in the indictment that they have tape recordings of Anderson and the "elected public official." In them, the official allegedly confirms that he contacted the department commissioner at Anderson's request. Anderson already had been pushing Cornell projects. Bringing in six-term representative Kohring or Harris, then the Finance Committee chairman, may have increased Cornell's chances. The company dropped the project, however.

January 9, 2007 Anchorage Daily News
Indicted state legislator Tom Anderson wants to delay the start of his trial so his lawyer can better prepare. In a court motion filed Friday, Anderson's attorney, Paul Stockler, wrote that he is still working his way through 20 discs "which contain hours of audio and video recordings involving the defendant taken over an extended period of time." The trial is now scheduled for Feb. 12, and Stockler said he wants to delay it until April 23. The three-page motion provides the first mention of video recordings in the FBI corruption investigation of Anderson and other legislators. Anderson was indicted by a federal grand jury in December on seven felony counts including money laundering, extortion and bribery. The indictment contains a number of references to recorded conversations between Anderson and two others: a local-government lobbyist for a private corrections company and a confidential source who had worked for the same company. The indictment doesn't specify whether any of the recordings were on video. The indictment describes a conspiracy that began in July 2004 in which the lobbyist set up a shell company that existed to launder money to Anderson. The FBI gave money to the informant, who passed it on to Anderson and the lobbyist in exchange for Anderson pushing the interests of the corrections company. Anderson received less than $13,000, according to the indictment. Anderson has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

December 25, 2006 Juneau Empire
In 2004, a privately owned Texas prison firm had a problem in Alaska. Its chain of halfway houses that took in prisoners under contract with the state Corrections Department was struggling. It had facilities in Fairbanks, Bethel, Nome and several Anchorage locations. Low occupancy rates were hurting profits, especially in Anchorage. Cornell Companies, the Houston-based owner of the facilities, also had some top lobbyists on their payroll, including a former commissioner of corrections for the state. Also on its payroll was a key state legislator, Rep. Tom Anderson, R-Anchorage, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The lobbyists' affiliation was legal, but Anderson's wasn't, according to an indictment filed in U.S. District Court for Alaska earlier this month. Anderson was arrested Dec. 7 on charges of bribery, extortion and money laundering. He has pleaded not guilty. If convicted on all counts, he faces a possible sentence of 20 years or more in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. Anderson was unavailable for comment for this article. On federal wiretaps, two Cornell lobbyists were heard discussing efforts to bribe Anderson, who they said was willing to be "our boy in Juneau" in exchange for cash payments, according to the Department of Justice indictment. Cornell, whose stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange, reported revenues of $346 million last year. It was not identified in the indictment. Company spokeswoman Christine Taylor confirmed the company had been notified of the Anderson investigation by the Department of Justice. "We've been notified of the indictment, but no wrongdoing has been alleged," she said. The indictment said the company was unaware of the actions of its lobbyists. A confidential FBI source had at various times been a lobbyist for the company. He used funds provided by the FBI, not the company, for the bribes. He didn't notify Cornell because of "the undercover nature of the operation," the Justice Department said. "The corrections company was not implicated in the corrupt activities that are alleged in the indictment," according to the Department of Justice press release announcing the arrest. Tom Anderson: Anderson worked unsuccessfully to help Cornell expand its private prison and juvenile detention operations into Alaska but was more successful helping out the company's halfway houses. That effort, not previously reported, is detailed in the indictment and in Alaska Department of Corrections documents obtained under the state Public Records Act. When Cornell's halfway houses were struggling, the company lobbyist approached Anderson, who allegedly agreed to try to influence the Department of Corrections. In exchange, Anderson apparently received thousands of dollars in cash from the lobbyist. On Oct. 20, 2004, Anderson wrote a letter to then-Corrections Commissioner Marc Antrim, urging more use of the halfway houses and requesting a personal meeting. "Since private contractors only get paid for occupied beds, severe underutilization creates serious budget challenges when beds are left empty," Anderson wrote to Antrim on legislative letterhead. In the letter, Anderson also noted that he was a member of the House Finance Committee's Corrections Subcommittee. The indictment alleges that a lobbyist wrote the letter for Anderson. On. Oct. 29, 2004, Antrim met with Anderson, Department of Corrections records show. What happened in the meeting? "I'm not able to comment on that," Antrim said in a phone call to his Juneau home. He is no longer with the department. Antrim declined to say why he could not comment. There are no indications that Antrim is under investigation. However, prosecutors sometimes ask potential witnesses not to speak publicly about matters that might come up in court. Federal investigators obtained bank records showing that a Cornell lobbyist on Oct. 21, 2004, wrote a check to Anderson's consulting business from Pacific Publishing, a company created by another Cornell lobbyist. The check was purportedly for writing public policy articles for a Pacific Publishing Web site. The indictment alleges that there was no web site and that the money was laundered through Pacific Publishing to deceive the Alaska Public Offices Commission. On the wiretaps, Anderson was overheard acknowledging to the lobbyist that that payment and others were "not really for your Web thing," the indictment states. The Department of Justice called Pacific Publishing a "sham corporation" formed for the sole purpose of disguising bribe money. In the 2004 fiscal year, Cornell received $12.1 million in state payments for its halfway houses, $12.3 in 2005 and $12.4 in 2006, according to Richard Schmitz, spokesman for the Department of Corrections. Alaska state law bars a legislator from accepting money in exchange for official acts, but courts have found the state Constitution's free speech provisions make prosecuting legislators for such actions difficult. Anderson has been charged under federal law, however. Federal investigators continued their investigation of Anderson for more than two years after the Cornell lobbyist investigation, during which time Anderson was re-elected to the House of Representatives. The U.S. Attorney for Alaska did not say why it took so long to indict Anderson. Anderson chose not to run for re-election this year and leaves office in January after serving two terms in the House.

