Senator just trying to help

ANCHORAGE — A state senator accused by a criminal defense attorney of being an FBI pawn working covertly against indicted former state Rep. Vic Kohring said Monday the whole matter is “really silly” and is being blown out of proportion.

Kohring’s attorney — who has also accused the FBI of pressuring Kohring to plead guilty to corruption and extortion charges — wants a federal court to review the relationship between FBI investigators and state Sen. Fred Dyson, who recently sent Kohring a message through a former Kohring aide urging the embattled Wasilla lawmaker to make a plea deal with prosecutors.

Kohring has pleaded not guilty to federal corruption and extortion charges.

A U.S. Justice Department spokesman said Monday it was too early to comment on claims raised by defense attorney John Henry Browne of Seattle.

As Kohring’s attorney, Browne hopes to prove there was improper contact with Kohring by Dyson, R-Eagle River, as a way to possibly get charges against Kohring involving alleged taking of bribes from the oil services firm Veco dismissed. The Wasilla Republican’s trial is set to begin Oct. 22.

Dyson had been working with the FBI since February 2006, even inviting key corruption prosecution witness and Veco chairman Bill Allen to breakfast but instead delivering him to a place where FBI investigators were waiting to question him. But Dyson has already stated via e-mail to Kohring’s defense team that he was not acting as an agent of the U.S. government when he contacted Kohring recently and urged him to work out a plea.

Reached Monday after he’d spent all day at former state Rep. Pete Kott’s corruption trial in Anchorage, Dyson said he was only trying to be a good friend to Kohring when he made the call and offered the advice to reach a plea.

“What I did, I’ve always felt a lot of affection and respect for Vic,” Dyson said. Dyson said he suggested that Kohring should sit down and work out a deal. Dyson said he wasn’t making an “end run” around Kohring’s lawyer and assumed if Kohring did try to make a deal he’d bring the attorney along.

“The FBI didn’t put me up to that, and was pretty upset that I did that,” Dyson said.

Kohring’s attorney, Dyson said, mis-read the situation and “got his knickers in a knot.”

Browne was in Anchorage Monday morning for a pre-trial hearing in Kohring’s case, where he made the allegation of improper contact between Dyson and Kohring. Browne could not be reached for comment on when he planned to file such a motion.

"Mr. Dyson said he did it on his own," Browne told the Associated Press on Monday. "I don't know that."

Kohring also could not be reached for comment.

Kohring was the last of three legislators accused of corruption this year to leave office voluntarily. The other two legislators, Kott and Rep. Bruce Weyhrauch, were also indicted and Kott is now on trial.

Kohring lost a key committee chairmanship prior to his resignation but stayed in office until June amid mounting public pressure to resign. He has vowed to win the case and return to public office. He resigned in June maintaining his innocence to the charges that he took money from Veco in return for votes favoring oil industry goals.

U.S. Justice Department attorneys are still reviewing pre-trial motions and other pertinent documents, said department spokesman Bryan Sierra of the agency’s Washington, D.C. office. Sierra was aware of Browne’s allegations regarding the FBI and Dyson.

“If we have a response to that, we’ll do it in court,” Sierra said.

Browne has represented a string of high-profile criminal defendants, including murderer Benjamin Ng, who was spared the death penalty for his participation in the 1983 mass murder known as the Wah Mee Massacre. In that crime, three men, including Ng, robbed the Wah Mee gambling club in Seattle’s Chinatown, tying up 14 victims before at least two of the robbers opened fire killing all but one witness. Ng was one of the gunmen.

Contact John R. Moses at john.moses@frontiersman.com or call him at 352-2270.