Anchorage Daily News

WASHINGTON -- Colin Powell, the retired Army general and former secretary of state, took the witness stand Friday on behalf of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, raised his right hand and swore to tell the truth.

"Gen. Powell, good afternoon," U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said to the biggest celebrity to testify as a character witness for Stevens, on trial on felony disclosure violations. "Sorry to keep you waiting yesterday."

"It's all right, Your Honor," Powell said.

Speaking in a courtroom suddenly packed with spectators and to jurors leaning forward in their seats, Powell recounted his long career, ending with his "dabbling in diplomacy," as he self-deprecatingly described his four years as secretary of state.

He then turned to Stevens, whom he has known for 25 years. Powell described Stevens as a "trusted individual" and a man with a "sterling" reputation.

"He was someone whose word you could rely on," said Powell.

Stevens was honest with him, he said, whether the news was good or bad.

"He would tell me when I had no clothes on -- figuratively, I mean -- and he would tell me when I was right and should go for it," Powell said. "He's a guy who, as we said in the infantry, we would take on a long patrol."

Stevens was always a strong advocate for basing soldiers and military aircraft in Alaska, but when the Cold War ended and the Defense Department decided to cut military spending by 25 percent, Stevens agreed that Alaska should share in the pain of base closures, he said.

"He fights for his state but he also has the best interest of the country at heart," Powell said.

Stevens, on trial for lying about gifts on financial disclosure forms, has the right during the defense portion of the trial to ask character witnesses to speak on behalf of his "truthfulness and veracity." The first such character witness, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, spoke Thursday. Three others are set to testify on Stevens' behalf, but the defense's wish to call Sen. Ted Kennedy was derailed by Kennedy's setback in his fight against a brain tumor.

Under cross examination, Powell said he had never been to Girdwood and has no independent knowledge of the charges Stevens faces.

Stevens, 84, faces charges of failing to disclose more than $250,000 in gifts between 1999 and 2006. Most of that total is related to a major renovation project that doubled the size of Stevens' home in Girdwood, with much of the work allegedly done for free by an oil-field service company run by Stevens' friend Bill Allen.

Julie Kitka, the president of the Alaska Federation of Natives, testified as someone who was familiar with Stevens' work in Alaska on behalf of Natives.

The AFN represents some of Alaska's biggest and most powerful corporations, like Cook Inlet Region Inc. and Arctic Slope Regional Corp., which have benefitted from special legislation by Stevens. But when Kitka turned to the jury to describe the AFN, she said it was "something like the NAACP," the civil rights organization.

The jury also heard from several other Alaskans who have had positive encounters with Stevens over the years, including a pediatric physician at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, Dani Bowman. Stevens was instrumental in arranging an Air Force evacuation for a sick baby who needed emergency treatment not available in Alaska, Bowman said.

"He didn't listen to the rest of the question, he said, 'Yes I'll help you,' " she said, choking up with emotion. "It was beautiful."

Two former heads of the Alaska AFL-CIO, Mano Frey and Jim Sampson, testified that Stevens also was instrumental in requiring that union labor be used in big proposed projects like the gas pipeline or drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The oil industry and especially nonunion Veco opposed such project labor agreements, Sampson testified.

That defense evidence was used to counter prosecution assertions that Stevens took up Veco's agenda in Washington because of gifts he received.

The defense team also called a private real estate appraiser and two assessors from the Municipality of Anchorage to testify on the value of the Veco addition to Stevens' home.

The city's valuation jumped $104,800 from 2001 to 2002 when the city took into account the addition, said municipal assessor Marty McGee.

That's less than a third of the cost of the actual work, according to earlier testimony. Stevens himself paid about $160,000, and Veco spent about $180,000.

McGee said his figures were based on an inspection of only the outside of the house, and he acknowledged under cross-examination that city records apparently missed one bedroom that was added. The city's value is based on what the property could be expected to sell for, not what it cost to renovate, he said.

"A lot of times it costs a whole lot more to do the renovation work?" asked prosecutor Nicholas Marsh.

"That's possible," McGee said.

The judge earlier rejected a defense theory Stevens would have received a benefit from Veco's work only if it raised the appraised value of the Girdwood home. His lawyers have argued that the value is zero under that theory.

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