December 9, 2006 Anchorage Daily News
State Rep. Tom Anderson pleaded not guilty Friday to a series of federal charges accusing him of selling his legislative office for $12,828 in bribes from a lobbyist representing private prison interests. Anderson, a 39-year-old Republican who has represented Muldoon's District 19 since he was elected in 2002, was ordered freed Friday by U.S. Magistrate Judge John Roberts on an unsecured $10,000 bond after his arrest Thursday by FBI agents. Roberts said Anderson could travel to Mexico on a previously scheduled vacation next week with his wife, Republican state Rep. Lesil McGuire, who was elected to the state Senate in November, and their infant son. The 18-page indictment against Anderson said the lobbyist was secretly recorded July 21, 2004, boasting that for a price, Anderson would be "our boy in Juneau." A week later, the same lobbyist was recorded telling a confidential informant, "If I was a Soviet spy and I was looking for a legislator to recruit, (Anderson) would be the one I'd get." Anderson "needs the money," the lobbyist said. The government didn't charge the lobbyist. He is identified only by the letter "A," but the facts in the case point to Bill Bobrick of Anchorage, who represented Cornell Companies, a private prison firm Outside. Bobrick didn't return messages left on his home and cell phones Friday, and his business number wasn't working. On Thursday, before Anderson's arrest, Bobrick said in an interview that he was getting out of the lobbying business and was in the process of handing off his clients. He cited "health issues" as the reason. Anderson, who did not seek re-election this year and formally leaves office next month, is the first legislator charged with corruption in office since two state senators faced charges in the early 1980s. One, George Hohman, was convicted of bribery in 1981, while the other, Ed Dankworth, successfully appealed his 1982 conflict-of-interest charges and never faced trial. Anderson's seven-count indictment accuses him of going into league with Lobbyist A to promote a private prison somewhere in Alaska and a private juvenile treatment facility in Anchorage. In return for the money, it said Anderson got himself appointed to legislative committees with jurisdiction over prisons and treatment, lobbied other elected officials, agreed to align his votes with the correction company's interests, wrote letters and publicly spoke on behalf of company projects. Anderson disguised the source of the money in his reports to the Alaska Public Offices Commission, the indictment charged. A second private prison advocate secretly worked with the government to record conversations of the lobbyist and Anderson. The informant, identified only as "CS-1," used money provided by the FBI in the payoffs. The private prison company was identified only as "Corrections Company" in the charges, but the facts squarely match Cornell Companies Inc. of Houston, Texas, a publicly traded corporation with facilities in 17 states. Cornell operates six halfway houses in Alaska from its buyout of Anchorage-based Allvest Corp. With partners Veco and Allvest founder Bill Weimer, Cornell failed to win public support for private prison proposals in Anchorage, Delta Junction, Kenai and Whittier. The proposals were all highly controversial in the communities, though they often sailed through legislative committees. During a House Finance Committee hearing May 9, 2004, Rep. Eric Croft, D-Anchorage, said the effort was corrupting the state. "What I see, over and over, is repeated sole-source, pre-arranged, heavy-money deals that go to specific contractors. ... It's never been a clean, competitive proposal," Croft said at the time, the only member of the committee to object. "We are going to see somebody indicted and probably imprisoned over this series of proposals." A prepared statement from the Justice Department released Friday said the corrections company was never told about the payments to Anderson "due to the undercover nature of the operation." It said the company "was not implicated in the corrupt activities that are alleged in the indictment." Christine Parker, a spokeswoman for Cornell in Houston, said, "There's nothing that we knew of, or were aware of, until this indictment was issued." Anderson arrived for his arraignment in federal court Friday wearing a bright yellow jumpsuit with the word "PRISONER" across his back. His legs were shackled as he rose for the judge alongside his defense attorney, Jeffrey Feldman of Anchorage. The hearing lasted 19 minutes. His trial was set for Feb. 12. If the government was making a point to other potential defendants in its ongoing investigation into corruption, the message was tough. Nicholas Marsh, a trial attorney from the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section in Washington, D.C., told the court the charges carried penalties ranging from a maximum of five years and a $250,000 fine for conspiracy to a maximum of 20 years and $500,000 for each of three money laundering charges. Anderson was also accused of two counts of extortion (20 years and $250,000) and one count of bribery (10 years and $250,000). The activities alleged in the indictment took place long before the coordinated raids of Aug. 31, when the FBI searched the offices of 10 percent of the 60-member Legislature. Anderson's office wasn't among them, and it's unclear how his case is related. Marsh, assistant U.S. attorney Joseph Bottini and FBI agent Mary Beth Kepner, a leader of the corruption probe, left quickly after the arraignment and declined to answer questions. The conspiracy alleged in the indictment began in July 2004 and continued through the following March. It said that Lobbyist A set up a shell company called Pacific Publishing that existed solely to launder money to Anderson. The company would pay Anderson to write articles about politics that would be published on its Web site, but Anderson was paid without ever scribbling a line. CS-1 paid Lobbyist A $24,000 in three payments. The cover story was that the money was for advertising on the Web site, but they agreed the money was really for Anderson's pocket, with "A" taking a sizable cut. The indictment said CS-1 had worked for the corrections company as a lobbyist "at various times." The identity closely matches Frank Prewitt, a former Alaska corrections commissioner appointed by Gov. Wally Hickel and who later went to work for Cornell. In an e-mail exchange with the Daily News on Friday, Prewitt suggested he was the source, though he stopped short of confirming it. "At this time it is inappropriate for me to talk about the voluntary role that I and others may have played in the Anderson investigation," Prewitt wrote. "Over the next year I believe you will find that this was only the beginning of the end of a sad, but healthy chapter in Alaska history. My prayers are with Representative Anderson and his family during this difficult time for all." The first recorded conversation cited in the indictment occurred July 16, 2004, when the lobbyist suggested to the confidential source that they "try with (Cornell) to help out Tom Anderson." Five days later, the lobbyist told the source that Cornell should hire Anderson through him. Rather than report Cornell, with its interest in legislation and other government action, as the source of the money, Anderson said he was paid for writing for the Pacific Publishing Web site. Anderson himself was recorded Aug. 17, 2004, telling the confidential source: "APOC only needs to know (Bobrick) pays me and then we're all safe." The source paid the lobbyist the first $8,000 Aug. 19, 2004, the indictment charged. Out of that, Anderson received $3,328, which he deposited Aug. 23 into the account of his personal consulting firm, Alaska Strategic Consultants. In a recorded call Oct. 20, 2004, the source told Anderson he had prepared the next $8,000 payment and planned to pass it on to the lobbyist. "Awesome. Awesome. I appreciate it," Anderson is quoted as saying. Anderson received a $3,500 advance from that payment, the indictment charged. The source made his last $8,000 payment on Dec. 21, 2004. Anderson got $4,000. But late in the scheme, the indictment alleged, Anderson was showing signs of unhappiness over splitting the money with the lobbyist. According to excerpts of recordings, the confidential source appeared at first to encourage the disaffection, saying it wasn't the lobbyist who was speaking out and voting for Cornell, but rather Anderson. "I know," Anderson said. But then the source suggested the lobbyist might become "estranged" if he were cut out of the deal. The source thought that he could make a separate payment direct to Anderson. "If there's a way you can think of that, that would be nice," Anderson replied. The source obliged, handing Anderson a $2,000 check Dec. 21, 2004. The indictment said the check was made payable to Tom Anderson.

