tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67748885127524012122024-03-12T17:29:36.647-07:00USA vs. Victor H. KohringTwo longtime friends from the Mat-Su Valley with opposing views of the trial and its defendant share their thoughts. Fred James perceives Vic Kohring as a victim of a prosecution gone awry. Philip Munger has been predicting a demise for Kohring for years as the Wasilla anti-government politician attempted to make too many increasingly unconnected ends and motives meet.Philip Mungerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6774888512752401212.post-24574401402467904322009-04-20T12:08:00.000-07:002009-04-20T12:10:32.793-07:00Victor H. Kohring vs. the US, Oral Arguments, April 14th, 2009 - Seattle, Washington<a style="font-family: verdana;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJo38_C6DsR5hPEP_uGQBPYVHb8wdSqecRQz3LsxJiKXrBytb6OlEVAQNiLHYq9IsdqyT-G9659sNYe2pi9-MKLRDL6ypHQNPb-kHR7tRXbhSz_ZhW2l0RO9E0Nv091nSVJxhhN-DPhjbP/s1600-h/Vic+o+na+Hot+Day.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 219px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJo38_C6DsR5hPEP_uGQBPYVHb8wdSqecRQz3LsxJiKXrBytb6OlEVAQNiLHYq9IsdqyT-G9659sNYe2pi9-MKLRDL6ypHQNPb-kHR7tRXbhSz_ZhW2l0RO9E0Nv091nSVJxhhN-DPhjbP/s320/Vic+o+na+Hot+Day.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326852660525455826" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" >--- by Fred James</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> On Tuesday April 14 about 11:15 AM Vic Kohring’s lawyer, John Henry Browne of Seattle took on the US Government’s best in a court hearing for Vic’s appeal. The AP reporter who wrote a short, detailed story about this hearing was confronted by an interesting and immense problem, how to concentrate all the little details of this case, which ones to mention and how to deal with with a 40 minute drama which was not cut and dried at all but a series of thrusts and parries. He ended up by simply accounting for what the various principals said.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> First you have to know what’s at stake. From Vic’s standpoint, most importantly, his liberty which is severely curtailed at the moment because he’s in Taft Correctional Institution in Taft, CA dining and living the “corrected life” at taxpayer expense. From the US Government’s point of view, having just been stung with a major rebuke in the Stevens’ case which is a larger part of this drama, the US lawyers wanted to nail down their defense of this conviction.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> Vic was sentenced to 42 months in prison for bribery and extortion which from my view is absolutely ridiculous. He is intellectually and morally incapable of bribery and he thought (until they charged him with it) that extortion was what gangsters in movies did. As his friend, as someone who has been camping with him, shooting with him, eating with him (That’s an event because he has to fuel a 6’7” large body!) debating with him, editing his writings, meeting and gradually getting to know his parents, siblings and extended family, I know that he was given some money from a very rich friend (Bill Allen the head of VECO) to buy gifts and practical things for his daughter who Bill Allen enjoyed no end. But Vic did NOT agree to vote or do any political act in return! There was no bribe or extortion! More than one person has admitted that Allen did not need to bribe Vic because Vic’s reputation as an anti-tax free marketeer was already richly established. Vic voted all his career against taxes. That was one of the reasons I was his friend!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> I witnessed every step of the trial and concluded that the Judge actually prosecuted Vic. Government lawyers were not needed. The judge denied Vic’s motions, refused to recuse himself over an issue we discovered on the last day of the trial and did not permit the jury to hear important parts of the defense. This judge John Sedwick is married to Deborah Sedwick who walked into the courtroom on the last day of the trial. This is when Vic realized that his worst enemy in Juneau was none other than the judge’s wife. The principal US Government witness, Bill Allen, lives 40 feet from the judge! The second highest government witness Rick Smith and the judge went to school with each other in Anchorage. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> I read the written appeal which was masterfully done by John Henry Browne. It was a systematic, thorough, clearly written string of issues that, even if only one of them were to be seen as true by the appellate judges, it would be enough to set aside Vic’s verdict and grant him a new trial. Included in this list were the issues of: The judge’s refusal to recuse himself over being married to Vic’s major political enemy, closed hearings, change of venue denied, witnesses denied, entire parts of the defense denied, FBI lies to Vic regarding a search warrant for his office, and being denied the right to show the jury Vic’s written and oral habit of ending telephone or physical conversations with his patented expression, “Thanks, if I can be of any help to you, please call me at any time.” I had 80 people lined up who were willing to tell the jury about this Vic expression. The government turned his expression around to make it appear as if Vic were agreeing to do Bill Allen’s biding. We were completely prevented from showing how Vic said this sort of thing to everyone!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> Finally Vic never voted for Bill Allen’s VECO Corporation bill that was the center of the whole trial effort! There was no quid pro quo. What the government did was make it look like Vic had accepted a bribe. And the judge prevented any defense action to demonstrate the opposite. The jury was in effect conned into declaring Vic guilty on some of the charges.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> I know these things from being in Juneau when he had the fights with Deborah Sedwick, I saw with my own eyes most of these things.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> The appeal was a written, legal account of about twelve major issues that would reverse Vic’s verdict. The appellate court judges were given this written appeal months ago and the hearing Tuesday was to give each side a chance to state openly in court their side and refute their opponents. At stake was Vic’s liberty and reputation. Now you know what was discussed on Tuesday. The two sides had exactly 40 minutes to state their case and answer any questions the judges had.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> As a result John Henry Brown, Vic’s attorney who happens to be as tall as Vic himself, was extremely time constrained and had to concentrate on only several of the appellate issues. He chose the Recusal Issue (Judge Sedwick should have brought up the fact that his wife was a major enemy of Vic’s BEFORE the trial started but did not!) and the issue of Closed Hearings! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> Dan Ray, formerly of Wasilla, myself, Joanna Hamed of Woodinville, WA, a lawyer herself and sister of one of Vic’s and my friend Richard A. Benner Jr. were camped in the courtroom on Vic’s behalf. It was a small room with three judges facing the attorneys. The judges were Judge Betty Fletcher a little, tiny lady who could barely be seen over the desk and walked with an aluminum walker, Judge CJJ Thomas and Judge Tashima.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> John Henry Brown (JHB) began with the issue of closed hearings. He spoke over and over about how he objected to it in the closed hearings themselves and later in open court and now at this oral hearing. His sincerity was catching. JHB accused the government of creating a ruse to protect their star witness from the jury learning that he was an accused rapist. ALthough JHB did not use that term; he said that the government said the reason for closed hearing was to protect the “integrity of the investigative process” but in fact it was really to keep the jury from knowing that Allen was accused of doing “bad things.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> Later when the wimpy little government lawyer was gesticulating and back pedaling wildly at JHB’s thrusts, Judge Thomas asked him, “Why did the government insist on closed hearings when the issue did not merit it?” (Which was agreeing with JHB!!!) and the little Vahrule mumbled, backed up and made up words that said nothing. Dan looked at me and smiled, letting me know he saw this victory too.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> The second issue JHB spoke to was Recusal. Why didn’t Judge Sedwick recuse himself with the overwhelming amount of evidence that indeed his wife had been Vic’s major enemy and Vic had worked successfully over two years to abolish his wife’s entire department. (This had nothing to do with her personally. It had to do with Vic’s consistent effort to stream line state government by combining two departments into one and getting rid of a lot of dead weight management.) JHB mentioned the newspaper columns devoted to it, the radio shows, TV news. It had been an ongoing major story and the judge said he did not remember it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> A judge asked JHB, “Why did it take you over two months from the time of the guilty verdict to making this recusal motion?” This was a charge the government had made many months earlier. JHB answered, “For good reason judge, I did not want to accuse a sitting judge without proof so Vic spent two full months gathering the newspaper, TV and radio headlines and proving the judge was married to Deborah at the time and had ample opportunity to know full well he was sitting in judgment over a person his wife fought heavily with for over two years! Vic came up with so much material he convinced me it was true and only then did I write the motion to recuse.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> Then the judge asked JHB, “When Judge Sedwick told you he did not remember the battle between himself and his wife, why did you not take him at face value?” JHB answered, “Because his statement was unbelievable!”</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> The wimpy little government lawyer was questioned hard too. He was asked by Judge Betty Fletcher, who commented that she had read the oral appeal and listened to one of the tapes about why Judge Sedwick had not recused himself given the pages of evidence that JHB had produced to prove it, Puny government lawyer again back pedaled, mumbled and had no real answer. Judge Fletcher interrupted him by saying, “To sum it up are you saying the judge forgot?” This prompted an observer to remark, “Barbs left in somebody’s side!” Another great victory for Vic. And we now know that at least one of the judges actually read and listened to the tapes!!!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> In fact this wimpy man lacked conviction in his position so much that he was left exaggerating to the point of lying to the judges. He said Vic got a job for his nephew from Bill Allen which would have been illegal. But at trial I personally observed JHB completely refute that notion by getting Rick Smith to admit that it was Smith himself who suggested to Allen to give Vic’s nephew a job...not Vic. But wimp himself spoke as if it was proven that Vic was found guilty of this even though he was not!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> I wish as Vic’s friend that I could tell him JHB easily won the day and that these judges will vacate his sentence and free him. But the three appellate judges were successful in keeping poker faces at all of the answers and statements by the opposing lawyers before them. If the judges are rational and competent and do not protect their fellow judge, then I believe the evidence is so rich and compelling that they should let Vic go. And JHB’s oral arguments were competent and sincere. But I can not say what these judges will rule. I asked a court clerk on the scene how long it normally takes before this three judge panel will rule. I was told it could be three weeks to three months but averages about one month.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> Stay tuned. the battle continues.