Alaska Politics Blog : Tuesday audio from the Stevens trial

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Sean Cockerham

Sean Cockerham writes about Alaska state politics. He's worked for the ADN in Anchorage and Juneau, covered the legislature for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, and covered Washington state politics for the Tacoma News Tribune. E-mail Sean at scockerham@adn.com

Kyle Hopkins

Kyle Hopkins covers rural affairs, general assignments and politics for the ADN. He covered the 2006 campaign for governor, has blogged extensively about Alaska politics, covered Anchorage city government and was a reporter based in the Mat-Su. He grew up in Southeast Alaska and previously wrote for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and Anchorage Press. E-mail Kyle at khopkins@adn.com and also find him on our rural Alaska blog, The Village.

David Hulen

David Hulen, the ADN's state and local news editor, is responsible for political coverage. He has been an editor and reporter at the ADN for more than 20 years. E-mail David at dhulen@adn.com

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Alaska political corruption

When the FBI raided state legislature offices in Aug. 2006, it publicly launched an investigation that ultimately reached the highest levels of Alaska politics, and continues to this day.

Tuesday audio from the Stevens trial

Posted by Alaska_Politics

Anchorage Daily News

Posted: October 7, 2008 - 4:11 pm

From David Hulen in Anchorage --

More phone calls were played for the jury in the Stevens trial today. The calls were FBI wiretaps of Bill Allen.

2/2/06

Phone call from Bob Persons to Bill Allen. Stevens’ longtime Girdwood friend, Persons, calls the Veco chief. Allen explains plumbing work Vecoo has had done on Stevens’ house. Referring to the billing, Allen says: “With Ted, we’ve got to be real careful.” Persons replies: “Absolutely. I mean, t hey’re raking him over the coals about anything they can.”

2/2/06

Another portion of the same call between Persons to Allen. They talk about the race horse partnership they’re involved in with Stevens and other Alaska businessmen. Persons says: “As Catherine says, ‘Ted gets hysterical when he has to spend his own money.’ … The flip side of that is he can’t really afford to pay a bunch of money, I don’t think.”

2/16/06

Call to Bill Allen from his secretary, Linda Croft. She says there’s “an e-mail from Ted...Basically he wants to know about that plumbing bill on his place.“ He’d gotten a bill from the plumber, it said “Labor paid by Bill,” and Stevens is asking for an invoice so he could pay that, she says.

2/16/06

Later that day, call from Bill Allen to Bob Persons. Allen explains that Stevens had been sent a bill for the plumbing and it said Allen paid for the labor. Persons is alarmed and Allen’s not pleased. “I didn’t want everybody to know,” says Allen. “We don’t need this thing floating around,” says Persons. “No!” says Allen. "We need to get the guy at Chugach Sewer & Drain to make that disappear from his records," Persons says. Then they work out a plan to get Stevens to write Allen a check for the exact amount but not cash it. “And then if it ever did come up," Persons says, "you can say, 'I didn't deposit that? Hell, I know I did. I don't know where it went.' "