The Veco executives, Bill Allen, the former CEO, and Rick Smith, former VP and chief Veco lobbyist, appeared in federal court Monday, May 7 to plead guilty to paying off state lawmakers.  Allen, who along with Smith resigned from Veco, has agreed to cooperate with investigators in exchange for possible leniency at his sentencing and the prosecutor's promise not to charge other members of his famiy.  Allen admitted paying more than $243,000 for no-show consulting work to "State Senator V" in exchange for changing and supporting the oil tax law.  Ben Stevens, former President of the State Senate and son of Senator Ted Stevens, has filed public financing statements with the state that show the same dollar amount in receipts for Veco.

3 legislators were indicted and trial dates were set.  Two of them resigned.  One, Rep. Vic Kohring (R-AK), refused to resign.  He has stayed in office under indictment for over a month.

Governor Sarah Palin, a Republican, has called for Kohring's resignation.  Top legislators in the statehouse met with him to try to find out if and when he would resign.  Finally, 2 Republican leaders confronted Kohring in his home.  They asked him to resign so that all Republicans wouldn't be brought down by him.

In an Anchorage Daily News Story published on 6/5/07, Kohring refused to be directly questioned.  He would only answer questions submitted by email.  When asked what he heard from his constituents, he replied, "Most correspondence indicated people wish for me to stay."  When asked, "Where do you feel you have the most support in the last month since the indictment?  From constituents?  Fellow lawmakers?, Kohring answered, "Equally the same."

He has inspired "Recall Vic" T-Shirts.

On June 6 in the Washington Post, Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) said for the first time that his lawyers had spoken with the FBI about the federal crime probe.  His attorneys advised him to preserve his records in connection with the ongoing federal investigation.  Stevens said that his son, Ben Stevens, was also under investigation.  When Ted Stevens was the Chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, he was responsible for sending millions of dollars in federal funds to Alaska during several of the years covered in the investigation.

In the next post I will uncover more evidence of corruption tied to Veco within the federal government.

This is credible, juicy information.  Here the Veco executives, unlike Scooter Libby, are anxious to share information.  They don't expect a Presidential  Pardon.