</span>Philip Mungerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com84tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6774888512752401212.post-76041263192283851652008-05-13T23:59:00.001-07:002008-05-14T00:00:56.966-07:00Guest Post by Vic Kohring<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_8IEVYftAmAeQWJwjg8y6K3CtqRngdWADK4INKvkrUlueeyO36Hio8J1bsGz2IE7DJb1LvhBsV6yNWdJZkkWKS2JOy_dyhw5bpnrexo3o8cZzIMtzvulTvNSwORWoPJ_M0AV-kVFC3YC8/s1600-h/vic_kohring_sentenced.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_8IEVYftAmAeQWJwjg8y6K3CtqRngdWADK4INKvkrUlueeyO36Hio8J1bsGz2IE7DJb1LvhBsV6yNWdJZkkWKS2JOy_dyhw5bpnrexo3o8cZzIMtzvulTvNSwORWoPJ_M0AV-kVFC3YC8/s320/vic_kohring_sentenced.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5200121659742367970" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">The other day, I asked longtime friend and Vic Kohring advocate Fred Brown to either write a guest post for Progressive Alaska on Vic's current situation, or to ask Vic to write one himself. Today, Vic called me. We talked a bit, and I urged him to finish an essay he had already been polishing. I told him I'd be happy to print it, as I received it. He sent it this evening, appending the essay with his closing remarks from last Thursday's sentencing:</span><br /><br />The media as a whole, with a few exceptions, has been a lynch mob and will not be satisfied until I'm in prison. My innocence matters little to them. Some folks have tried to be open minded and look at things objectively, for which I'm grateful, because in reality our government had no interest in seeking truth and justice. The prosecutors goal was to nail a politician and get another notch on their belt. They were aided by Judge John Sedwick who made numerous rulings, all against me, making it impossible for the jury to have complete information which would have cleared my name. I was warned right after last fall's trial began that Sedwick has a reputation for being pro government and pro prosecutor, and his conduct in court certainly reflected that. As a judge, he is tasked with running a fair and open trial so that justice is done, not constantly impeding the process. It was a real eye opener and very frustrating as I naively believed judges were honest. What a rude awakening.<br /><br />One of Sedwick's most egregious decisions was to preside over my trial. He had a blatant conflict of interest because of the battles I fought with his wife. As much as the media has downplayed the matter, twisted the facts and omitted crucial information in their typical way, there was real animosity between Deborah Sedwick and myself occurring over a two year period. Judge Sedwick turned down my motion a few weeks ago (the latest among a substantial number of motions I filed since last year) asking for a new trial because of his conflict. He glossed over the requirement by federal law to remove himself from a case if a "reasonable person" could possibly perceive a conflict. Instead, his response addressed irrelevant issues that distracted the reader from the fact that he violated federal law. His words were misleading. I sponsored legislation that eliminated his wife's job and cut literally millions of dollars from her budget while she was Commissioner of the Department of Commerce, to her strenuous objection. I was chairman of the budget subcommittee which authorized funding for her department. She was appointed to a new position after my bill became law, but did not know she would be appointed to the newly merged department until mid 1999. Before then, all she knew was that I was working hard to eliminate her prestige and power and job as the highest salaried commissioner in state government (over $110,000.00/year in salary and benefits). In fact, she was subjected to the stress of her job being eliminated for the 1-1/2 years I worked on my bill and opposed me every step of the way. Yet Judge Sedwick says he has no knowledge of these significant and dramatic events and never discussed with his wife her difficulties encountered because of me. That's unrealistic. Spouses naturally discuss their problems with each other, particularly when one's job is being threatened. The Anchorage Daily News and Channel 2 News purposely omits this information to keep me from appearing credible. In addition, Judge Sedwick lives directly across the street from Bill Allen, the government's primary witness relied on heavily to convict me. They have lived next to each other for about six years according to records with the State Division of Elections. Their houses are 65 feet apart. If any one of the jurors admitted to similar connections, they would have immediately been removed from the case. The judge was very clear in his set of instructions during the jury selection process. Yet he himself did not follow his own rules. As mentioned, he is required by federal law to excuse himself from a trial simply if a perception or appearance of a conflict exists. That's all. The standard is low and precise. Sedwick went far beyond perception or appearance as there was an actual conflict--and a substantial one as I documented in my motion. Deborah Sedwick and I were major political and philosophical opponents for years which evolved into personal animosity. My evidence documenting this includes affidavits from three people (filed with the court with my motion) who personally witnessed the antagonism. There are other witnesses too who've since stepped forth.<br /><br />During the trial, I reached the point where I sensed I had no chance to win because of the judge's hostile, angry attitude and multitude of rulings against me. He made it impossible to succeed by literally controlling the entire proceedings to his benefit. I now realize he was trying to protect himself, not create an environment that would allow my innocence to be proven. He ruled against me on change of venue, habit evidence, suppression of evidence, FBI interference, closed hearing and many more. I've been informed it was highly unusual for a judge to reject every single request, especially considering all were reasonable and solidly backed up with case law. Sedwick's rulings eventually caused me to wonder if he had something personal against me. I concluded it was because I am a conservative Republican and a long-time vocal advocate of less government. I could think of nothing else at the time. I've also been told my philosophy likely made me an automatic target of the government and motivated them to focus on me. Then I learned after the trial that Sedwick is married to one of my biggest political and personal opponents. I wouldn't have learned of this had not Deborah Sedwick showed up at the end of the trial. If she had stayed away, I probably would not have known to this day. My initial reaction was to ask, why is one of my biggest enemies at my trial? Was she there to gloat? It was astonishing.<br /><br />Mrs. Sedwick was reluctant to shake my hand when I extended it while attempting to greet her during a break in the trial. She was speaking with two other people ten feet from the courtroom doors at the time. She glared at me as if she wanted to grab me by the throat. She clearly was still angry after all these years. I felt like telling her to "Get over it. Get a life," but stayed silent. Judge Sedwick said nothing of his marriage to Deborah during the trial, despite being required by the Judicial Code of Conduct to declare any conflicts including those involving family members and spouses. Of all people, he should know of this law better than anyone as he is the Chief Judge of the entire U.S. District Court in Alaska. The law is very clear. In addition, three federal judges reviewed my conflict of interest motion and concluded that without a doubt, Sedwick should have removed himself from the case and granted me a new trial. Instead of insisting another judge do so, he himself ruled on my motion a few weeks ago requesting his removal and a new trial. Despite his substantial conflict, Judge Sedwick ruled himself blameless. It was unbelievable. Then he himself administered my sentence this week. I honestly thought he would have another judge do so given his conflicts of interest. By not removing himself, I was then left to wonder if his sentence reflected the antagonistic relationship between his wife and myself. I will wonder for the rest of my life if my years in prison is pay back.<br /><br />Yet another of Sedwick's numerous rejected motions occurred this week. He ruled against my motion to allow a juror to be questioned in court by my lawyer. As it turned out, the jury gave no credence to the government's many false allegations including my nephew's summer internship, request for a personal loan (never received) and request to borrow a pick up truck (never received) as they were not proven. The jury only considered the thousand dollars in gifts for my daughter. Nothing more. Everything boiled down to this one item. I was told that even this one was shaky as it was based on a video taped comment by Bill Allen while in a drunken state. The sentence therefore should have been based on the one item (daughter gifts) as opposed to the sum total of everything. The judge's decision on my motion blocked this crucial information from being presented in court and he consequently based his sentence on the fictitious larger number instead of the thousand. Of course the media ignores this despite my reference to it in my sentencing remarks (see below) and my press conference.<br /><br />Instead of a sentence which should have involved no time, I'm going to prison for years. Note how former Fairbanks Mayor Jim Hayes received five and a half years by the same judge (Sedwick) last week involving the theft of $450,000.00, versus my three and a half years for a thousand dollars in gifts for my daughter, a tiny fraction of money in comparison and no bribes involved. It's an incredible double standard.<br /><br />In addition, the liberal media savaged me throughout my years in the legislature. I became a constant target because I bucked the trend to increase government. They obviously picked up the pace when my office was raided by five armed FBI agents in 2006 and did their best to try and convict me before my trial even began, regardless of the truth. They behaved like blood thirsty jackals. There were 14 months of non-stop hostile reporting which I'm certain tainted the jury pool. If I could sue these people for slander I would. Yet the judge rejected my request to have the trial moved outside Alaska. It was a very reasonable request. I presented Sedwick with a mountain of evidence (hundreds of photo copies) demonstrating the media bias. He didn't even explain his decision other than to say I can get a fair trial and "sees no problem." His lack of concern was astounding. In another case in Alaska, Joshua Wade was granted a change of venue by a same U.S. District Court judge despite far less media coverage. Judge Sedwick's colleague on the bench ruled that the change was vital as the media prevented Wade from getting a fair trial here. Yet Sedwick denied my request despite ten times the coverage. Another double standard.<br /><br />I remain optimistic I will prevail on appeal. I truly believe if I can get a trial in a different location where the jury pool hasn't been tainted and a judge with no personal ax to grind, I would easily be exonerated. I was told the jury last fall initially voted 10 to 2 to find me innocent on all charges despite the judge working overtime against me instead of being open-minded and trying to facilitate a fair process. They ended up being swayed by a very vocal and opinionated jury foreman who is a federal government retiree, the type of people who nearly always opposed me.<br /><br />Last, I readily admit it wasn't a good idea for me to accept gifts from a long time friend of 14 years--at least one who I thought was a friend until he stabbed me in the back with his lies on the stand. But gifts are not illegal and there were absolutely no bribes involved and no intent to commit a crime whatsoever. I wouldn't even know how to commit such a crime if I wanted to. This situation never should have risen to the level of a crime and no charges should have been filed. I've had to fight the prosecution's manipulations, the lying of witnesses, a biased judge with a huge personal conflict and a probation office that wrote an erroneous pre-sentence report full of unproven allegations (which the judge used to further justify his sentence). This entire scenario made it impossible to win. It was a true witch hunt. However I go to prison with my chin up and a clear conscience, so I'm going to be fine, especially with the knowledge that I have a strong case for appeal. If I have to defend myself from a prison cell, so be it. I look forward to being cleared and serving my community once again.