December 8, 2006 Anchorage Daily News
A federal grand jury has indicted an Alaska lawmaker on charges of extortion, conspiracy, bribery, and money laundering, federal officials said Friday. A seven-count indictment was returned against state Rep. Thomas T. Anderson, R-Anchorage, on Wednesday, assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher said. Anderson was arrested Thursday, and was being held at the city jail. The indictment charges Anderson with two counts of extortion, one count of bribery, one count of conspiracy, and three counts of money laundering in connection with the use of a sham corporation to hide the identity of the bribery payments, Fisher said in a prepared statement. The indictment also alleges that Anderson solicited and received money from an FBI confidential source in exchange for Anderson's agreement to perform official acts to further a business interest represented by the confidential source. The indictment alleges from July 2004 to March 2005, Anderson and an individual described in only as "Lobbyist A" solicited and received $26,000 in payments from an FBI confidential source in exchange for Anderson's agreement to act on his behalf in the legislature, according to the statement released from the U.S. Department of Justice. Anderson and the unnamed lobbyist created a sham corporation to conceal the existence and origin of the payments, and used the corporation to funnel a portion of the $26,000 to Anderson, the indictment says. The FBI's source was a consultant for a private corrections company located outside the state of Alaska, and Anderson and the lobbyist initiated contact with that confidential source in order to solicit bribery payments, the indictment alleges. The source, however, never communicated any information to the corrections company due to the undercover nature of the operation. The corrections company was not implicated, federal officials said. If convicted, Anderson faces a maximum penalty of 20 years and a $250,000 fine on the extortion counts; a maximum penalty of 20 years and a $500,000 fine on each of the money laundering counts; a maximum penalty of 10 years and a $250,000 fine on the bribery count; and a maximum penalty of five years and a $250,000 fine on the conspiracy count. Anderson was scheduled to be arraigned Friday, assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph W. Bottini said. It was not immediately known if he had hired a lawyer. Anderson is married to former state Rep. and now state Sen.-elect Lesil McGuire, who did not return messages left on her cells phones Friday. Anderson, who was elected to the state House four years ago, did not seek re-election. He leaves office this month.

