Lawmaker indicted

May 6, 2007

By Russell Stigall

Frontiersman

JUNEAU - The ongoing federal investigation into legislative corruption took a local turn Friday when Wasilla Rep. Vic Kohring was arrested and charged with extortion and bribery.

Kohring turned himself in to

federal officials in Juneau Friday afternoon, following the arrest earlier in the day of former legislators Pete Kott, R-Eagle River, and Bruce Weyhrauch, R-Juneau.

Material from Kohring's office was confiscated last year by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as part of its probe into corruption surrounding oil and gas deals under then-Gov. Frank Murkowski. Kohring's office was one of six searched.

The grand jury indictment enumerated dates and times of detailed conversations between Kohring and executives from an unnamed company, later identified by its attorney as oilfield services company Veco Corp. The indictment said Kohring and the Veco executives &#8220did knowingly and willfully combine, conspire, confederate and agree together and with each other to obstruct, delay and affect in any way and degree commerce and the movement of any article and commodity in commerce by extortion.”

The indictment also said the seven-term lawmaker conspired to performed official acts as a member of the state Legislature &#8220for the purpose of enriching himself and his family members.”

In one conversation between two Veco executives, identified in the indictment papers as the CEO and a vice president, the CEO talked about having just given Kohring $1,000 and, as

a result, Kohring would &#8220kiss our ass.”

According to the indictment, Kohring agreed to lobby for oil industry-friendly terms in the debate last year over a new industry taxation formula known as the petroleum production tax, or PPT. In return, he received cash totaling close to $2,500, and a $3,000 job for a relative. Kohring also requested help from Veco in paying off a $17,000 credit card debt that was in collection.

After turning himself over to federal authorities Friday afternoon, Kohring was led into court in handcuffs. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

State House Republicans issued a press release shortly after.

&#8220Mr. Kohring intends to vigorously fight the allegations contained in the indictment and expects that he will be vindicated,” the press release stated. &#8220It is important to remember that Mr. Kohring is, in accordance with our Constitution, innocent until proven guilty.”

The press release referred people seeking more information on Kohring to his Seattle attorney, John Henry Browne.

John Davies, legislative aide to Kohring, said the lawmaker is cooperating fully with the FBI. Davies said he was surprised at the arrest, since the FBI had told Kohring last year that he was not a target of investigation.

&#8220We're just shocked at the moment,” Davies said.

If Kohring leaves office, Gov. Sarah Palin would choose his replacement. Palin could pick from a selection of &#8220qualified voters” from Wasilla provided by Republican Party officials in Kohring's District 14, according to Randy Ruedrich, chairman of the state Republican Party.

&#8220'Qualified' requires a registered member of the outgoing legislator's party, who has lived in district and been registered as a party member for one year prior to the outgoing legislator's date of election,” Ruedrich said.

State law would not allow Palin to pick a Democrat or nonpartisan person to replace Kohring, Ruedrich said. Palin would need to pick a replacement who could be ratified by a majority of the House's remaining Republicans.

&#8220The process works,” Ruedrich said. &#8220It is pretty well time-tested.”

However, Palin would not be bound by the replacements recommended by District 14 Republicans, said Rex Shattuck, state Republican Party central committee member and aide to District 15 Rep. Mark Neuman of Big Lake.

He explained that, in similar situations, the governor normally defers to local choices. But Palin does not have to, and the party would have no recourse if Palin picked her own Republican replacement, Shattuck said.

Kohring was first elected to office in 1994. Despite the FBI raids last August, Kohring was easily re-elected in his race against Democrat Katie Hurley.

Kohring, 48, has been an Alaska resident for the last 43 years. He is the chair of the House Special Committee on Oil and Gas and oversaw the committee's review of Gov. Sarah Palin's Alaska Gas Inducement Act. He is also a member of the Resources, Transportation, and Economic Development, Trade and Tourism committees.

His term expires in 2008.

Contact Russell Stigall at

352-2267 or russell.stigall@ frontiersman.com