<br /><br />Vic Kohring<br />May 13, 2008<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sentencing remarks</span></span><br /><br />Honorable Judge Sedwick,<br /><br />I stand before you not to plead for mercy as others have done before me. Instead, I'm here to proclaim my innocence. I don't believe I received a fair trial last fall which is why I did not prevail in this court room.<br /><br />I was stunned when I learned after the trial you are married to one of my biggest personal and political enemies from my years as a legislator, who showed up at this very court at the end of my trial. Federal law and the Judicial Code of Conduct required you to excuse yourself from my case even if a perception of a conflict existed and to avoid the appearance of partiality that might reasonably be questioned. You judged yourself blameless despite a mountain of evidence documenting the antagonistic relationship between your wife and myself occurring over a two-year period. Furthermore, you live directly across the street from the government’s star witness who was heavily relied upon to convict me. Your houses are just 65 feet apart. You did not speak one word of these conflicts and I knew nothing of them until after the trial. I’m so disappointed that the very person who now holds my fate in his hands--you--is married to the person who’s job I eliminated and who’s budget I cut millions of dollars from and developed personal animosity. There’s no way this could not be viewed as a conflict by any reasonable person. I now stand before you waiting to be sentenced to prison and will forever wonder if your sentence will be because of the battles I fought with your wife. That is incredibly unfair.<br /><br />There is something I will admit. I exercised poor judgment when accepting cash gifts for my daughter form a longtime friend--or at least someone I genuinely believed was a friend until he betrayed and turned against me. I will also admit I did not live up to my personal standards and expectations of my community. So I apologize to all who expected me to set a higher ethical standard. It may not have been right, but in no way were bribes involved. There were no criminal acts and I absolutely had no intention to commit any crime whatsoever.<br /><br />My words, “Let me know what I can do to help; my door is always open to you; feel free to give me a call anytime” was my mantra as a legislator, words I spoke thousands of times in the course of doing my job. It’s ironic that these very words have now been used against me by the government to erroneously claim they represented a bribe. My words and frequent offer of help were genuine and heartfelt and intended simply to be a good representative--not anything corrupt. Unfortunately, your ruling on Habit Evidence prevented my supporters from testifying on this issue. I had a list of 82 people willing to testify on my behalf who were turned away.<br /><br />The resulting conviction has destroyed me. I am bankrupt and penniless, my house is in foreclosure, I’ve lost my job and career, my wife is divorcing me and I’m losing my family. The total cost to me including lost wages is approaching a half million dollars. But my spirit is not broken and I remain strong.<br /><br />My attorney and I attempted to conduct ourselves during the trial with integrity. There was no lying, manipulation or taking things out of context as was done against me--just an honest presentation of the facts. I do not lie to anyone at any time. I used to believe in my government. I swore to uphold and protect the principles of our country and constitution as a legislator, but do not respect those who manipulated it.<br /><br />I must follow my conscience and stand up for my rights even if I have to pay a price. I refuse to cower before you in hopes of receiving a lighter sentence, and I know I’m risking retribution by standing my ground as I’m subjecting myself to this court’s wrath. But I shouldn't have to fear retribution by defending myself. I simply can’t in good conscience express remorse for something I did not do. I intend to continue vigorously fighting for my rights and eventually prove my innocence, but will only be exonerated if I receive a fair trial with a fair judge. The truth will only be revealed if my case is heard before jurors untainted by bias and if all evidence is provided the jury.<br /><br />I want to thank the jury and sincerely appreciate their efforts but wish to let them know they did not have all the relevant informant needed to determine my innocence. I must continue defending myself and go through the appeal process, even if it means doing so from a prison cell. I beseech everyone in this state who believes in truth and justice to join me in insisting that our government treats its citizens with honor and decency. I for one shall not rest until justice prevails.<br /><br />If I had committed wrong doing, I would admit it and accept punishment. But my conscience is clear. I did nothing criminal. I was a little naive, I will admit to that. I must assert my innocence as I owe it to my family and friends and the thousands of people who elected me to the Alaska Legislature, all of whom I sincerely thank for their support. All I ask for is to be treated fairly and be given an opportunity for a fully open and fair trial which I’m convinced would result in my exoneration.<br /><br />Thank You.<br /><br />Vic Kohring<br />May 8, 2008<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">cross-posted at Progressive Alaska</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">image of Vic Kohring by Dennis Zaki</span>Philip Mungerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6774888512752401212.post-40751722190906336472008-05-09T00:18:00.000-07:002008-05-09T10:39:30.336-07:00Two Reasons That Alaska is the Most In-Flux Political Environment in the USA<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Z1ZTlJBsLeCIj8SRUfujtmxDBjtHf0VoBYFt-zOYWXvJ2kFf-1x6Q60Lrz_zCLAuBx4uJ5JkBq6Z9FTFwzGi63grD8eYj0Kyvdod7Oy8klJRGAOsE_ANJ3NGCAL25yUvqB_CUreRpO1g/s1600-h/Ray+and+TV+News+outside+Fed+CH.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 251px; height: 196px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Z1ZTlJBsLeCIj8SRUfujtmxDBjtHf0VoBYFt-zOYWXvJ2kFf-1x6Q60Lrz_zCLAuBx4uJ5JkBq6Z9FTFwzGi63grD8eYj0Kyvdod7Oy8klJRGAOsE_ANJ3NGCAL25yUvqB_CUreRpO1g/s320/Ray+and+TV+News+outside+Fed+CH.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198265767153149586" border="0" /></a><br />After former Alaska State Representative Vic Kohring (R - Lesser Wasilla) was sentenced to 42 months in Federal prison this morning, <a href="http://www.alaskareport.com/">the reporters initially flocked around Kohring</a> and his flamboyantly expensive, if otherwise useless attorney, John Henry Browne. Kohring's defiant statement at the close of sentencing presentations probably surprised some in the courtroom more than it did me. As the post below, and <a href="http://usavsvickohring.blogspot.com/">the blog <span style="font-style: italic;">USA vs Victor H. Kohring</span></a> explain, I've been following Vic's trajectory since launch.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.adn.com/news/politics/fbi/kohring/">Anchorage media coverage </a>of <a href="http://aprn.org/2008/05/08/vic-kohring-sentenced-to-prison/">the sentencing</a> was <a href="http://www.ktuu.com/global/story.asp?s=8293506">full-court press</a>. When Judge Sedwick stated "42 months," you almost had to hold on to your hat, as reporters left the room to file, by one means or another. I stuck around, because I didn't have to file, and I wanted to hear and see how the issues of Kohring's tentative appeal and reporting date turned out. Kohring, whose spinal problems have become chronic, needs more disc surgery, and has to find a way to get it, in his current impecunious condition. Sedwick gave him until the last Monday in June to deal with this. Then he has to go join the GOP Veco caucus in Oregon.<br /><br />I sat between longtime friend Dewey Taylor and recent friend Ray Metcalfe at the trial. Dewey is one of the most effective grassroots community activists in the Mat-Su Valley, bringing people from all across the political spectrum together to <a href="http://www.valleyrecycling.org/">build recycling consciousness </a>and infrastructure to maturity in the Valley's core area. His wife, Gini King-Taylor, ran against Lyda Green four years ago.<br /><br />Ray needs no introduction, although I was able to introduce him to Dewey after the event, outside the courthouse. Ray, who yesterday took an <span style="font-style: italic;">APRN</span> reporter on a newer, more extended version of <a href="http://progressivealaska.blogspot.com/2008/03/ray-metcalfes-anchorage-real-estate.html">the Anchorage real estate tour he gave me</a> earlier in the spring, was interviewed by a few news reporters on things like "what happens next?" and "did you make a difference in these prosecutions?"<br /><br />In short, he did make a difference, and probably knows no more than me what will happen next. It was interesting watching various press folks engage Ray, either for interviews, or because they've come to know and respect him over the years. His demeanor was so different from Kohring's in so many ways.<br /><br />Ray gets lambasted for being "Disco Ray," or a "showboater." Most recently, in respect to his allegations and distributed documents about Anchorage mayor and U.S. Senate candidate Mark Begich's relationship with powerful Anchorage developers, I've heard that "there's no 'there' there." I can say that Ray is about to release more material he says support his Quixotic quest against Mark.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVEVIAeNAPm4QwGWmerGaxr8yonoGruSbXVwgSHsTI-lNRWZ_kE930xvT-Ttt2-T7Lgg-_YuNNPb1SF6YA2ZsRTCIh5XKwsrQnDN1dWq7H3gEsvx0NQKS5fs_mtCNzwFgjwZ8lrUMzYgeF/s1600-h/Ray+%26+Shannyn.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 208px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVEVIAeNAPm4QwGWmerGaxr8yonoGruSbXVwgSHsTI-lNRWZ_kE930xvT-Ttt2-T7Lgg-_YuNNPb1SF6YA2ZsRTCIh5XKwsrQnDN1dWq7H3gEsvx0NQKS5fs_mtCNzwFgjwZ8lrUMzYgeF/s320/Ray+%26+Shannyn.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198253986057856642" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">KUDO</span> talk personality Shannyn Moore was at the sentencing. She and I laughed out loud at some of the banter between Sedwick and Browne. Afterward, outside the building, as she kidded Ray about people confusing him with Jake Metcalfe this past week, I was laughing so hard I forgot to tell Shannyn how powerful her tape of the Talk Radio Panel session at the Alaska Press Club conference is. I've listened to it twice now, and was there, participating in it. Unfortunately, it appears to have been recently removed from <span style="font-style: italic;">KUDO's</span> public archive.<br /><br />Shannyn is the most dynamic and perceptive person to enter the talk radio format in recent years in Anchorage. She and I have argued and disagreed on several issues over the past eight months, but she sees the connection of what is happening in Alaska politics to how important the current political change dynamic is nationwide better than anyone else here, either on the air or in print. She doesn't hesitate to bring national figures - live, onto her program for up to an hour. People like <a href="http://www.thomhartmann.com/">Thom Hartmann</a>, <a href="http://www.gregpalast.com/">Greg Palast</a>, <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/">Brad Friedman</a> and <a href="http://www.jeffcohen.org/">Jeff Cohen</a> Shannyn's hoping to interview <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibel_Edmonds">Sibel Edmonds</a>.<br /><br />For starters, she knows who these people are. Other than Hartmann, even a majority of Alaska liberals and progressives might not recognize the other three names, or why they are important figures. I loved it, earlier in the week, when she jumped <a href="http://community.adn.com/adn/node/122852">Matt Zencey's well-hidden column</a> on local talk radio, saying something like "Matt Zencey is an asshole," or whatever she knew she could get away with short of an FCC fine.<br /><br />Ray Metcalfe and Shannyn Moore are pressing the envelope on what Alaskans can digest, in their own unique ways. They know, more than most, how important it is for citizens to regain control of our political machinery.