Cowdery aides give grand jury testimony

ANCHORAGE - Two aides for state Sen. John Cowdery said they have testified before a grand jury meeting in Anchorage.

The testimony was given in the long-standing probe of public corruption in Alaska, the Anchorage Daily News reported Thursday.

Cowdery has not been charged with any crime, but the Anchorage Republican is one of six legislators whose offices were raided by the FBI nearly two years ago.

Cook Inlet Region Inc., the regional Native corporation in Anchorage, also said it has complied with a detailed demand for records from a federal grand jury connected to the corruption investigation.

Prosecutors assured CIRI it was not a target of the investigation, company spokesman Jim Jager said.

Two grand juries are impaneled, one in Anchorage and the other in Washington, D.C. Jager declined to say which grand jury issued the subpoena.

Two former Alaska state lawmakers have been convicted of accepting bribes from VECO Corp. executives, and another former legislator has been indicted in the wide-ranging corruption probe.

Former VECO CEO Bill Allen and Rick Smith, a former company vice president, have pleaded guilty to bribery charges and are cooperating with investigators.

Federal law enforcement officials also are investigating the remodeling of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens' home in Girdwood, south of Anchorage, which the FBI raided last summer.

Stevens has said he has paid every bill presented to him, but in testimony at a federal corruption trial of a former state lawmaker, Allen last year testified he sent workers from his oil field services company to work at Stevens' home.

Industry officials and attorney also have said investigators are looking into federal fishing legislation that directly or indirectly aided the senator's son, Ben, a former state Senate president.

Former Cowdery aide, and current staff member for the Legislative Council, Ryan Makinster told the Daily News he was summoned to the federal courthouse in Anchorage the first week in February. He said he appeared voluntarily, but declined to detail his testimony.

Another aide to Cowdery, Annette Skibinski, declined to discuss specifics beyond saying she also appeared before the grand jury two weeks ago.

Cowdery, 77, has maintained he did nothing wrong. He's been too ill to attend this year's legislative session, but is working from home.

Smith, the former VECO vice president, testified in one corruption trial last year that he bribed Cowdery. It was the first time Cowdery's name has been made public as part of an investigation. Smith revealed no details of his involvement with Cowdery.

CIRI has long had ties to both Ted and Ben Stevens, including paying for Ted Stevens' lodging in Bristol Bay for stays earlier this decade. He has since repaid the company.