Anchorage Daily News

Jim Clark, once at the heart of power as former Gov. Frank Murkowski's chief of staff, became a contrite, convicted felon Tuesday as he pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge stemming from an illegal effort to re-elect his boss in 2006.

The silver-haired Clark, an attorney and lobbyist by trade, entered his plea before U.S. District Court Judge John Sedwick, then turned himself over to U.S. marshals to be booked, fingerprinted and have his mug shot taken.

"I've got a lot of atonement to do," Clark, 64, said as he stopped to speak with reporters on his way out of the courthouse, freed on his own recognizance but with his passport confiscated by federal officials. His sentencing will be delayed at least six months while he demonstrates his cooperation with ongoing investigations.

Clark pleaded guilty to conspiring with former officials of Veco, the defunct oil-field services company, to secretly channel $68,550 from Veco into Murkowski's re-election effort. The money, used for polls and a political consultant, was illegally given because it was both a corporate donation and excessive, and illegally spent because it wasn't reported.

Despite the sizable sum, Clark told reporters that he never told Murkowski about the Veco assistance.

"I never spoke to Gov. Murkowski about what I've been charged with here because I wasn't very proud of it at the time and he expected, he trusted me to do things the right way and in this case I didn't," Clark said.

And Murkowski himself didn't express any curiosity about how his campaign was paying for the services, he said.

"That was not surprising as polls waltzed through the office one way or the other," Clark said.

And the consultant?

"Another person who showed up," Clark responded. "There were a number at the campaign that were there and he wasn't really able to know who was paid and who wasn't."

Clark said he hasn't spoken to Murkowski about his plea.

Murkowski was traveling and hasn't returned messages left on his cell phone. An unpopular figure after four years as governor, Murkowski was beaten in the 2006 Republican primary by Sarah Palin, who succeeded him in office.

Clark's plea hearing lasted just over 30 minutes. Most of the time was taken up in Sedwick's routine recitations of Clark's rights and his questioning of Clark to assure that he understood the charges and their consequences. Clark firmly responded with "Yes, your honor," "I do, your honor."

When assistant U.S. attorney James Goeke finished reading the underlying facts of the case, Sedwick asked Clark if they were true.

"With great anguish and remorse, I admit that they are," Clark said.

And how do you plead, the judge asked.

"I plead guilty, your honor."

Clark faces five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, but the government said his contrition and assistance could knock more than a year off his time and eliminate most of the fine. Clark said he expects to hear from the bar association about his law license.

In his conversation with reporters, Clark declined to clear up two mysteries in his charges: the true identities of "Polling Company B" and "Consultant A," both recipients of the illegal Veco money.

"I'm not going to get into that. That is inappropriate. I'm gong to keep working with the FBI in terms of the terms I gave them," Clark said. He said in an interview he had promised the government he would not reveal those identities.

Dave Dittman said his Dittman Research Corp. of Alaska was "Polling Company A."

Dittman said he didn't know the money he received was illegally raised. And he expressed surprise by Clark's assertions that Murkowski didn't know either.

"My personal thought is just knowing the governor and how close he was to Jim and just how the governor is, it would just be hard to believe Jim would just take off on his own and do this," Dittman said. But he also said he didn't think Clark would make up a story now that he's on the hook with the government.

"He knows he can't lie about that," Dittman said.

Find Richard Mauer online at adn.com/contact/rmauer or call 257-4345. Find Sean Cockerham online at adn.com/contact/scockerham or call him at 257-4344. Reporter Tom Kizzia contributed to this story.