<br /><br />And to conclude - <a href="http://www.whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">the most thoughtful coverage of Vic Kohring's sentencing</span></a>.Philip Mungerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6774888512752401212.post-11826354358298543272008-05-08T04:18:00.000-07:002008-05-08T04:19:51.461-07:00And He Stilled The Drumming<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc6uVPSTw_NQ2ac8ZP4i8uOsxi0y4kJ3DwgbUODOm0pgkFFTTVkVJRJxWdsCmlr1PYCQrTR7xFMoNoWivhyNl8EXwo8gBzliaiEI13pDcCf4_2jCtrL1KMgV_EVxKh4xk-SsTt0mLKMIUa/s1600-h/swearing_in_03_md.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc6uVPSTw_NQ2ac8ZP4i8uOsxi0y4kJ3DwgbUODOm0pgkFFTTVkVJRJxWdsCmlr1PYCQrTR7xFMoNoWivhyNl8EXwo8gBzliaiEI13pDcCf4_2jCtrL1KMgV_EVxKh4xk-SsTt0mLKMIUa/s320/swearing_in_03_md.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5197953692410223010" border="0" /></a>Vic Kohring came in with the 1994 Newt Gingrich tide. Four Mat-Su Valley lawmakers rode in on that that wave - Lyda Green, Vic Kohring, Bev Masek, and Scott Ogan. All but one are now beach debris. Lyda Green is proving to be as tenacious as a barnacle. Kohring, looks more and more like an expiring puffer fish, trapped in one of the outgoing tide's draining pools. He's been <span style="font-style: italic;">left behind</span>, which is a scary term in his evangelical world and its Darwin-swallowing fishes.<br /><br />Back in 1996, Vic and I got into dueling op-eds for a while in the <span style="font-style: italic;">Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman</span>. In the late spring of '96, Vic wrote an op-ed that blamed Alaska's artists for the unfortunate deaths on the Denali Highway in mid-winter, of a family whose car became trapped in a snow drift. He suggested that if the government had spent money used for the Alaska State Council on the Arts on communication equipment for the Alaska State Troopers instead, the family would be alive.<br /><br />I wrote a reply, in which I humanized Alaska's artists as vibrant members of our communities around the state, not the parasitic sea lice Kohring seemed to be imagining them to be. I wanted to say more than what could be said in an op-ed, though, so I wrote <span style="font-style: italic;">And He Stilled The Drumming</span> for symphonic band. When I conducted the Mat-Su College Community Band in the work's premiere - it was the middle movement of my 4th Symphony - Vic had the strangely bewildering grace to introduce the work.<br /><br />Here are the program notes to <a href="http://www.garageband.com/song?%7Cpe1%7CS8LTM0LdsaSjYViyamw"><span style="font-style: italic;">And He Stilled the Drumming:</span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This piece is dedicated to State Representative Vic Kohring, who has been working hard to end state funding for the arts, and even harder to foster hostile attitudes toward artists. I imagine a young man involved in the Native drumming renaissance. State funding which assisted his drumming group ends, and it folds. In his disappointment he turns to drugs. He's arrested by one of the police hired by funding taken from the state arts council. He then is sent to one of the privately owned prisons championed by Representative Kohring. As the young man beats a mournful pounding on the thick wall of his cell, the piece ends.</span><br /><br />As <a href="http://www.adn.com/matsu/story/399631.html">Vic's close friend Doug Bartko</a> told me at the time, sort of objecting to my treatment of Kohring, "Dumping on Vic is like kicking your puppy."Philip Mungerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6774888512752401212.post-79977199300755495282008-02-04T22:04:00.000-08:002008-02-04T22:13:31.922-08:00Fred James on the John Henry Browne February 1 US Court Filing<a style="font-family: verdana;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNJxqwls10pBWYtqcKlMYbQHfg2Ne89Sjf4UZyYT1xCHWBF6yShb86il4UJORSNhJXs9H_ydA6bAq18F6m8aRtR55K7sT9R6bV-qxCKOQ9-KOz-0aP8uaLS04FrLV-B_HnbrapW3ThKfr1/s1600-h/fred+and+ron.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 278px; height: 228px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNJxqwls10pBWYtqcKlMYbQHfg2Ne89Sjf4UZyYT1xCHWBF6yShb86il4UJORSNhJXs9H_ydA6bAq18F6m8aRtR55K7sT9R6bV-qxCKOQ9-KOz-0aP8uaLS04FrLV-B_HnbrapW3ThKfr1/s320/fred+and+ron.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5163373747697021938" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fred James</span> writes on last Friday's filing by Jonh Henry Browne on behalf of former Alaska Representative Vic Kohring:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> Well the day I've been waiting for has happened. The press has the JHB Motion and already at least one rag is spinning it shamefully against Vic...BUT FAILING to do so.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Have you read the stupid article</span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.anchoragepress.com/site/basicarticle.asp?ID=478"> by Brendan Kelley on <anchoragepress.com>?</anchoragepress.com></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> It has Wev Shea maintaining that JHB should have known in advance that Sedwick was married to Vic's political opponent, Sedwick's own wife! And calls it last minute showmanship! But Shea never admits that FEDERAL LAW DEMANDS that any judge declare even an APPEARANCE of a conflict and Sedwick did not!!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">We wondered why virtually all the motions JHB made were summarily dismissed by Sedwick, the change of venue, the "habit testimony," (Remember why I was there? Sedwick disallowed Leza and me and a legion of others to speak!!!), the opening of 'closed' hearings, no matter what the defense asked for, Sedwick vetoed. Now we have a reasonable explanation. It was payback time and Sedgwick thought he could get away with it! And if Sedwick claims he did not KNOW that Vic was his wife's major opponent, then he should be disbared for sheer stupidity!! It was a MAJOR hit on her career and salary!!! It was in all the newspaper and on TV. She fought tooth and nail with Vic and Leza and I witnessed it during the '98 Session Leza and I spent down in Juneau.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">For the last two months Vic and I have been wondering just how the statist press would wiggle and spin this motion. It's clear, once you understand what happened and the law, that Vic has Sedwick by the balls. If Sedwick sentences Vic without dealing with the motion, then an immediate appeal can note THAT vengeance to all the other charges. And when Sedwick comes before the judicial review his refusal to recuse himself will look all the worse. Plus private citizens can make charges against unfair judges. There will be a firestorm of them! And each one will CC the press. And I'll lead it if necessary if Sedwick doesn't recuse himself immediately.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Comments oh great political and LEGAL dude? Before you do I highly recommend reading the motion for yourself.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >posted by Fred James<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" ><br />photo of Fred James with Ron Paul last week in Washington state</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" ><br /></span>Philip Mungerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6774888512752401212.post-20575897723957050602007-11-06T21:08:00.000-08:002007-11-06T21:19:03.603-08:00In Defense of Steve Aufrecht's Humanity<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Philip Munger</span>: I've posted an essay about the the talk radio conversations today in Anchorage about Kohring trial blogs at my <a href="http://progressivealaska.blogspot.com/">new site</a>.<br /></span>Philip Mungerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6774888512752401212.post-51736474228077444872007-11-05T11:03:00.000-08:002007-11-05T11:36:32.105-08:00What Next?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_ENFRqz7cU41NVTFQVC5C0c6h3VIonKR-uHkalzgBvtlfnIByT9fAWPg7ALotaxmmX4jngTSTK2crBUm-ovyGqAHPPyS0yjSAVfQUfy6dFGfXUzW0WbTVjJ4gy6WuMNj27wMC6zWBEFET/s1600-h/VIC-TED+sign.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_ENFRqz7cU41NVTFQVC5C0c6h3VIonKR-uHkalzgBvtlfnIByT9fAWPg7ALotaxmmX4jngTSTK2crBUm-ovyGqAHPPyS0yjSAVfQUfy6dFGfXUzW0WbTVjJ4gy6WuMNj27wMC6zWBEFET/s320/VIC-TED+sign.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129434612026113618" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana;">With the conviction of Vic Kohring in Anchorage Federal court last Thursday, speculation about new indictments ratcheted back up to pre-Kohring trial levels. Pete Weyrauch's trial date hasn't been set yet, but will probably be sometime in late Spring, 2008.<br /><br />Ex-Veco top executives and top GOP pump primers, Bill Allen and Rick Smith</span> <span style="font-family: verdana;">have testified they pled guilty to bribing <a href="http://senate.legis.state.ak.us/coy.php">State Senator John Cowdery</a>, former State Senator Ben Stevens, and - it appears - U.S. Senator Ted Stevens. The Ben Stevens and John Cowdery indictments are probably due any day now.<br /><br />A name which kept coming up in the Kohring trial was that of Frank Murkowski's ex-Chief of Staff, Jim Clark. This appears to be chiefly due to Clark's role as liaison between Veco, the major producers, and the administration of ex-Governor Frank Murkowski, during the 2006 special sessions of the Alaska Legislature. And Murkowski himself has been suggested as a possible target of the next layer of indictments.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.adn.com/news/politics/alaska_ear/story/9430099p-9342285c.html">Anecdotes</a> about <a href="http://www.adn.com/opinion/comment/story/9430106p-9342275c.html">Vic Kohring as mooch</a> keep on surfacing. Michael Carey's video summation of his trial impressions is available at the Anchorage Daily News web site's video niche. I'll be on Steve Heimel's <a href="http://aprn.org/category/toa/">Talk of Alaska</a> program Tuesday at 10:00 a.m., with <a href="http://www.whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com/">Steve Aufrecht</a>, talking about aspects of the trial's coverage.<br /></span>Philip Mungerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6774888512752401212.post-60755495331487654452007-11-04T01:45:00.000-07:002007-11-04T01:55:41.353-08:00Fred puts down some more thoughts on the verdict<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fred James</span>: Aloha! I’m STILL in Anchorage trying to get out on Delta. I’ve tried twice but both times the plane was filled to the brim. In the meantime:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The question “Why did that jury convict Big Innocent Vic of three of the four charges? This iniquity has been warping around my tiny brain ever since I heard the court clerk read out the verdict.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Last night I tossed and turned thinking many thoughts. Certainly, like any HUMAN enterprise, there were probably many reasons they capitulated to the State.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Here are a few:<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">a) The jury lived in Alaska like everyone else for 14 months absorbing the Anchorage Daily New’s downright evil reportage on Vic, day after day repeating the supposed felonies he was alleged to have done. Channel Two in Anchorage was probably worse because moving images are much more dramatic.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">b) The anti-government climate (Which on the whole is a good thing!) was exasperated by a flurry of corrupt politicians being caught in this giant FBI sting and FOUND GUILTY. Vic was lumped into this mess.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">c) The government lawyers exaggerated and spoke about allegations as facts over and over despite John Henry Browne’s careful questions that demolished important aspects of most of them. e.g., getting BOTH Smith and Allen to admit that there was No loan, No job, No truck and that Rick Smith had come up with the idea of giving a job to Vic’s nephew, NOT VIC!!<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">d) The judge DENIED the defense motion for change of venue so that Vic’s jury would be RELATIVELY unbiased.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">e) We could have pulled out twelve years of Vic’s public writings that were published in many of the major newspapers in Alaska. We could have shown that he believes in private enterprise and would VOTE for private enterprise...ALL private enterprises and AGAINST taxation. Then we could have matched his voting record against what he wrote! It would be IDENTICAL!!!!!