Alaska trial hints at more politics-oil corruption

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) – The trial of an Alaska politician accused of taking bribes from the oil industry has offered a glimpse into more widespread corruption in the state’s government.

Details emerged in the trial of former state House Speaker Pete Kott about oil-friendly legislators who dubbed themselves the “Corrupt Bastards Club” and secretly taped booze-soaked hotel conversations showing how leaders of the state’s biggest oil-services company used their clout to manipulate Alaska politics.
The Kott trial, which began September 5 and went to the jury Monday afternoon, is the second so far resulting from a wide-ranging federal corruption probe that broke a year ago with raids by federal agents of several lawmakers’ offices and homes. The probe has ensnared U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, U.S. Rep. Don Young and others.

“I think these corruption trials put the state at a crossroads,” said Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who attended the trial briefly last week and has vowed to clean up the state’s government. “Depending on the outcome of this trial and those to come, the state’s going to go one of two ways.”

At the trial, former VECO Corp. chief executive Bill Allen described how he supplied materials and company workers to remodel Stevens’ Alaska home in the ski resort town of Girdwood to help influence legislation.

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