October 9, 2006 Anchorage Daily News
When FBI agents searched the Wasilla office of Rep. Vic Kohring on Aug. 31, they weren't just looking for documents related to Veco Corp., its executives and ties to lawmakers. They also wanted information about developer Marc Marlow as well as the state Department of Corrections. That element of the ongoing FBI investigation emerged last week when Kohring's attorney, Wayne Anthony Ross, provided a copy of the search warrant to the Daily News, along with the list of items taken. Those documents, though lacking detail or context, suggest that the probe is wide-ranging and not focused on any one company, issue or individual. No one has been charged in the investigation, and federal authorities have declined to discuss it except to say that it continues. The lead prosecutors are from the Department of Justice's Public Integrity Section in Washington, D.C., which often handles government corruption cases. In all, offices of six lawmakers have been searched, along with Veco offices and additional undisclosed locations. Other lawmakers whose offices weren't searched have said they were interviewed by the FBI. The warrant also sought all correspondence between Kohring and the Alaska Department of Corrections. Ross said Kohring was questioned by the FBI about efforts to build a private prison in Whittier. "He indicated it was a facility that Cornell was hoping to build in the past and that's apparently all they asked about that," Ross said. Cornell Cos. had teamed with Veco in the private prison endeavor, which ultimately died last year after the city of Whittier dropped its support. Along with those of Kohring and Stevens, FBI agents searched offices of Sen. John Cowdery, R-Anchorage; Sen. Donny Olson, D-Nome; Rep. Pete Kott, R-Eagle River; and Rep. Bruce Weyhrauch, R- Juneau. Messages left for them were not returned. Kohring is the only one of the six still facing an election battle in November. Kott lost in the primary, Stevens and Weyhrauch aren't running again and the others aren't up this year. What's known: • Dozens of FBI agents executed about two dozen search warrants Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, though in some cases individuals agreed to the search. • Six legislative offices were searched, and so was Veco Corp. Searches were conducted in Anchorage, Juneau, Eagle River, Wasilla, Willow and Girdwood. The office of Senate President Ben Stevens was then searched a second time, on Sept. 18. • One search warrant, provided by Sen. Donny Olson, said the FBI was looking for "any and all documents" related to Veco, four of its executives and two political pollsters, as well as information on Olson Air Service, among other matters. When agents searched Stevens' office, they seized materials related to controversial fisheries organizations. In the search of Rep. Vic Kohring's office, agents also sought information on developer Marc Marlow and on the state Department of Corrections. • The lead prosecutors on the case are from the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section in Washington, D.C., which handles public corruption cases. • No one has been charged. What's not known: • Perhaps the biggest of the many unanswered questions is this: Who or what is being targeted? • Authorities also won't say how many FBI agents or prosecutors are working on the investigation, when it began, when it might end or how they are proceeding.

September 24, 2006 Anchorage Daily News
Last month, state Rep. Tom Anderson testified before the Anchorage Assembly in favor of Wal-Mart's plan for two stores in his old neighborhood. Assembly chairman Dan Sullivan introduced him as Representative Anderson, but the lawmaker for Muldoon corrected him. He was there representing the home builders association, Anderson said. Anderson, who was a consultant before he was elected to the state House four years ago, has never stopped making money on the side as a paid adviser for clients who do business with state and local government. His dual role may have surprised the Assembly in August. But it would not have surprised some members of the Northeast Community Council, the neighborhood group that opposed the stores. They recall seeing Anderson at their meetings all though 2003. They assumed he was there as the local state legislator. But Anderson's state financial disclosure form, filed the following year, revealed he was also working as a $10,000 consultant on community councils and local government for the oil field services and construction company Veco. "We are all going, 'This is so bogus,' " said council president Peggy Robinson, who publicized Anderson's Veco connection in an unsuccessful bid to topple Anderson from his House seat in 2004. Now Anderson's role as a consultant to industry is coming under scrutiny again, following last month's FBI searches of six legislative offices seeking information on legislators' links to Veco. A rule insisting on proper qualifications would probably have done little to crimp Veco's employment of legislators. Stevens and Anderson were both consultants before they ran for office. Arrangements between Veco and two other lawmakers show up in state disclosure forms dating back to 2002. One was for a boat rental from a fisherman, one was for legal work from a lawyer. In 2002, Veco paid $17,600 to use a boat owned by Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer. The contract came in the summer before Seaton, a commercial fisherman who owns several boats, was first elected. He said his fish tender just happened to be available in upper Cook Inlet when Veco needed a standby safety vessel during a short oil rig construction job. The legal payments went to then-Sen. Robin Taylor, who got into a jam with critics in his home town of Wrangell over that work. Taylor, a lawyer and longtime chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, reported being paid $15,700 for legal work by Veco in 2000, $19,300 in 2001 and $16,800 in 2002. He also served as city attorney for Wrangell during that period. Critics accused Taylor of hiding his Veco ties when the city council considered taking up a private prison project in 2001. Veco had been part of the consortium whose prison plan had just been turned down in Kenai. Taylor insisted he had disclosed his Veco ties on state forms and didn't need to announce them. Taylor retired from the Senate and his private legal practice in 2003 and is now head of the state marine highway system. He was among the current and former legislators known to have been interviewed by the FBI in the current investigation. Taylor said last week that he had never been lobbied by Veco over the prison. As far as he knew, he said, Veco wasn't interested in a Wrangell prison. "It's a breach of attorney-client privilege, but I can tell you up front: That client never talked to me once about that project," Taylor said.