<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">f) The judge also DENIED JHB’s major tool to show the government’s basic thrust in this farce was totally wrong. What was that? The government had a video of Vic talking to Bill Allen in a hotel in Juneau. At this time Allen gave Vic some money which Allen ADMITED under cross to be a present for Vic’s daughter which is EXACTLY WHAT VIC HAD MAINTAINED FROM THE START. The grainy black & white video was widely condemned as PROOF Vic was on the take. Vic told him at the time politely: “Thank you. If there is anything I can do to help you, let me know.” THAT line the government was convinced was proof Vic was VECO”S bought and paid for tool. Also the government came up with the fact that Vic was friendly with and voted for most VECO desired bills.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">JHB was not ALLOWED by the judge to counter this with all important testimony. Let’s suppose for a minute that the judge had said, “Sure bring on as many witnesses as you like to make your point.” We had a list of over 30 people who were willing to testify that Vic’s mantra, a statement he said to everyone was, and had been for over twelve years, “Thank you. If there is anything I can do to help you, let me know.” Vic had said this line in his radio ads, his print ads, his newsletters and to many, many people over the years. In fact he not only SAID this line frequently we could have proved he said it SINCERELY, followed by deeds. I had a man ready to tell the tale of how he was doing some plaster work in his home when Vic turned up in a shirt and tie at his door campaigning. Here’s my friend, all covered with plaster and paint, a tool belt on, opening the door to a 6’7” giant stranger looking down on him. Vic went through his pitch about free markets, less gover</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">nment and no new taxes and finished with his almost patented line about offering help. Then Vic said “I know a lot about this kind of work. Can I help you?” He then took off his coat and spent two hours helping my friend finish the interior work. My friend was absolutely astounded. He had found an honest politician who did what he promised! He told me he would vote for him and then did, over and over again.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Now this kind of story is no exception. When calling down that list of Vic supporters I bumped into human after human who had identical or like stories about Vic. How he always finished most conversations with is his line, “Thank you. If there is anything I can do to help you, let me know.”<br /> </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">We could have waltzed in at least 30 witnesses to say these things most sincerely. We hoped to the point where the government would have stipulated that this was indeed his constant line and followed through with it. It would also have placed the image of Vic into the jury’s minds as one whale of a nice human being.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Then we could have brought in government records of his voting statistics. They would prove that he consistently voted AGAINST any new taxes and favored ALL PRIVATE enterprise, not Big Oil alone. We would have paraded in man after man who would have said more or less, “I called up Vic who took the time to understand my small private business’s problems with government and he offered to help me any way he could, just like his line in his ads. Then he followed through and GAVE ME THE HELP. Then Leza who had flown up here to Anchorage at her own expense to testify would have said something like: “I worked for him one session in Juneau. He helped EVERYONE, Even people OUTSIDE his district because he regarded his role of lawmaker more as ombudsman that creator of new taxes and bureaucracies. She could have told the jury, “I saw him with my own eyes, time after time say goodbye to people with his “I’ll help you as much as I can.” line. I witnessed this too.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Now suppose we could have been ALLOWED to demonstrate this realty to the jury. Then they would have had the KNOWLEDGE that Vic’s line to VECO head Bill Allen in that video was once again the same line he gave everyone. AND THAT VECO WAS JUST ONE OF MANY PEOPLE IN BUSIINESS HE SAID THAT TOO.....AND MEANT!!!! We could have demonstrated this easily with MANY, many witnesses.<br /> </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Then the jury would have debated the alleged offenses in a far different light!</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">But JHB, though no fault of his own, was denied this by one Judge John Sedwick.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">These are the reasons Vic was found guilty of three of the four counts. I think he did make a mistake; he foolishly allowed thug Bill Allen to convince him he was an actual friend and that the gifts he gave him were sincere. Since the government showed no direct, hard evidence that VIC ACTUALLY DID anything in return for that gift, all we have is the word of a Bill Allen.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The substance of my criticism is that the jury was not allowed the FULL CONTEXT of the situation. Suppose for example that you were a person on a jury. You are on a murder case. The prosecution has several witnesses who say they saw the defendant pull out a pistol and shoot the deceased twice in the chest, “cool and easy as if he were taking a cold drink of lemonade on a warm sunny day.” You learn that the defendant did not even know the murdered guy. The defendant admits to shooting the man. The government suggests that the defendant is a hit man. The defense lawyer asks for permission to put on witnesses and is denied.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">You vote guilty. Only later do you read on blogs that the defendant was an Army trained marksman, that he was in a crime infested area of a large city when his car broke down and the deceased was coming at him with a very large knife with a crazed look and scream. All the defendant did was draw his .45 and ably defend himself and his wife and two kids in the car!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Oh Oh! Too late! The government has already put him to death!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">I believe Vic has ample grounds for a serious appeal. I have just given you SOME of them. I hope he will. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Aloha Nui Loa</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">IL Fettucinni</span>Philip Mungerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6774888512752401212.post-88123848650683505242007-11-01T22:55:00.000-07:002007-11-01T23:08:58.647-07:00Week Two - Day Four - Fred talks about Vic's options<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fred James</span>: It is the evening of November 1, hours after Vic was found guilty on three of the four counts. The good news is that the one count he was found not guilty on was the most grievous of the four counts. And there are a number of good reasons for a solid appeal. Whether or not Vic decides to make an appeal will be done in about three months, after the sentencing which is scheduled for early February</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> next.<br /><br />The grounds for appeal might be the fact that the local media inundated Alaskans with highly negative publicity almost on a daily basis for the last ten months, putting Vic’s picture on the cover of the ADN or at the Start of the TV news, constantly , repeating the words, “raid, corruption, guilty, money changing hands” etc. which tended to bias the jury pool, the refusal by the judge to allow the trial to be conducted elsewhere, the fact that 20 potential testimonies by local people including Leza and myself were denied by the judge. We could have shown that Vic was constantly using the phrase “If there is anything you need, please feel free to call me for help.” a phrase which the government lawyers twisted to mean, “I’ll be happy to do your bidding oh corrupt VECO Crooks if you pay me money”. And a particularly open ended FBI video where Bill Allen, the head crook of VECO handed Vic some money. How much money was never established because it could have been five dollars or five million. Bill Allen SAID it was so and so amount and the government kept repeating that as if it were true.<br /><br />As Vic Faced the jury this afternoon he began to hear the three guilty verdicts and one not guilty, he kept his composure and bravely kept up his head. The judge asked the government attorneys if Vic should be allowed to stay on his present free status until the sentencing in early February, they quickly agreed as they saw no flight risk.. So that was ordered. Vic can mump about without electronic monitoring or checking in ever morning or any of that nonsense. As one blogger put it, “They missed the sharks in this scandal, and caught a minnow.”<br /><br />I believe there is a very healthy anti-government, anti-politician attitude in the public right now which is one reason Ron Paul is gaining so much ground. But the other side of this is that the one politician who IS NOT a statist Vahrule, the one pol who has an almost pure libertarian political philosophy and who is not afraid to write about it in his opinion pieces, a large, tall target named Vic has been drawn down with the ACTUAL corrupt politicians as if he were one of them.<br /><br />Recently two politicians were found guilty of corruption along with the “VECO Crooks.” I believe this jury simply lumped Vic in with the others. After all how do you tell if a politician is lying? His lips are moving. I have always felt this way about Rulers. I have always agreed with the great American political philosopher Woody Allen. Allen told his audience once, “Everyone knows that politicians are one rung lower than child molesters.” Vic has been lumped in.<br /><br />In movies and TV shows (including Boston Legal) when the accused is about to find out the verdict he usually is required to stand and his lawyer with him. But in this federal courtroom, the judge received the written verdict and handed it directly to his court clerk who promptly read it! No one stood. But if Vic and his lawyer had been required to stand, I who sat directly behind them for almost two full weeks would have stood too. And if the judge had told me I did not have to stand, (Like Spock in Star Trek) I would have said in a loud voice, “Sir, I stand with my friend.”<br /><br />A friend called me on the phone tonight, a man who I used to go shooting with occasionally in Alaska in the last 25 years. He told me most sincerely, “After watching that debacle for the last two weeks it turned me into a total libertarian.”<br /><br />Oddly, except for denying the change of venue motion and several small items, Judge John Sedwick was the first judge in a criminal court I’ve ever seen who seemed to be really attempting to conduct a fair trial!<br /><br />Vic is down but not out. I saw a number of news photographers tell him to keep up the fight. Last week I observed at least one reporter attempt to twist virtually everything Vic said. I read one blogger who admitted Vic was truly a polite, friendly man but then went on to write that this manner HAD TO BE A CON! I’ve known the man since 1992 and KNOW he’s exactly the polite, gentle giant that his attorney once called him.<br /><br />I saw one person in this charade say one thing on the radio and then literally lie to Vic’s face the next day by telling Vic the opposite. I observed government attorneys speak over and over to the jury about specific sums of money that Bill Allen, the crooked center of all this mess, merely TOLD the government he gave to Vic. They spoke as if it were proven fact. So allegations became fact, rumor became truth. Black is white and Big Brother wins another.<br /><br />George Orwell is laughing in his grave as the state rules.<br /><br />Aloha Nui Loa,<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">IL Fettucinni</span></span>Philip Mungerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6774888512752401212.post-21750629201118867092007-11-01T16:16:00.000-07:002007-11-01T16:27:42.739-07:00Week Two - Day Four - Verdict!