New indictment implicates Kohring since 2002

MAT-SU — Former Wasilla state House member Vic Kohring may have accepted VECO Corp. bribes years earlier than was previously believed.

With a little more than two weeks left before Kohring goes to trial, the U.S. Department of Justice has released a revised indictment that extends Kohring’s alleged conspiracy, bribery, extortion and attempted extortion back as early as 2002. It contains no new charges.

Kohring, a seven-term representative for District 14, has pleaded not guilty to the four charges.

Neither Kohring’s attorney John Henry Browne nor Kohring could be reached by press time to comment on the new indictment or if they will have enough time to address the indictment revisions before the scheduled Oct. 22 start of Kohring’s trial.

Kohring faces a potentially damning array of evidence, including testimony from former Veco Corp. CEO Bill Allen and secretly recorded conversations between VECO executives from Room 604 of Juneau's Westmark Baranof Hotel, where the executives are heard talking about politicians to whom they had paid money.

Heeding Eagle River Sen. Fred Dyson’s advice, Allen met with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and eventually agreed to work with prosecutors. Allen testified against former Rep. Pete Kott, who was found guilty for extortion, bribery and conspiracy last month.

A four-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Anchorage on May 3 alleges Kohring solicited and received financial benefits from VECO and in exchange for those benefits, Kohring used his office to further VECO’s agenda.

Kohring took cash payments and a job for a relative in exchange for voting in favor of the Petroleum Protection Tax favored by VECO, lobbying fellow elected officials to support the PPT and providing official support for natural gas pipeline legislation, the indictment says.

Gov. Sarah Palin has called for a special session of the Legislature to take another look at the PPT, which she said has been tainted by corruption. That special section begins later this month.

Rep. Carl Gatto, R-Palmer, said the PPT fell way short of expectations.

Alaska lawmakers expected $1 billion a year from the petroleum tax, Gatto said. The first year Alaska received around $800 million and second year about $200 million. The lawmaker said it is difficult to keep track of the oil industry’s deductions.

“Oil companies have a building full of lawyers, and we don’t have a building full of lawyers,” Gatto said, adding he did not know about Kohring’s alleged corruption while Kohring was in the Legislature.

“I sat in front of Kohring, but to be honest I was totally caught off guard,” he said about learning of the charges.

The same is true for Rep. Bruce Weyhrauch, he said. Weyhrauch’s trial on bribery and conspiracy charges is pending.

When asked if the bribery and extortion could be linked to the relatively low pay of Alaska’s legislators — $24,000 a year base salary in 2006 — Gatto said it could have played a role.

“I’ve had people tell me, ‘You guys ought to be making $100 grand,’” Gatto said, adding it is rare for Alaskans to have the independent resources to be a legislator.

“You have me, who is retired from the fire department so I have a pension,” he said. “Without a pension I couldn’t be in the Legislature.”

Back from a recent workshop in Kentucky, Gatto said he talked with people from all over the United States and all had detailed questions about corruption in Alaska’s Legislature.

“People are curious and want to hear from someone who is there,” Gatto said.

Carl Shepro, professor of political science at the University of Alaska Anchorage, said the findings from Kott’s trial will come into play for Kohring’s as well.

“It is fairly obvious that the feds are very serious,” Shepro said. “Anything that comes up in one trial will spill over into the rest of them.”

Shepro said Kohring’s lawyer may try to minimize the effect by removing some potential jurors.

“In terms of jury selections, they will attempt to remove jurors that have an opinion based on the Kott trial,” Shepro said.

Even so, Kott's trial will have a bearing on Kohring’s, Shepro said.

“I am sure they will bring it up. All those who have been indicted or are in line [to be tried] are sweaty,” he said. “As it goes on they are perceived negatively [by the public].”

Shepro said prosecutors will try to build a wide case against Kohring, possibly bringing into question whether the former lawmaker actually lives in Wasilla. Kohring has a home in Portland, Ore., where his wife, Tatiana, and stepdaughter live.