September 7, 2006 Anchorage Daily News
For two decades, oil man and political financier Bill Allen has been a familiar presence in the halls of the Alaska Capitol. But toward the end of this year's regular legislative session, the Veco chief executive may have taken that familiarity a step too far. Allen was watching the state House debate oil taxes on the next-to-last night of business in May when he began passing notes to legislators across the railing of the small spectator gallery, according to Rep. Harry Crawford, D-Anchorage. Rules say the public can pass notes through the front door to be delivered by a page. Direct engagement from the visitor gallery is forbidden once the speaker's gavel sounds. Crawford said he saw Rep. Tom Anderson, R-Anchorage, carry several notes from Allen to other legislators. Anderson has received Veco campaign contributions and has also reported $30,000 in consulting contracts with the company since 2003. Several other legislators say their staff observed similar goings-on. "He was definitely directing traffic back there," Crawford said of Allen. Veco's role in Alaska's political process is under intense scrutiny now. Last week the FBI served search warrants on legislative offices and others seeking a wide range of information related to Allen and other Veco executives, including gifts to public officials. But much of Veco's influence, dating from the early 1980s, comes from sources in plain sight. This includes close to $1 million in state and federal campaign contributions over the past decade as well as consulting contracts with individual legislators. Veco's presence in Juneau is distinctive not just for its role in helping finance many campaigns but for the personal role played by Allen and several other company executives. Veco has hired top-drawer professional lobbyists in the past, as it did while pushing for a private prison between 1996 and 2002. But Allen, 69, is known for taking a personal hand in promoting his priorities, in a manner often described as gentlemanly rather than bullying. In 1996, the Legislature added a new twist -- anyone registering as a lobbyist was barred from giving campaign contributions outside his or her home district. The idea was to prevent favor-seeking lobbyists from working a building full of people they'd given money to. Allen spent a lot of time in the Capitol in 2002, pressing the Legislature to pay for a private prison in Whittier (Veco was teamed with a national prison company, Cornell, to build the project) and to authorize a property tax break for construction of a North Slope natural gas pipeline. Allen was in the Capitol so much that APOC ordered him to register as a lobbyist. Allen protested, saying business owners looking out for their own interests should not be treated like professional lobbyists who represent a variety of clients. Allen eventually complied, registering for 2002 and 2003 and reporting his hourly wage as $156.25. That meant he had to forgo writing campaign checks in those years. (Not that candidates were starved for Veco money: Other company officials gave more than $200,000 to state candidates in 2002 alone.)

September 1, 2006 Alaska Report
The FBI served four more search warrants today in its investigation of the relationship between lawmakers and oilfield services company VECO Corporation, an Anchorage-based oil field services and construction company whose executives are major contributors to political campaigns. Bill Allen, owner of VECO, and his firm, were involved in a renovation of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens' chalet in Girdwood in the recent past. The Associated Press is reporting that the search warrants seek "from the period of October 2005 to the present, any and all documents concerning, reflecting or relating to proposed legislation in the state of Alaska involving either the creation of a natural gas pipeline or the petroleum production tax." An Anchorage FBI spokesman says that about two dozen search warrants have been executed so far, including three today in Anchorage and one in Willow. No arrests have been made as of yet. AlaskaReport has learned that a staffer in one of the offices raided has been providing information to federal authorities. In an interview with KTUU-TV in Anchorage, Wev Shea, a former U.S. attorney for Alaska says he knows who created the climate that he alleges allowed corruption to flourish. "The Republican Party is going to rue the day in this state for allowing Randy Ruedrich (chairman of the Republican Party of Alaska) to remain as a chair. He's bringing this party down and it's bad." KTUU also interviewed Rep. Eric Croft. He says he saw this coming two years ago, during a legislative committee meeting concerning VECO’s pitch for a sole-source contract award for a private prison. "I said at the time, in 2004, on the Whittier proposal, someone's going to jail over this 'cause I could see how corrupt the process was," said Croft, D-Anchorage.