<span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" >Philip Munger</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">: At about 1:30 this afternoon the jury in the Vic Kohring GOP Alaska legislative </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">corruption trial </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.adn.com/news/politics/fbi/kohring/story/9418965p-9335214c.html">returned verdicts on all four counts</a><span style="font-family:verdana;">. Kohring was found not guilty on the most serious charge of corruption. The charges of bribery, attempted extortion and conspiracy to commit extortion went the other way. I was unable to be at the Federal Courthouse at all this afternoon because of work. I didn't think the jury would reach a verdict until tomorrow, but I did predict the results fairly closely in my earlier post today.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I called </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" >Fred James</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> a few minutes ago. He intends to catch up after he gets back home in Bellingham, Washington tomorrow morning. I've got to get ready for a concert I'm in at Dimond High School this evening, and practice my tuba, so I'll be catching up on this more tomorrow.</span>Philip Mungerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6774888512752401212.post-65078953873541211332007-11-01T09:42:00.001-07:002007-11-01T10:09:26.235-07:00Week Two - Day Four - Thoughts...<span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Philip Munger</span>: I got together with <span style="font-weight: bold;">Fred James</span> to create this blog as a unique way to approach the new communication frontier of trial blogging. I had hoped we would be able to do something more akin to the live blogging, pioneered by <a href="http://www.firedoglake.com/">firedoglake</a> during the Irving Libby trials last spring. That didn't happen. But this experience has been worthwhile.<br /><br />I'm hoping to widen the discussions carried here before Fred and I move on. One area of interest to me is why all this happened to Vic Kohring, Pete Kott, Bruce Weyrauch, Tim Anderson, Bill Allen and Rick Smith. The votes were for sale because lobbyists have such heavy influence in so many aspects of political life, especially on the state and national levels. I'm a champion of voter reform, so I'm hoping to bring interviews with people involved in attempting to clean up our state elections into a couple posts here, possibly early this coming week.<br /></span>Philip Mungerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6774888512752401212.post-19299173595991191382007-11-01T06:04:00.000-07:002007-11-01T09:42:17.816-07:00Week Two - Day Four - Waiting on the Jury...<span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Philip Munger</span>: Today will be the first full day of jury deliberation. I'm finally going to make a mild prediction - a mixed verdict tomorrow afternoon. They'll be hung on the most serious charge of bribery, and convict on the other three.<br /><br />Meanwhile, wacky comments interspersed with contemplation and a bit of sanity at the <a href="http://www.adn.com/news/politics/fbi/kohring/story/9418965p-9332977c.html">ADN article</a> on yesterday's summations:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The Only Honest Politician Destroyed</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Vic Kohring is the only fully honest politician I have met, but his very lack of guile and simple, trusting character has made him an easy mark for unscrupulous thugs -- on both sides of the law</span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">no real proof....</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I dont see any real proof of bribes. I see a man asking someone for a loan, but not a bribe. Who says that you should ask family before anyone else for a loan? In the recording I saw and is on this ADN site, Allen clearly states/asks.....is this a loan? Vic answers "yes"......<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">honestly dumb</span><br />Kohring knew he wasn't supposed to be taking money--even for gifts for his child. But that's all crap anyway. How many times have you had someone offer you hundreds for an easter egg hunt. Honest to goodness if this jury comes out with a not guilty verdict I'm going to be sick.</span><br /><br />Steve Aufrecht will be part of the panel meeting today at noon at the Federal Building Cafeteria (far end - a sort of solarium room - about journalism and the ongoing political corruption trials. I can't be there, as I'm teaching at UAA at that hour. <a href="http://www.whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com/">Steve's most recent post</a> talks about Eric Musser, the Kohring aide Allen wanted disposed of for being an honest whistleblower.<br /><br />And - I've been waiting for further verification on this before I posted my own comment. Toward the end of closing arguments, the courtroom must have been as full as it gets - SRO. Standing quite close to the exit door was wingnut talk radio host and big oil apologist, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Dan Fagan</span>. Seeing him reminded me that the last time I called his show was to correct him as he he was slandering Vic Kohring's wife, Tatiana, on his show. He was spewing a line about mail order brides from Russia, and saying that Kohring had brought her back from Russia because of, of what? Fagan was implying that Kohring must be lacking something sexually to have to go to Russia to find a woman who could love him. This from the most sexually insecure radio personality in the history of Anchorage radio.<br /><br />I called the show, to explain to Fagan that Kohring met his wife in Anchorage, where - like so many Russians I know - she had come to live because she knew fellow Russians here. When I told Fagan this, he started shouting at me, saying "You're flat-out wrong! That's a lie!" He hung up before I could reply. Well, Dan - you, who left the courthouse before anybody you couldn't hang up on could get close to your unfit, pathetic body - here's my reply -<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Screw You!</span><br /></span>Philip Mungerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6774888512752401212.post-79179987636404073952007-10-31T14:04:00.000-07:002007-10-31T17:31:15.531-07:00Week Two - Day Two - Closing Arguments<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Philip Munger</span>: There were over 70 people present in Courtroom 3 of the Federal Courthouse in Anchorage for this morning's closing arguments in the corruption case against ex-GOP legislator Vic Kohring. It was the seventh day of the trial.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Washington DC-based US Attorney Ed Sullivan</span> opened with his only cogent presentation of the trial. It was focused and concentrated. He gave an overall assessment of the 2006 special sessions of the Alaska Legislature at which Kohring has been alleged to have conducted most of his illegal acts. He named the major oil companies backing Veco - Conoco-Phillips, Exxon and British Petroleum - something that hadn't been done in the prosecution's opening arguments.<br /></span><span class="on down" style="display: block;" id="formatbar_Bold" title="Bold" onmouseover="ButtonHoverOn(this);" onmouseout="ButtonHoverOff(this);" onmouseup="" onmousedown="CheckFormatting(event);FormatbarButton('richeditorframe', this, 3);ButtonMouseDown(this);"></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sullivan interspersed audio and video surveillance excerpts highlighting times Kohring took advantage of his knowledge he could milk ex-Veco CEO Bill Allen for money or favors, in exchange for co-operation, rather than, as Allen put it "going crazy" on him. Sullivan persuasively painted Kohring as a somewhat cynical opportunist who squeezed Veco so he wouldn't "screw" them. Sullivan asked the jury "How do you think Bill Allen would have felt if he knew' - Sullivan pointed to Kohring - "HE was playing him?"<br /><br />Sullivan proposed that Allen would have given Kohring more money had there been a way to do that. But he couldn't, as Allen and Rick Smith were aware of growing scrutiny by the Alaska Public Office Commission, and by the media. Sullivan tied the progression of payments to Kohring with his subsequent fealty to Allen on particular, if not particularly large, issues through the special sessions.<br /><br />Sullivan moved on to the matter of the job provided by Veco to Kohring's nephew. He asked "Do you think Veco was interested in Aaron [Kohring] because he was a basketball star or passed his algebra exam? No! He was hired because he was Vic Kohring's nephew." Sullivan then put a chart up on the screen - DAMN, I thought we'd be able to get through this trial without a Powerpoint presentation! -<br />that compared Kohring's acts to elements of the indictment.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">John Henry Browne</span> was at his best when talking to the jury about the scope, limitations and responsibilities of their duty as jurors. Others in the audience were impressed by the way he centered on this in his opening. Palmer attorney John Davies told me afterward he was moved to tears, as was my co-blogger, Fred James. I wasn't. But Davies was one of my favorite professors when I returned to college for a year in the 1980s - he was my business law prof. He's working now as Chief of Staff for Wes Keller, the man Sarah Palin appointed to take Vic Kohring's seat in the legislature.<br /><br />Browne was at his worst when attempting to recount what he considered to be egregious prosecutorial errors. I caught Browne on nine Bullshit moments, where he either told a flat-out lie - "we know that Veco spent $400,000 remodeling Ted Stevens' house" - or when he chastised the Feds bringing up events during the course of the trial that had nothing to do with the charging documents. Give me a break. The Feds brought up the pickup truck Kohring tried to borrow or rent from Allen only because Kohring brings it up on a recorded conversation. But in yesterday's examination by Browne of Bob Hall, the Big Lake firworks magnate, Hall brought up a pickup truck he loaned to kohring for the 2006 campaign. Browne brought it up this morning as if the Feds had been harping away on this. Browne brought this false flag issue up three times.<br /><br />Browne's low-tech charts on jury responsibilities and jury instructions went from simple - NOT GUILTY MEANS NOT PROVEN - in 140 pt. helvetica, to a two-frame poster giving Jury Instruction #13, that couldn't possibly have been read by anybody more than five feet away from the poster. Where's Ross Perot when you really need him? Browne ended up with another posterboard - BE YOUR WORD. He left it behind, on its tripod stand, as Bottini came up to deliver the Fed's final summation.<br /><br />Bottini used no notes, as he quickly addressed each of Browne's points from memory. He attacked Browne's contention of a known cost for the Stevens house renovations. He attacked Browne's characterization of Bill Allen as a sleazy lobbyist, by pointing out "Sleazy lobbyist, huh? Didn't stop this guy from dinner with this sleazy lobbyist, taking this sleazy lobbyist's money, eating with him, and getting the sleazy lobbyist to pay for it." <br /><br />Regarding Browne's contention that the jury must consider the possibility that Allen just plain made up the earlier, six-to-seven-hundred dollar, unrecorded payments to Kohring, Bottini laughed, asking "If Allen is making this stuff up about earlier payments, don't you think he'd do a better job?" Bottini closed, saying "Kohring knew what it took to get money out of this guy. He turned Bill Allen into a human ATM machine. Mr. Kohring traded on his public office. That's all he had to trade."<br /><br />Bottini was finished, but he looked around, saw Browne's posters against the clerk's desk, picked one up, and put it on the tripod stand. It was the one that said "NOT GUILTY MEANS NOT PROVEN." He took a felt pen, and scratched out the "NOT"s. Turned to Browne and Kohring, smiled a bit, concluding the proceedings.<br /></span>Philip Mungerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6774888512752401212.post-64958344119490656442007-10-31T07:58:00.000-07:002007-10-31T08:16:07.951-07:00Second Week - Wednesday Morning - Prelude<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: verdana;">Philip Munger</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">: Closing arguments today. I heard each side wants about four hours, which is hard to believe. But it looks to me that the prosecution has presented the information they needed to show to prove their case. Barely. But they need to avoid the clutter that diluted this simple matter in their presentation of the prosecution's case last week.