Bobrick's lawyer releases McGuire's phone messages

In the Jan. 1 calls, left on the cell phone of Bobrick and the answering machine of his wife, Jessica Bury, McGuire sounds like she's trying to be Bury's friend in reporting that "some people" are saying bad things about her.

Just what McGuire said, and what she meant by it, has become a topic of heated debate on blogs, talk radio and other forums after the issue first was raised Tuesday when Bobrick was sentenced for conspiracy. McGuire, R-Anchorage, served three terms in the state House before being elected to the Senate last year.

Bobrick was a key witness in the corruption trial last summer of McGuire's husband, former Rep. Tom Anderson. Bobrick's lawyer, Doug Pope, said in court Tuesday that McGuire's phone calls sounded like witness tampering. Prosecutors agreed that her words were threatening.

Anderson was convicted of seven felonies, including bribery. He starts his five-year prison sentence Monday.

In the phone messages, McGuire clearly asserts that Bury's career would be jeopardized by what the unnamed people were saying about her.

Bury is in her third year of medical school in Minnesota and hopes to return to Alaska to serve as a doctor.

"What this person said was not kind, it was awful, and they made an implication that could affect her potential medical career and I was very upset by it and I defended her," McGuire said on the message left on Bobrick's cell phone.

"But I would like to relay the information to her and the person that said it just so she's aware that there is this contingency of people that I would just simply say are hoping for her to not succeed."

In the call, McGuire appears to refer to a 10-year-old lawsuit that was settled in Bury's favor, Pope said.

The recorded messages contradict two statements made by McGuire in an interview Tuesday with the Daily News. In that interview, McGuire said she never mentioned anything medically related in the January calls. She also said she wasn't aware at the time that Bobrick was working for the FBI.

Bobrick said Thursday that though McGuire was trying to sound like a pal in the calls, she was never a good friend and was just trying to intimidate him.

"I took it as a direct attempt to influence my testimony about Tom Anderson's corruption," Bobrick said Thursday evening.

The first of three related calls that McGuire made on New Year's Day was to Bobrick. She was at the Hotel Captain Cook and reached him on his cell phone as he walked his old poodle Archie on the Coastal Trail.

Before she even identified herself, McGuire asked him "are you recording this?" Bobrick said. He wasn't. He asked who it was; she said it was Lesil McGuire and that "Jessica needs to know some things that could affect her ability to get her license," Bobrick recalled Thursday. She wanted Bury's number in Minnesota, where she was attending Mayo Medical School.

Bobrick said he told her he was walking his dog and would call her back. He then called the FBI.

The copy of the recording on Bury's answering machine is barely audible. In it, McGuire tells Bury that "horrible things were said about you that I know were not true."

"I just want to talk to you about it. I think there's a way to strategize around it," McGuire says.

McGuire then called Bobrick back and left the second message, saying at the start that she was not the subject of the FBI investigation.

"If anyone's listening to this recording, I have a feeling you're required to report who called here but I'm not in that category," McGuire said. "I'm calling you on a personal matter about Jessica. I left her a message but I would like an opportunity to talk to you about it. It's very disturbing and it could impact her, in a way, professionally that bothers me."

The FBI made copies of both recordings and told Bobrick and his wife not to have contact with McGuire. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Bottini called Anderson's attorney, Paul Stockler, and warned him that if anything like that happened again, prosecutors might try to revoke Anderson's bail.

The calls stopped.

McGuire's role first came under scrutiny during Bobrick's sentencing hearing Tuesday.

Bobrick pleaded guilty in May to conspiring with Anderson to support a private prison company. Tuesday, he was sentenced to five months in prison and five months of house arrest.

Pope asked the judge to consider that Bobrick and his wife felt threatened by McGuire, yet he testified anyway. Taking a risk justifies a lighter sentence, Pope said.

"I felt she was tampering with a witness, your honor. I thought she should've been indicted," the defense lawyer told the judge.

Reporters then began pressing for the recordings. On Thursday, the FBI gave copies to Pope, who shared them.

Under conditions Bobrick and his wife set for reporters, the particulars of the matter that McGuire referred to as personal for Bury could only be described in general terms.

McGuire, on Tuesday, denied ever talking about Bury's ability to work as a doctor in Alaska.

"I never talked about her ability to practice at all. That never happened," McGuire said.

She said she couldn't recall why she was so intent on reaching Bury on New Year's Day, but said maybe she just wanted to commiserate. Anderson had been arrested just weeks before.

"That is what is so bizarre. ... I don't even know what I said but nothing about medical," McGuire said.

"I didn't even know that Bill was working for the government then," McGuire said.

But back in December 2006, only Anderson was under indictment, and no public charges were filed against Bobrick. It was easy for McGuire to figure out Bobrick's role, prosecutor Bottini said in court.

Bobrick said he wanted to release the recordings "to show that Lesil McGuire is not telling the truth, once again."

McGuire did not return phone messages about the recordings Thursday night.

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Find Lisa Demer online at adn.com/contact/ldemer or call 257-4390. Find Richard Mauer online at adn.com/contact/rmauer or call 257-4345.