Alaska News

Masek to plead guilty to conspiracy

Former state Rep. Beverly Masek has agreed to plead guilty today to conspiring to receive a bribe, according to documents filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Anchorage.

Masek, a Republican from Willow who represented the Matanuska-Susitna area between 1995 and 2004, was accused by the Justice Department of accepting at least $4,000 from former Veco Corp. chief executive Bill Allen in 2003.

In return for the money, she killed an oil tax bill she herself had introduced. Allen told her that the bill was "harmful" to his oil industry clients, according to the charges.

Masek is scheduled to enter her guilty plea this morning before U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline. She is being represented by the federal public defender.

The maximum penalty for conspiracy to commit bribery is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. But under the plea deal filed with the charges, she would face a sentence of 18 to 24 months and a fine of $4,000 to $40,000.

Prosecutors wrote that they expect Masek to plead for a further reduction in her sentence, citing "alcoholism, financial and emotional distress, and/or situational depression due to her divorce."

Prosecutors said Masek is neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community and recommended that Beistline allow her release on an unsecured bond of $5,000 while she awaits sentencing. Beistline will likely set the sentencing date at this morning's hearing.

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The guilty plea would be the sixth conviction of a lawmaker and the 11th overall obtained by the government in the FBI's massive investigation of corruption in Alaska. One former legislator, Rep. Bruce Weyhrauch, R-Juneau, is awaiting trial. The events cited in the conspiracy charge against Masek took place in 2003, a year before the federal investigation began. The charge names Masek, Allen and Veco vice president Rick Smith as the conspirators.

Allen and Smith have pleaded guilty to bribery, conspiracy and tax charges and are cooperating with authorities. They have not been sentenced.

KILLED OIL TAX BILL

On April 16, 2003, while the Legislature was in session, Masek directed an aide to find Smith, a frequent visitor to Juneau, so she could discuss her money woes with him or Allen, the charge said. The aide was identified only as "Legislative Aide A."

Two days later, Masek and Allen agreed to meet. That day, someone identified only as a "relative" of Allen gave Masek several thousand dollars in cash, the charge said. The same day, Masek deposited $2,000 of the money into her bank account.

Allen's plea deal granted immunity to his son Mark and other relatives.

"Masek accepted this money knowing that Veco and its clients had matters pending before the Alaska State Legislature that were important to Allen and Veco's business interests," the charge said.

On May 6, Masek introduced a bill that, among other things, would repeal the system in place for taxing oil production. The next day, Allen showed up at her Juneau office. He told her to withdraw the bill, the charge said.

To emphasize the point, Allen called another legislator from her office who told her the same thing. That lawmaker was not named in the charge.

She withdrew the bill the same day, May 7.

On May 8, Allen gave Masek another $2,000, the charge said.

"Masek received and accepted this money knowing it was given, in part, because of her agreement to withdraw H.B. 300," the charge said.

Over the next several months, Masek had more meetings with Allen and Smith where she pleaded for money and a job. They declined to pay her outright, but suggested that Masek, a musher who had competed in five Iditarods, get back into sled-dog racing. That way, they could launder money to her through sponsorship of her kennel and team, the charge said.

There was no sign that ever occurred.

LOST RE-ELECTION

Masek was defeated in the Republican primary in 2004 by political neophyte Mark Neuman, who went on to win the general election -- helped by $3,500 in political contributions by Veco officials and their families.

Former legislator and anti-corruption activist Ray Metcalfe said Wednesday he remembered very well the sequence of events surrounding Masek's H.B. 300. The bill would have ended the Economic Limit Factor, a tax break for some of Alaska's best-producing oil fields, he said.

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Metcalfe was a Republican in the House when ELF passed in 1982. He voted for it, he said, fooled by the arguments of the administration and oil-industry lobbyists who told him it would have no effect on state revenue, and pressured by fellow Republicans. He regrets that vote to this day -- the ELF sharply reduced taxes on Prudhoe Bay and other North Slope fields, he said, and it's become a motivation in his public campaign against Veco.

Metcalfe said he was talking to legislators about repealing ELF in 2003 when he learned that Masek had introduced a bill to do just that.

"I was surprised that she did it," Metcalfe said.

But a short time later, the bill was gone, Metcalfe said. He didn't know what happened, but grabbed a copy and used it as the basis for a citizen initiative petition. He never got enough signatures to get it on the ballot, Metcalfe said.

Masek lost her election in 2004 in the midst of ethics controversies based on complaints by an aide, Eric Musser, that she used campaign and office money for personal expenses and had demanded he provide her with loans. The Alaska Public Offices Commission fined her $1,000 and the House Ethics Committee ruled her loan demands were improper.

Musser couldn't be reached to ask if he was "Legislative Aide A" but he previously acknowledged helping the FBI.

Musser's name came up in another corruption case: the extortion and bribery trial of former Rep. Vic Kohring, also a Mat-Su Republican.

Musser had gone to work for Kohring after Masek's defeat, but the job didn't last long. According to Kohring's indictment, Allen was angry that Musser had brought complaints against Masek and demanded that he be fired.

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Kohring first laid off Musser, then made the termination permanent "despite requests by the aide that he be re-hired," the government said.

PDF: Plea agreement

PDF: Factual basis for plea

Overview: Alaska corruption investigation

By RICHARD MAUER

rmauer@adn.com

Richard Mauer

Richard Mauer was a longtime reporter and editor for the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2017.

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