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The defense needs to get lucky. Vic Kohring's Russian good luck folk charm and John Henry Browne's elegant but forceful presentation of Kohring as victim might have already lost their novelty and luster.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Last week I mentioned the feelings some of us seemed to share after watching the video of Kohring asking Bill Allen for money, and of Kohring accepting some of it from Bill Allen and Rick Smith. I felt, as I said at the time, that:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">There was an enormous gulf in the way he verbalized - so cleanly, so utterly non-profane - and the sleaziness of what he was actually, and to observers, obviously doing. I think that bothered me even more than the contrasts between his faux guile and Allen's overly done earthiness</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">But </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">Anchorage Daily News</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> columnist, and longtime observer of the Alaskan soul, Michael Carey, has distilled his feelings about that incident, and the overall sleazily slick feeling of Kohring's </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">modus operendi</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> quintissentially in his recent ADN column, which I'll </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.adn.com/opinion/comment/story/9416747p-9329427c.html">quote here in entirety</a><span style="font-family: verdana;">:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">The FBI audio and video surveillance tapes of Vic Kohring may prove he is a criminal. Or maybe not. Let the jury decide.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">The Vic Kohring on tape with Veco executives Bill Allen and Rick Smith is incapable of adult conversation. He is a supplicant. Asking for money. Or a truck. Or a job for his nephew. Or, for God's sake, a hamburger. And always -- always -- for approval and sympathy.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">Sometimes his search for approval is accompanied by bragging about his conservative pro-business beliefs. Sometimes his search for sympathy is accompanied by complaints about his health.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">But in every conversation, Vic is a cloying mixture of neediness and manipulation. Vic's enemies -- and some friends -- have portrayed him as an air-headed innocent. He's not. He is blatantly calculating, if primitive, in attempting to satisfy his needs.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">On the telephone or in the infamous Baranof Suite 604, Vic follows a careful script that's an elevated form of panhandling. He starts with breezy ingratiating chatter, usually punctuated by recitations of how hard he is working, makes a few comments about the political scenes, and then reaches the nut of the call: Give me something.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">If Vic Kohring could sing, his signature song would be The Temptations' "Ain't Too Proud to Beg."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">When Vic asks for help, for example the "loan" to pay off his credit card bill, he's also reciprocal. Hey fellas, anything I can do for you? I'll be your lobbyist. I'll influence other legislators. What do you need? For Vic Kohring, politeness is a form of currency. He seems to believe that by saying "thank you" he has traded equally.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">If Allen and Smith weren't trained psychologists, they were smart enough to understand Vic's haplessness and dependency. Hence Allen's belief Vic will "kiss our ass."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">How could a man like Vic Kohring rise so far in politics?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">Well, give him credit: He campaigned relentlessly and repeatedly told his constituents what they wanted to hear about less government and lower taxes. Things like, in a Daily News interview, "The welfare situation is an area that's gotten way out of control. Too many freebies are taking away incentive, personal satisfaction and control of one's destiny."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">And he certainly was polite.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">He also was lucky. Vic always was in the majority while in the House of Representatives. If he had been in the minority, he would have remained a zealous conservative back-bencher of no consequence. As a long-serving member of the Republican majority, he could demand positions of influence.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">And did.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">His Republican colleagues made him chairman of the House Oil and Gas Committee. Then wouldn't send him the Petroleum Production Tax bill because they feared he would kill it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">Speaker John Harris and his colleagues should be ashamed of themselves. Vic Kohring shouldn't have been trusted to run anything, let alone the Oil and Gas Committee. I wouldn't trust him to pick up the ice cream for a church social. To buy it, he would have to bum money from a lobbyist.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">As a legislator, Vic displayed minimal brain power and an unwillingness to learn. He mastered a few conservative slogans before he entered the Legislature and that was the extent of his knowledge. He was prepared to give the oil companies hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks because he self-righteously and piously believed oil industry good, government bad.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">I have watched the Alaska Legislature for 40 years. Vic Kohring is the only lawmaker I have ever seen who learned nothing during his years of service. He was the same person the day he departed as the day he entered.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">You might look at the FBI tapes of Vic Kohring in action and decide Vic doesn't belong in jail. But I don't think anybody, including Vic's lawyer John Henry Browne, could look at those tapes and conclude Vic Kohring ever belonged in the Alaska Legislature</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span>Philip Mungerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6774888512752401212.post-87950349711921886232007-10-30T20:53:00.000-07:002007-10-30T21:00:41.984-07:00Fred Catches Up - Monday & Tuesday<span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fred James</span>:<br /><br />Aloha All,<br /> <br />Last night was the night I SHOULD have written this but I was so tired I could not think straight. So today’s report will cover Vic’s court action for Monday and today.<br /><br />Monday morning I walked into the courtroom about four minutes late and I heard Vic’s attorney John Henry Brown (JHB) still interrogating Bill Allen, the former owner of VECO. The first words I heard were, “Would you have said the word ‘fuck or motherfucker’ 38 times if you knew a camera was on you?"<br /><br />Allen said "no." JHB was pointing out one of the many differences between Allen and Vic. In all the time Vic is on camera, in videos the FBI made, he is professional, polite and does not use foul language. In fact, in one video he QUOTES somebody using the word “shit” to describe something. Then he apologized to the man he was talking to, totally unaware that he too was being taped by the government.<br /><br />Because in fact Vic IS a REAL GENTLEMAN. The government’s own tapes proved THAT.<br /><br />Once again Bill Allen was a most uncooperative witness WHEN he spoke to JHB. He could not hear; he repeatedly asked for JHB’s questions to be repeated, he put his own hearing aids on; he asked for new government provided earphones; he could not remember, (Until JHB showed him the exact page and line where he did in fact say something.) he disputed simple questions and then asked for another earphone. But When Allen was crossed by government attorneys suddenly he could hear every question clearly and answered promptly. His memory and hearing seemed to undergo a remarkable metamorphosis when the government was talking to him. But will the ADN or Channel Two tell you this?<br /><br />Again, JHB’s questions forced Allen to admit that the very government attorneys questioning him would be the men who would recommend or NOT recommend a lighter sentence for Allen when he came up before the judge. Remember, if you are reading this blog for the first time, Bill Allen and Rick Smith were the “VECO Crooks” who have both pleaded guilty to a mass of charges involving corrupting and bribing politicians in Alaska. They were taped by the FBI many times and their language was most foul.<br /><br />Let’s take a break for a minute and let me describe two of the principles in this drama, John Henry Brown, (JHB), Vic’s expensive lawyer and the judge, John Sedwick. Brown is tall, 6’6” and medium to trim build. He has brown hair with slight blond streaks and quite the charmer. He’s fast on his feet and unfailingly polite to all, the judge, his opposition, Vic, me, all who meet him. I have watched him perform now for a week and a half. He is a superb actor, coming off as a master speaker and interrogator. He will occasionally turn around when he is questioning a witness and wink at someone in the audience. He smiles and appears supremely confident. I think in this case he is facing a duo of government attorneys who are both ill prepared and have virtually no REAL case.<br /><br />Yesterday the judge became very angry at JHB for allowing the press to see a little piece of paper that was taken from Bill Allen while he was on the stand. It was a ”Cheat sheet” according to Allen that he had written to remind him of some of the names and dates he would likely be asked about. This is of course definitely NOT ALLOWED in court and the paper was first taken by US government attorney Joe Bottini and at JHB’s insistence, given to JHB where the matter was dropped. JHB stood his ground. The judge literally yelled at him, “Why did you DARE show that paper to the press?” JHB asserted in a more than casual voice, “Because your honor, I believe that in America we should have open trials.” as if to mock the judge for not believing in openness. Outside the courtroom he is mobbed by the press and he handles them like a benighted jury. Today a female reporter asked him how he felt about his case. JHB responded “Wonderful. The Government has FAILED to make a case!” The reported pushed, “But I saw the video, Allen gave Vic money right on the tape.” “Yes you did,” responded JHB, “That we got Allen to admit was a gift for his daughter’s girl scout uniform and her Easter Egg Hunt. Who are you going to believe? Allen, a man who has pleaded guilty to corrupting Alaska officials or Vic who has lied to no one? And would you make an important life decision basing it on the word of Bill Allen?”<br /> <br />Judge John Sedwick is very thin, white haired and white bearded. He frequently looks angry sitting up there on his throne. For the most part I believe he has conducted the trial fairly, showing no particular bias to either side. It has always bothered me that US government judges always refer to the OTHER US GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES in the room, the US attorneys who prosecute the case as “The Government” as if he’s somehow distant and separate from them. He’s part and parcel of the government mechanism and in most cases shares the government statist ideas as well as gets paid by us the tax victims, just as the US attorneys do. But given THAT fact, he has done a fair job; if anything he appears to give JHB more than the US attorneys in terms of granting objections.