Witness testifies he was told to create 'paper trail' for Stevens
Erika Bolstad and Richard Mauer - McClatchy NewspapersIssue date: 10/9/08 Section: Real News
WASHINGTON - The former chairman of a nonprofit in Alaska testified Friday morning that he was directed by a close friend of Sen. Ted Stevens to "create a paper trail" that would show a husky puppy given to Stevens was worth one-fourth what the friend paid for it.
Stevens is on trial for failing to disclose more than $250,000 in gifts between 1999 and 2006. Most of that total involved a major renovation project that doubled the size of Stevens' home in Girdwood, Alaska, with much of the work allegedly done for free by an oil-field service company run by Stevens' friend, Bill Allen.
The testimony Friday morning, on the 10th day of trial, was only about a dog, but it's also part of the case against Stevens.
Ronald Rainey, a retired utility worker from Soldotna, Alaska, was called by Stevens' defense to discredit a prosecution contention that the blue-eyed husky was a $1,000 dog - a value far in excess of the $285 gift limit in effect for the Senate that year.
Rainey testified that the Kenai River Sportfishing Association gave the dog to Stevens, not the man who bid $1,000 for it at the group's annual charity auction. The bidder was Bob Penney, an Anchorage real estate developer, the founder of the association and Stevens' good friend.
But if Penney bought the dog with his $1,000 bid, why did Stevens report it in his 2003 Senate disclosure as a gift from the association with a value of $250?
According to Rainey, Penney bid up the value of the dog. When the auction hammer came down, he was the last bidder.
"It was a joke," Rainey said. "We knew he got stuck with something he didn't want."
Rainey described Penney as the founder of the association. He still had huge sway over the group, Rainey said. Penney proposed donating the dog back to the association; the association would then give it to someone who wanted it, Rainey said. That would be Stevens and his wife, Catherine, he testified.
But the document prepared by the association the night of the auction, shown to the jury earlier as a prosecution exhibit, showed Penney won the bid and took the dog. The statement listed the dog's fair market value as $500 and the paid-in-full bid as $1,000.
Stevens is on trial for failing to disclose more than $250,000 in gifts between 1999 and 2006. Most of that total involved a major renovation project that doubled the size of Stevens' home in Girdwood, Alaska, with much of the work allegedly done for free by an oil-field service company run by Stevens' friend, Bill Allen.
The testimony Friday morning, on the 10th day of trial, was only about a dog, but it's also part of the case against Stevens.
Ronald Rainey, a retired utility worker from Soldotna, Alaska, was called by Stevens' defense to discredit a prosecution contention that the blue-eyed husky was a $1,000 dog - a value far in excess of the $285 gift limit in effect for the Senate that year.
Rainey testified that the Kenai River Sportfishing Association gave the dog to Stevens, not the man who bid $1,000 for it at the group's annual charity auction. The bidder was Bob Penney, an Anchorage real estate developer, the founder of the association and Stevens' good friend.
But if Penney bought the dog with his $1,000 bid, why did Stevens report it in his 2003 Senate disclosure as a gift from the association with a value of $250?
According to Rainey, Penney bid up the value of the dog. When the auction hammer came down, he was the last bidder.
"It was a joke," Rainey said. "We knew he got stuck with something he didn't want."
Rainey described Penney as the founder of the association. He still had huge sway over the group, Rainey said. Penney proposed donating the dog back to the association; the association would then give it to someone who wanted it, Rainey said. That would be Stevens and his wife, Catherine, he testified.
But the document prepared by the association the night of the auction, shown to the jury earlier as a prosecution exhibit, showed Penney won the bid and took the dog. The statement listed the dog's fair market value as $500 and the paid-in-full bid as $1,000.
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