August 31, 2006 Anchorage Daily News
Federal agents swarmed legislative offices around the state Thursday, executing search warrants in a coordinated series of raids that appeared to target the longstanding relationship between the oil-field service company Veco and leading lawmakers. Above Anchorage’s 4th Avenue, FBI agents spent most of the afternoon behind the closed doors and drawn blinds of the fifth-floor offices of Senate President Ben Stevens and Senate Rules Committee Chairman John Cowdery, both Anchorage Republicans. Through slits in the blinds, one agent in Stevens’ office, wearing rubber gloves, could be seen packing away evidence in a container. In Juneau, tourists and residents were greeted with the extraordinary sight of FBI agents hauling out files form the Alaska State Capitol after searching offices there. After the FBI searched his Wasilla office and questioned him, Rep. Vic Kohring, R-Wasilla, the chairman of the House Special Committee on Oil & Gas, said the investigation was focused on Veco. Other legislative offices known to have been searched Thursday included those of Reps. Pete Kott of Eagle River and Bruce Weyhrauch of Juneau, and Sen. Donny Olson of Nome. Kott, a former House speaker, and Weyhrauch are Republicans. Olson is the only Democrat in the group. FBI spokesman Eric Gonzalez said federal agents executed about 20 search warrants Thursday, not all in legislative offices. The warrants were executed in Anchorage, Juneau, Wasilla, Eagle River and Girdwood, he said. Ray Metcalfe, a former legislator and the founder of the independent Republican Moderate Party, said he has been trying to get the authorities interested in what he described as the “corrupt” relationship between Veco and the Republican-lead legislature, principally Ben Stevens. “I put all the stuff in front of federal prosecutors a year and a half ago,” Metcalfe said Thursday, clearly relishing the turn of events. “I laid hundreds of pages of detailed information alleging bribery, and I distributed it to federal authorities, I distributed it to the U.S. Attorney’s office, I distributed it to the (state attorney general’s) Office of Special Prosecutions, and we held a demonstration in front of the attorney general’s office that hardly anyone showed up for.” Metcalfe attempted to initiate a recall campaign against Stevens, but his effort was rejected by Lt. Gov. Loren Leman on legal grounds. After first announcing he’d run for re-election in November, Stevens changed his mind in June and opted to retire.Tamara Cook, a lawyer who heads the nonpartisan legal services division of the Legislature, said Thursday evening that she reviewed a couple of the search warrants at the request of legislators or aides upon whom they were served. The search warrants allowed the FBI to search computers and office files including financial records, she said. The warrants named Veco Corp., she said, but could not say whether Veco was a target or whether the investigation concerned oil taxes, its failed push to build a private prison in Alaska or something else.

July 1, 2005
In the closing days of the regular legislative session, Republican Sen. Gene Therriault of North Pole amended an elections bill to allow big corporate money into Alaska politics. Undeterred by the fact there had been no public notice or public hearing, Senate Republicans approved the change. But the state House balked, and the amendment was removed. A triumph for democracy, right?  So what's Therriault really trying to do? Simple. Alaska law does not allow corporations to make political contributions to candidates or groups. Therriault wants to change that because the Republican Party would get more corporate money than other parties. This is about nothing more than fattening the Republican Party's bank accounts. Would it? You bet. How do we know? Well, a court ruling allowed corporate contributions for a brief period in 2001, and the Republican Party mistakenly reported some of what it got: $25,000 from Veco, $12,000 from Cornell Companies Inc., $10,000 from Gray Line of Alaska, $8,000 from Philip Morris USA, $7,500 from Holland America and so on. Selfless giving? Hardly. Veco and Cornell wanted a private prison; Gray Line and Holland America didn't want a cruise ship tax; Phillip Morris didn't want higher tobacco taxes. You get the picture. Alaskans don't want big money in their state's politics. They've said so at the polls. But Gene Therriault doesn't care about that. He wants the dough for his own partisan purposes. Better keep an eye on him.

