Grand jury indicts Alaska lawmaker on extortion, 6 more counts

State Rep. Thomas T. Anderson, 39, was arrested Thursday, a day after a federal grand jury indicted him, U.S. Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher said. The Anchorage Republican was being held at the city jail and was scheduled for a Friday afternoon arraignment at U.S. District Court in Anchorage.

The indictment alleges that Anderson and a contract lobbyist solicited bribery payments from the consultant, a confidential FBI source who worked for the same private corrections firm as the lobbyist. According to the indictment, the lobbyist told the informer that Anderson would be “our boy in Juneau” in exchange for money from the corrections company.

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Federal officials said the unnamed corrections firm is not accused of wrongdoing and had not known about the alleged bribe demands because of the undercover nature of the operation.

Officials would not discuss whether charges were pending against the lobbyist or anyone else. They also would not discuss any possible connection with a federal investigation that led to a recent FBI raid of the offices of at least six other state legislators. Anderson’s office was not among those searched.

“I can’t comment on anything beside what’s in the indictment,” said Department of Justice spokeswoman Jaclyn Lesch. “I can’t comment on uncharged individuals.”

The indictment alleges that from July 2004 to March 2005, Anderson and the lobbyist received $24,000 from the source in exchange for Anderson’s agreement to act on behalf of the source in the Legislature.

According to the indictment, Anderson and the lobbyist created a shell corporation to funnel some of the money to the legislator. The sham company, Pacific Publishing, would “purport to construct and operate” a Web site posting articles on Alaska politics, with the bribe money recorded as banner advertisement for the corrections firm, the indictment says.

Anderson also received a $2,000 check made out to him after he complained to the source that the lobbyist had kept part of the money, according to the indictment.

Early on, the lobbyist had assured the consultant that Anderson would give his assistance for payments, stating that if “I was a Soviet spy and I was looking for a legislator to recruit . . . (Anderson would) be the one I’d get . . . (because Anderson) needs the money,” the indictment says.

The most serious charges Anderson faces - three money-laundering counts - each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

It was not immediately known if Anderson had hired an attorney. The lawmaker, who was elected to the state House four years ago, did not seek re-election and leaves office in January.

Anderson is married to former state Rep. and now state Sen.-elect Lesil McGuire, who said the charges are unfounded.

“I believe in his innocence, and we are just going to have to see it through,” she told The Associated Press.

Federal authorities have been tightlipped about the investigation involving the raids on six legislators’ offices in late August and early September. Officials and aides said investigators in that case were looking for possible ties between the lawmakers and the oil field services and construction company, Veco Corp., although search warrants also sought documents connected with the commercial fishing industry and corrections.

Anderson’s office wasn’t one of those searched in August and September, and it wasn’t immediately clear whether the Anderson case was connected.