Anchorage Daily News

JUNEAU -- Guilty pleas from two oil field services executives who admit bribing legislators have state officials examining whether they should give up campaign contributions connected to their company, for years a major player in state politics.

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Campaign donation records also show that Veco Corp. sent tens of thousands of dollars to candidates outside Alaska, including President Bush. One of the executives, Veco founder and chief executive Bill Allen, served as state financial co-chairman in Bush's 2000 campaign.

Since 1990, Anchorage-based Veco, its employees and their family members gave the state and national Republican parties, GOP congressional candidates and Bush slightly more than $1 million, according to an analysis by the watchdog Center for Responsive Politics. Bush's 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns received a total of about $24,000 of that money.

Allen and Veco vice president Rick Smith pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to spending more than $400,000 to bribe state lawmakers. One current and two former members of the state House pleaded not guilty last week to federal charges of bribery and extortion.

According to court documents, Veco, in pursuit of favorable changes in state tax laws and other legislation, reimbursed company officials thousands of dollars in the form of bonuses for making donations to state and federal candidates. This means overt influences for at least a two-year period ultimately came from the company, not from the individuals.

"They controlled everything; they were drunk on power, and I don't think they thought they would get caught," said Jake Metcalfe, chairman for the Alaska Democratic Party. "Basically you had one party that controlled the delegation, the state House and the Senate, and a large reason for that was Veco's money."

The charges against Allen and Smith relate only to five state lawmakers, but the 70-year-old Allen hasn't limited donations to those with Alaska ties. He has sent thousands to Republican candidates in states including Washington, Illinois, South Carolina, California and Missouri.

The campaign and political action committee of Republican U.S. Rep. Don Young received close to one-quarter of the total Veco-related donations examined by the Center for Responsive Politics. His campaign received close to $230,000 and his Midnight Sun Political Action Committee received $27,650, according to the center.

Young is the only member of Alaska's three-member congressional delegation whose campaign has not pledged a review of Veco's donations.

"At this time, we are not commenting on anything with the investigations," said Young's campaign manager Steve Dougherty. "It's inappropriate."

Representatives from the campaigns of Alaska's U.S. senators, both Republicans, said they are reviewing the donations. According to the center, Sen. Ted Stevens received $86,000 connected to Veco from 1990 to 2006 and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, first appointed in 2002 and re-elected in 2004, received $45,250.

The Alaska Republican Party, meanwhile, says it has not used $35,000 it received from Allen, Smith and two other Veco employees named in a federal subpoena last year. It is waiting for the Alaska Public Offices Commission to say what it can do with the money.

"We know we'll not use them for campaign purposes," state party chairman Randy Ruedrich said. "We want to comply with not only the law but the appearances."

A spokesman for the White House did not return calls Wednesday. Neither did Allen's attorney. Smith's attorney declined to comment.

Amy Menard, an attorney representing Veco in the federal investigation, said the company will continue to cooperate with the government and a recently hired compliance consultant.

Although Veco money has occasionally gone to Democrats, such as a $500 offering to the Alaska Democratic Party in 1998, Republicans have been the primary recipients of campaign funds from the company that Allen started in Kenai in 1968.

Veco, which has 4,000 employees worldwide, provides services including engineering, environmental control and facility maintenance. Some of its high-profile projects include work on the North Slope.

Federal prosecutors have charged three GOP legislators -- Rep. Vic Kohring and former Reps. Pete Kott and Bruce Weyhrauch -- with bribery and extortion. All pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors listed two other lawmakers in the indictments, but did not identify them by name.

Prosecutors say the three men advocated for Veco instead of the state last year when lawmakers for months debated the biggest oil and gas tax law rewrite in decades.

Newly elected GOP Gov. Sarah Palin says she wants to review how the Legislature and the administration of former Gov. Frank Murkowski, the senator's father, came to approve the tax and its complex structure.