October 16, 2004 Salon
In any other election year, Alaska's conservative electorate could be expected to chill Democratic hopes of taking over a United States Senate seat held by a Republican incumbent. Republicans hold every statewide elected office, enjoying a powerful base of support from the dominant energy, fishery and development industries, as well as an ideological advantage among the state's many gun-toting libertarians and fundamentalist Christians. But this year is not like any other election year in Alaska, principally because of what may well turn out to be a fateful mistake by Gov. Frank Murkowski when he ascended to his current office from the Senate two years ago. In an act of hubris that outraged critics across the political spectrum, the new governor appointed his daughter Lisa Murkoswki to succeed him in the Senate. In the Murkowski political clan, the father has become the daughter's weighty albatross, and vice versa. For the past several months, the governor and the senator have assiduously (and somewhat oddly) avoided public appearances together. For obvious reasons they would prefer not to remind anybody that they're related, at least not until after Election Day. Amazingly, the official biography on her Web site neglects to mention the existence of her father, the governor. But the most generous donors to Murkowski's Senate campaign seem well aware of her filial relationship to Alaska's most powerful public official. Major corporations and other special interests needing favors from the governor have poured money into his daughter's war chest. And perhaps not surprisingly, their generosity has coincided with favorable action by the governor. But for Lisa Murkowski, the truly big money has flowed in from Veco Corp., a major Anchorage construction firm. Veco is not only the largest single donor to the Republican senator but is regarded by many Alaskans as the most powerful company in their state. While its interests are broad and varied, from the oil industries to local construction, the Halliburton-like firm has an important potential stake in one of the state's most controversial projects: a private prison in the port town of Whittier that could ultimately cost the state more than $1 billion. Alaska currently rents space for more than 700 state prisoners at a privately run correctional facility in Arizona, under an arrangement that harms convicts' families, while draining money from the state. Pressure to ameliorate this situation has been growing. For several years, Cornell Companies of Texas, a major corporate prison operator, has proposed building a new privatized prison in Alaska. Their fortunes began to improve after they teamed up with Veco in 2002. Facing opposition from state correction officials, unions and local communities, Frank Murkowski declared his firm opposition to any private prison construction when he ran for governor in 2002. Since taking office, however, the senior Murkowski has gradually backed away from that position over the past year. Although Gov. Murkowski's aides said he still opposed the Veco-Cornell prison plan in the spring of 2003, he then turned around and told legislators that the issue still required "further study." This was a substantial victory for Veco and Cornell, whose executives insist their plan would be cheaper than building and operating new public prison space. By last April, Murkowski's aides were floating plans for a "compromise" that would allow construction of the privatized prison, financed by state bonds, if it met certain conditions imposed by state authorities. What caused the governor to change his strongly stated opposition to privatized prisons? He hasn't explained his shift yet. But in May 2003, a prominent Anchorage architect named Mark Pfeffer met with his aides to promote the Veco-Cornell prison project. Pfeffer had recently joined the prison consortium, and he had also signed on as treasurer for Lisa Murkowski's reelection campaign. Around that time, her father began to back away from his pledge to oppose private prisons, issuing a vague announcement that his administration would take a "fresh look" at the Veco-Cornell prison plan. Meanwhile, money from Veco and its lobbyists has flowed into Lisa Murkowski's campaign. The first $2,000 check from Veco chairman Bill Allen showed up on May 13, 2003, only days after the Anchorage Daily News reported the governor's shift on his project. Allen, who registered as a lobbyist in Anchorage to push the project, has given regularly and generously -- as have other Veco executives, whose total of $43,750 is Murkowski's largest single donation. Lobbyists from Patton Boggs, which represents Veco in promoting the prison deal, have given her an additional $12,000. The pattern appears plain enough. While the Murkowskis pretend not to know each other, the special interests that know them both have invested heavily in her campaign while awaiting his nod.

Alexander Youth Services Center, Alexander, Arkansas
(AKA Arkansas Juvenile Assessment and Treatment Center)
June 19, 2007 The Morning News
A new report identifying problems in the special education program at the former Alexander Youth Services Center -- some of which were previously identified in a 2005 study -- drew frustrated comments Monday from legislative panels that oversee the state's youth lockups. "It seems we're planning ourselves to death but we're not getting anything accomplished," said state Rep. Bobby Pierce, D-Sheridan, during a joint meeting of the House and Senate committees on children and youth. In a report released this month, the state Education Department cites about 50 practices at the facility, now known as the Arkansas Juvenile Assessment and Treatment Center, that don't comply with state and federal regulations under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The department has directed the Division of Youth Services to develop a plan of action for correcting the problems. Sen. Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville, said that on visits to the facility in Saline County she has been "extremely unimpressed" with the educational practices she saw, which she said seemed to consist of youths playing on a computer. "Do we have any way of determining if they're really learning something, or if we're just letting a computer baby-sit them?" she asked. The House chairwoman, Rep. Linda Chesterfield, D-Little Rock, said a lack of sufficient information gathering is one of the problems highlighted in the report. Chesterfield said scrutiny is needed for the educational services the state provides to all youth in custody, not only those in need of special education. Scott Tanner, ombudsman coordinator for the state Public Defender Commission, testified that the Division of Youth Services has had chronic problems with its education system at least since 2000, the year he became an ombudsman. Education services at the facility are provided by Group 4 Securicor, the private company that took over operation of the facility in January. The state fired the facility's previous operator, Cornell Companies, in November after a state investigation found evidence that psychotropic drugs may have been administered improperly to some youths as a restraint. The facility also was investigated in 2005, after 17-year-old Lakeisha Brown died from a blood clot in her lungs two days after complaining to staff that she felt ill. Cornell was ordered to revamp some of its policies as a result of that investigation. Madison asked Monday whether it would be more appropriate for the education of youth in custody to be undertaken by the state rather than a private company. Education Department attorney Scott Smith said he did not believe it would. Trying to incorporate students in custody into the state's public education system would require compliance with numerous state and federal mandates that currently are waived, he said. "The reason I ask is, there's something wrong with the picture in my mind when you have state agencies ..... firmly committed to a free public education, and then we turn around and hire a private company to deliver that," Madison said. "I just have a hard time thinking that that's a good idea." Steve Jones, a former state representative who recently became deputy director of the Department of Health and Human Services, told the committee the Division of Youth Services is working on a plan to correct the problems. Rep. Dawn Creekmore, D-Hensley, noted that the division developed a plan of action previously, after a 2005 report cited problems with the facility's educational system. "It's time to quit putting plans of action on paper and time to bring something to the table, take some action, physical action, for improvement. These children are still here, and we're just letting them down continuously, year after year after year," she said. "It is children that the state Department of Education is all about, and it is children that DYS is all about," Chesterfield said. "Somewhere the bureaucratic -- we're not going to use the alliterative -- the bureaucratic stuff, if you will, has got to be overcome for the children." Jones assured the committees the division would achieve real results.

