Corrections on the C-SPAN Program

Thanks again to everybody who commented on my C-SPAN appearance, and welcome to all those of you brought to this site by that program.

After watching the program and reviewing the transcript, I wanted to correct two inaccuracies in what I said.

1. The first point I want to correct came where in response to a question I said “Everyone charged at this point has been a Republican.” (This statement appears at page 5 of the transcript.)


This statement was too broad. I should have said that at the time of the interview all seven of the people charged in this investigation into Alaska public corruption who were public officials at the time of their alleged crimes are Republican.

There is one person charged in this investigation—lobbyist William (Bill) Bobrick—who is shown currently in public records as a non-partisan. (Bobrick was in the past the executive director of the Alaska Democratic Party before he became a lobbyist.)

Here are the people charged, their role at the time of the offenses charged, their legal status, and their known partisan identification as shown in state registration records (note that Bev Masek was charged and--John Cowdery was sentenced--after the taping of the interview):


Individual / Role / Legal Status Now / Known Party ID

Ted Stevens / U.S. Sen. / Convicted at trial; awaiting sentencing / Republican

Pete Kott / State Rep. / Serving sentence / Republican

Vic Kohring / State Rep. / Serving sentence / Republican

Tom Anderson / State Rep. / Serving sentence / Republican

Bev Masek / State Rep. / Convicted on plea; awaiting sentencing / Republican

Bruce Weyhrauch / State Rep. / Case on pre-trial appeal / Republican

John Cowdery / State Sen. / Convicted on plea; sentenced/ Republican

Jim Clark / Chief of Staff to Governor / Convicted on plea; awaiting sentencing / Republican

Bill Allen / Power Broker / Convicted on plea; awaiting sentencing / Republican

Rick Smith / Power Broker/ Convicted on plea; awaiting sentencing / Republican

Bill Weimar / Power Broker / Serving sentence / Unknown (was Democratic
candidate for legislature in 1970s)

Bill Bobrick / Lobbyist / Has served prison portion of sentence / Non-partisan (previously excutive director of the Alaska Democratic Party)


As to Weimar, he moved from Alaska to Montana around 1999. The Alaska Division of Elections told me this morning that all records of Weimar’s record of registration have a voter have been purged due to his not participating in the last two election cycles, and an elections official in Montana told me this afternoon that the State of Montana does not keep records of voters by party identification.


2. I made a slip of the tongue when I said at page 6 of the transcript that it was “the end of August 2000” that a state senator delivered Bill Allen into the hands of the FBI, thereby beginning Allen’s work as a cooperating witness for the federal government. That “flipping” of Allen actually occurred at the end of August of 2006. My repeated comments on pages 5 and 8 of the transcript that the federal investigation into Alaska public corruption started no later than April of 2004 should make it clear to the viewer that my single reference to “August of 2000” was incorrect.