"I think we are in an environment we need to know if this consulting work really took place," said commission member Roger Holl.
As the commission met in Midtown on Friday morning, the corruption trial of former state Rep. Pete Kott was going on downtown. Former executives with Veco Corp. have admitted bribing Kott and other legislators, including using consulting contracts as a way to pay off former Senate President Ben Stevens.
McGuire's husband, former state Rep. Tom Anderson, who also worked as a consultant for Veco, is awaiting sentencing after a jury found him guilty this summer of accepting bribes from a lobbyist working for a prison company.
McGuire had a $10,500 contract in 2003 to do consulting work for Providence. Ray Metcalfe, a former state legislator who was one of the first to publicly cry foul over Ben Stevens' consulting contracts, filed the complaint against McGuire with the commission. Metcalfe, who lost to McGuire in a 2000 race for the state House, charged at Friday's APOC meeting that McGuire's contract was a farce.
Metcalfe's written complaint asserts that, over time, McGuire kept changing her description of what she did for the money. The commission appeared about to dismiss that complaint at the recommendation of APOC staff. But Metcalfe then charged that he had been given an incorrect deadline by an APOC staff member and hadn't had time to draw up his full complaint alleging the contract wasn't even real. He complained that the commission hadn't adequately addressed his earlier complaints about Ben Stevens' Veco consulting work.
That's when the commissioners started talking about investigating further to see whether McGuire had earned the money.
WAS CONTRACT BOGUS?
McGuire, an Anchorage Republican, was in Wyoming on Friday at a legislative conference. She did not return phone messages left with her staff but sent a statement through the Alaska Senate majority press aide.
"She cooperated with the investigation and will continue to do so. And she wants to point out that the investigator recommended that Metcalfe's complaint be dismissed," said the statement, read by Senate majority press aide Jeff Turner.
APOC investigator Jeff Berliner told the commissioners on Friday that, based on the work he did on Metcalfe's limited written complaint, he does not think McGuire's contract was bogus.
"It is my sincere belief she did consulting work," Berliner said.
Berliner had spoken to McGuire and received a letter from a Providence lawyer describing what she did for the money. But the commissioners said more investigation is needed and they shouldn't just take the word of McGuire and the lawyer about what happened.
Commission member Elizabeth Hickerson said she's not accusing the Providence lawyer of any wrongdoing. But "if he were involved in a scheme I would have expected him to write a letter like this," she said.
The commission directed Berliner to make further inquiries, including reviewing internal Providence documents related to McGuire's work. This is the first investigation by APOC, a state agency, since the Legislature funded the single investigator position for it earlier this year. The state has taken a lot of criticism for the fact that it took federal agents to come in in 2006 to deal with corruption in state politics.
METCALFE'S TESTIMONY
Metcalfe testified at Friday's APOC meeting about his theory of how the contract came about.
He said McGuire's mother is the "significant other" of former Gov. Bill Sheffield, currently director of the Port of Anchorage. Metcalfe noted that Providence chief Al Parrish is the former president of Sheffield Enterprises, which was a network of hotels.
"I think Ms. McGuire's mother told her significant other that her daughter needed some money and her mother found a way," Metcalfe testified.
Sheffield said in an interview Friday that, while he is involved with McGuire's mother, he had nothing to do with the contract.
"Oh, Christ," he said. "That's nonsense, I didn't know anything about the contract. It's the first time I've ever heard that."
Sheffield challenged Metcalfe to produce evidence for his allegations.
A BIG PLAYER
McGuire told the APOC investigator that her work involved research, analysis, document review and consulting to help Providence decide whether it wanted to acquire the old Alaska Psychiatric Institute building.
Metcalfe asserted to the commission that McGuire was unqualified for the work that she and Providence say she performed. McGuire went to law school but is not a licensed attorney. Metcalfe also asserted she lacks experience in real estate and construction.
Providence lawyer Dan Hickey responded to the August APOC inquiry with a letter describing what McGuire did for the money. It said she spoke with "a number of parties" about cost estimates for a potential acquisition. Hickey's letter said McGuire also reviewed financial, legal and planning documents.
Public offices commission member Holl wondered at Friday's meeting if there was any possibility of quid pro quo.
"I'm interested in whether or not there were any health care issues before the Legislature affecting Providence Hospital at that time," he said.
Providence is a huge player in state health care and there are a number of bills before the Legislature at any given time that could have some effect upon it. Metcalfe suggested in an interview that McGuire had asked state Rep. Ralph Samuels, R-Anchorage, to introduce a bill relating to the "certificate of need" process that determines which health care facilities can be constructed in the state.
Samuels said Friday that the state health department requested the bill and Providence was one of its major backers. He said the bill was also supported by McGuire's father, Dr. David McGuire, a prominent Anchorage orthopedic surgeon who Samuels said is often involved in health care issues in the Legislature.
But Samuels said Lesil McGuire never spoke to him about the bill and, as far as he knows, had nothing to do with it.
FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
McGuire's latest financial disclosure report for 2006 lists $37,988 in income from Quinnat Landing Hotel/SerMed. It lists a single address for the employers. The hotel, in King Salmon, was owned by her father before it was destroyed by fire last summer. McGuire's disclosure report said her work at the hotel ranged from hiring and firing hotel employees to advising on the insurance claim after the fire.
McGuire's father is listed in state corporation records as president of Sermed Inc., and the company's business license says it's involved in "Professional, Scientific and Technical Services." Lesil McGuire said on her disclosure form that her work there included compliance with contracts on patents. Her father is "inventor of more than 20 patents related to knee surgery," according to his Web site.
Sean Cockerham is a contributor to our Alaska Politics blog at adn.com/alaskapolitics
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