January 11, 2007 Arkansas News Bureau
The state Department of Health and Human Services has agreed to enter into a short-term contract with a company to operate the troubled Alexander Juvenile Correctional Facility in Saline County, agency officials said Wednesday. The agency has signed a $4.5 million contract with G4S Youth Services in Richmond, Va., a division of the British-based Group 4 Securicor, for the company to operate the facility from Jan. 21 through June 30, DHHS spokeswoman Julie Munsell said. The contract is pending approval by the Department of Finance and Administration. At the end of the six-month period, the state will have the option of renewing the contract for an additional year, Munsell said. Munsell said no bids were taken because the agreement was reached under emergency procedures. The agency considered the situation an emergency because of safety and welfare concerns for the 143 youths at the facility, she said. The state fired Cornell Companies, the Pennsylvania-based company that previously ran the facility, in November after a state investigation indicated psychotropic drugs may have been administered improperly to some youths to restrain them. Munsell said Cornell is still at the site, but the state has been in charge since Nov. 3.

November 5, 2006 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
An advocacy group that has been monitoring Alexander Youth Services Center for months said Saturday that Arkansas isn’t meeting the mental health, education and special education needs of the children at the troubled facility as required by the U. S. Department of Justice and state law. Problems at the center are systemic, said Dana McClain, a senior attorney with the Disability Rights Center, a federally funded Little Rock nonprofit that assists disabled Arkansans. “We don’t think this is rehabilitation, and state law says it is supposed to be [for youthful offenders ]. I think it’s punishment,” she said. “I feel like these children are being set up to go to adult prison.” At some point, she said, the youthful offenders at the lockup will get out, “and you hope when they do they’ve got a better shot at being productive members of society.” A draft copy of the group’s lengthy report detailing “failures” at the center in Saline County was given to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Saturday — a day after the state unexpectedly ended its contract with Cornell Cos. Inc., a Houston company that ran the center for the past five years. An internal investigation found that employees were “inappropriately” drugging youthful offenders with psychotropic drugs to control bad behavior. The state was paying Cornell about $ 10 million annually. News about the forced medications, sometimes given without a doctor’s order, prompted some legislators and others to renew calls Friday to shut down the state’s largest lockup for youthful offenders. The Disability Rights Center report, which outlines about 50 problems, is expected to be released publicly later this week. McClain said her group will meet with the Department of Health and Human Services on Monday to discuss the findings. Monitors for Disability Rights have been making unannounced visits, as allowed by federal statute, to the center at least three times a month since March. “Under the contract these are things Cornell was responsible for providing,” McClain said. “I hope [Health and Human Services ] doesn’t just address that one issue [about the medication ]. This is a good time to do more because they are starting anew.” The agency has been responsive so far, McClain noted. Cornell, however, didn’t address some of the major concerns that Mc-Clain said she repeatedly talked to company employees about. Julie Munsell, Health and Human Services spokesman, said her agency has received a copy of the report but she declined to comment about the details until it is published and officials meet with the group’s representatives. Health and Human Services is the umbrella agency over the Youth Services Division, which now operates the youth lockup. In general, Munsell said, the state has made many strides since entering into a settlement agreement with the Department of Justice in March 2003 after a federal investigation found civil rights violations in the delivery of mental-health care, education, fire safety and freedom of religious expression at the center. Still, more work is needed, particularly with the center’s education system, she acknowledged. “We do still struggle with education issues at Alexander, and we’ve been working with the Department of Education to improve those issues,” she said. “We will always strive to get to an ideal setting, but it will take us time to get there.” The Justice Department hasn’t visited the center since January. Over the years, the youths at the Alexander center have complained that employees kicked, slapped and even threatened them with death. Others killed themselves. One boy, known for days to be suicidal, was able to hang himself a few years ago with a bedsheet. An investigation later found that his guard didn’t check on him. Another boy hanged himself in the same cell just a few months later — just as the state hired Cornell to take over the facility and fix its problems. And last year, a 17-year-old girl at the center died of blood clots in her lungs. She complained to nurses and supervisors that she was ill, but they didn’t believe her, even as she lay dying, according to a subsequent investigation. Munsell said her agency plans to work with the Disability Rights Center to address the group’s concerns. The Department of Justice couldn’t be reached for comment Saturday. During visits to the lockup, McClain said monitors found: Youths watching Harry Potter movies during science class on more than one occasion. A student sleeping on his keyboard, even though a teacher was sitting at a desk in the same classroom. No teacher-led reading program, even though at least 50 percent of the youthful offenders at the center have difficulties reading, and in some cases, can’t read at all. (An ombudsman who regularly visits the center said the youths are supposed to use a computer-based reading program at their own pace, but he has seen no evidence that such a system has.

November 4, 2006 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Arkansas terminated its contract with Cornell Cos. Inc. to run the troubled Alexander Youth Services Center on Friday after learning that employees were drugging youths to control unruly behavior — in many cases without doctors ’ orders, in violation of facility policy and against the