Testimony: Sen. Stevens' Son Took Bribes

Defense attorney James Wendt says that Kott was not aware of the poll and that the flooring check was an advance payment for work that would have been done in late 2006 if the federal investigation had not occurred.

Kott committed no crime by working with businessmen and lobbyists toward a goal shared by most Alaskans: passing legislation that would lead to construction of a natural gas pipeline, Wendt said.

Secret electronic recordings played in the trial's first three days show Kott working closely with Allen and Smith over a proposed change in Alaska's crude oil tax.

The tax proposal, which dominated the 2006 legislative session, was considered a gateway measure that had to be passed before the Legislature would consider measures leading to construction of a pipeline to tap the state's vast natural gas reserves.

That mega-project, on the scale of the 30-year-old trans-Alaska oil pipeline, would have presented VECO with the opportunity to bid on hundreds of millions of dollars worth on contracts.

Allen said in the secret recordings and in court that he considered the pipeline essential to the continued prosperity of not only his company but to Alaska as oil production filling the trans-Alaska pipeline continues to diminish.

Allen spent just minutes Thursday under direct examination by federal prosecutor James Goeke. Unlike his first day on the stand, prosecutors played no wiretapped phone conversations or images and conversations secretly recorded in a room rented by VECO in Juneau's Baranof Hotel.

Goeke asked Allen to recall how FBI agents approached him on Aug. 30, 2006, just before agents raided the legislative offices of a half-dozen Alaska legislators and VECO offices.

Allen was told that the investigation did not need him, but that if he cooperated, he would receive considerations, he testified.

"Your kids won't be indicted, and they would help VECO," said Allen, who added that he has cooperated with the investigation from that day on.

During cross examination, defense attorney Wendt tried to establish that Kott had never overtly asked Allen for a job. Allen said that he would not have hired Kott while he remained a legislator but that he understood that Kott wanted to be hired as a lobbyist by VECO after he retired.

Wendt questioned Allen about hiring other legislators, and Allen revealed that VECO _ reluctantly _ had two other lawmakers on the payroll: Ben Stevens and state former state Rep. Tom Anderson, an Anchorage Republican convicted in July of bribery and conspiracy in an unrelated case.

Another VECO official had hired Anderson for legal work, Allen said, and he found out after the fact. In retrospect, Allen said, he should have canceled Anderson's contract.

He held a higher opinion of Stevens. Allen said he was impressed with Stevens in 1995 when he was a married college student attending George Washington University while working two jobs to support his family.

After Stevens graduated, Allen recruited him to approach the World Bank for money VECO needed on a spill cleanup job in Russia, then kept him on contract until 2006, Allen testified. Stevens had the potential to be an excellent executive because of his attention to detail and hard work, he said.

He had no inkling Stevens would be appointed to the state Senate in 2002, Allen said, but he did not feel right cutting VECO's ties to him. By then, Allen said, Stevens had a fourth child.

"How am I supposed to say, 'Now that you're a senator, I can't give you any more money,'" Allen said.

Stevens, 48, was among several lawmakers whose Anchorage legislative offices were searched by FBI agents a year ago. Federal prosecutors have made reference to a "State Senator B" who took $243,250 in bogus "consulting" fees from VECO.

In a court filing last month, U.S. District Court Judge John Sedwick linked the two, saying the identification of Stevens had "already been reported in the press," based on comparing the money paid by Allen and Stevens' financial disclosure reports.