<br /><br />I believe the case was won with a question to Bill Allen from JHB. After rigorous but extremely polite questioning from JHB to the government’s two main witnesses, JHB got them both to admit that three main charges in the case simply were false. The government alleged that Allen had bribed Vic with money and Vic accepted it, that Vic had been offered a job by Allen, and a loan from Allen for $17,000 dollars. In low voices, they each admitted that there was no loan, they had never given him a job and the money that had changed hands so dramatically in the video was not even for Vic. It was for his daughter. They even admitted that Vic had called them two weeks later to inform them that the girl scout uniform had been bought and the Easter Egg hunt had gone well with their donated money. And to add insult to injury to the government’s case, they admitted Vic VOTED AGAINST the bill they wanted him to push!!!!!!!!!!!<br /><br />The victory was later cemented by a video the government put on. It was a case where the FBI has wired up a lackey who pretended to by Vic’s friend. They had dinner together. In this taped dinner Vic was cool, professional, and looked great. He made the very points that he has made all along which make him look like a victim in this case. For the life of me I don’t understand WHY the US government did this. They put on a video which not only did NOT make THEIR case in any way it made Vic look very professional and honest!!! That video where he ate with an old family friend (SOB FBI STOOL) Frank Prewitt, was the icing on this legal cake.<br /><br />The Government persisted. They next dragged out a young woman FBI Special Agent Mary Jo Herrett, a computer techie for the government. She had been involved in taking Vic’s computer apart, dubbing the hard drive onto FBI memory banks and then examining the contents. Was this the smoking gun? Was the government about to take down Vic? Special Agent Mary Jo Herrett’s efforts at who knows what cost to the US taxpayer victims yielded two documents, one a “Red carpet List” which listed those people Vic considered important to him. BTW, I’m proud to be #6 on his list of “friends.” The other being an e-mail setting up a meeting with two people. Both amounted to zip, nada, zero. By this time it was obvious that the government was scraping the bottom of the barrel and had no real case.<br /><br />Of course the largest local newspaper, the Anchorage Daily New and Channel Two, both news outlets which savaged Vic over and over again for months, did not say a peep about these obvious victories. And wont! And when Vic wins they will have snide comments about having a slick lawyer who got him off on a technicality when in fact almost any good lawyer could have done the same job. the government was THAT bad at its case. This is not to demean JHB in any way. He was masterful all week.<br /><br />The government rested its case yesterday.<br /><br />This morning JHB announced to the judge that he would NOT be putting Vic on the stand because he believed the government itself had brought out all the facts showing Vic to be not guilty. But he did have two witnesses. The first was Vic’s nephew Aaron Kohring. 19 year old Aaron walked into the courtroom wearing a clean but old sweater, his shoulders appearing to be about four feet wide. He’s small for an average Kohring, only about 6’4”. But he played football and basketball at Palmer High School and gained statewide recognition for both sports. Several colleges recruited him but he decided to go to the University of Alaska and study petroleum engineering. He made an ideal witness for Vic. Young, super polite, just like his uncle, tall and strong. He was straight forward and totally honest in all his answers to both JHB and the government. His testimony was short, merely showing how he knew nothing about any corrupt deals his uncle may or may not have made in his behalf.<br /><br />More important, the government asked him nothing which he could not answer quickly and with dispatch. Aaron’s testimony was another loss for the government because they could not make him look deceitful or show that anything illegal took place.<br /><br />The last Defense witness was Vic’s long time friend Robert Hall. Hall walked slowly to the witness stand wearing an old plaid shirt. He looked very Valley but when he began talking we learned he had a law degree, many businesses, one very well known throughout Alaska, “Gorilla Fireworks,” . Robert Hall was there to give personal testimony to the fact that Vic had NOT fired Eric Musser when Musser had worked for Vic as an aide. This was to show Bill Allen lied when he alleged that he told Vic to fire him and that Vic did!<br /><br />Again the victory with this witness went to the Defense!<br /><br />The government came up with one final witness. That witness was an employee of VECO who had been responsible for hiring Aaron Kohring for a summer internship. The government had charged Vic with getting that job for him... illegally using his position as a state representative to do it. That employer told JHB, “I believe Aaron did a wonderful job for us.’ That statement was wonderful to hear from a witness the government had placed there hoping to impugn Vic. Instead the last words to the jury were that Vic’s nephew was a great worker!!!<br /><br />With this the jury was dismissed for the day and we learned that we should have jury instructions and the summations tomorrow. This case could go to the jury as early as tomorrow noon! Then we wait!<br /><br />My prediction?<br /><br />Vic will be found NOT GUILTY on all charges.<br /><br />Finally, a good friend, a man who is well read in philosophy and physics wrote me an e-mail which I would like to quote briefly. He has read the mainstream press and watched the collectivist Channel Two. He has also read this blog. He wrote this about Vic’s trial:<br /><br />Aside from watching the WTC collapse, this is the most profound, in-my-face evil that I have ever witnessed in human affairs. Instead of thousands of remote strangers being immolated by Allah worshipers, this is a single man being subjected to slow, systematic torture and destruction by government worshipers.<br /><br />And like that day on September 11, this travesty is making me feel a little dirty for merely being the same species as the prosecutors, witnesses, newspapermen, and genuinely bribed politicians.<br /><br />My heart is with you and your lonely battle against these evil people, and I felt it was time to say "thanks".<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">IL Fettucinni</span></span>Philip Mungerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6774888512752401212.post-8884936778585380702007-10-30T12:09:00.000-07:002007-10-30T12:20:54.386-07:00Week Two - Day Two - Morning<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: verdana;">Philip Munger</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">: I had to leave at about 10:25 a.m. to get ready to teach at UAA this morning and early afternoon.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">The defense presented two witnesses, Aaron Kohring and Robert Hall. The young Kohring - 19 years old - is Vic Kohring's nephew who was hired by Veco for the summer of 2006, to work in their intern program for colleges students who are majoring in engineering. I've been following this bright kid since he was a junior at Palmer High School, and know a lot of his friends and class mates. He projected well on the stand. Even if he didn't technically qualify for the program, he's the sort of kid who most employers would eagerly hire. He was followed by Big Lake fireworks magnate and right wing political activist Robert Hall. Hall testified about the length and depth of his relationship with Kohring, which dates back to Dimond High School, when both played in Jim Parcell's excellent symphonic band, and graduated together - in 1976.</span><br /><br />Hall, no matter what one thinks of his politics, is one of the most fascinating people in the Mat-Su Valley. His testimony didn't help Kohring's case much, but Prosecutor Sullivan's cross examination was fairly hapless, as Sullivan walked himself into one minefield after another, illustrating amply the adage "Don't ask a question to somebody on the stand unless you know how he will answer."<br /><br />The defense then rested its case. As I left, the prosecution was preparing to present a CH2M Hill employee regarding aspects of the hire of Aaron Kohring at Veco in 2006. The afternoon, which I might have to skip, will probably be taken up with jury instructions prior to closing arguments tomorrow.Philip Mungerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6774888512752401212.post-79507848274689291742007-10-30T07:55:00.000-07:002007-10-30T08:21:45.575-07:00Week Two - Day Two - Preface<span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" >Philip Munger</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">: Still waiting on a post from </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" >Fred James</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> for Monday. I'll be at the first hour of the morning portion of the trial, and back for much of the afternoon.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I've been mulling over John Henry Browne's decision to go minimalist on the defense presentation of this proceeding. Steve Aufrecht </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com/">isn't so sure</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> that Browne will actually not call anyone to the stand - except possibly Kohring:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >Defense attorney Browne said after the jury was dismissed for the day, “Speaking candidly, I may not put on a defense.” (I’m always alert when people suddenly say they are speaking candidly. What were they doing before?) He then asked some questions about whether witnesses would be allowed to testify about Kohring’s habit of being very friendly and offering to help. After some questioning the judge said no. I’d heard at lunch from a close friend of Kohring, that his nephew was going to be called. And he said afterward he’d been told to call all the witnesses to cancel. I’m not entirely convinced. We’ll see</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">On my laptop, while writing about this trial, I'm watching C-SPAN 3's coverage of the House Judiciary Committee hearings about the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division's concentration under the Bush administration on minority voter suppression, rather than on voters' rights. Watching Alabama Representative Artur Davis questioning division chief John Tanner about the conduct of his office is waking me up fully that the lawyering in the Kohring case, especially in the realm of hammering away at getting facts out of somebody on the stand, hasn't been stellar. Just solid. Davis, my favorite Democrat on this important U.S. House committee, is an ex-U.S. Prosecutor with a lot of criminal trial experience.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Off to get ready for a long, long day in Anchorage.</span>Philip Mungerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6774888512752401212.post-57484102796506513912007-10-29T22:58:00.000-07:002007-10-30T00:16:44.377-07:00Week Two - Day One - Prosecution Rests<span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Philip Munger</span>: Attempting to tidy up the least tidy of the three GOP oil legislation corruption cases brought forth so far by the U.S. Department of Justice against prominent former Alaska legislators, U.S. Attorney Joseph Bottini brought a sitting state senator, an ex commissioner of corrections, the head of the ethics office of the Alaska Public Offices Commission and two FBI agents into the courtroom to testify about their relation to the Vic Kohring case. None resonated fully in respect to deepening the facts about the charging documents. Although the morning's proceedings revealed new information - mostly about potentially new cases - this afternoon's testimony seemed to merely provide the public with an e-mail exchange between Kohring and ex-Veco VP Rick Smith; and a gossip-laden "Red Carpet List." Both had been extracted by the FBI from Kohring's Wasilla legislative office's computer hard drive.<br /><br />The list is available at the Anchorage Daily News <a href="http://community.adn.com/adn/node/112570">political blog</a>. The only surprise name to me on the list was in the last category - "Supporters." Back from the brink of local forgetfulness comes Pete Zamarello, about whom I commented after the first day of the trial. I had no idea Pete was still a player in local politics.<br /><br />The undercover videos made by Frank Prewitt were underwhelming compared to those featured at the beginning of the trial showing Kohring whoring for any scrap he could beg from Allen. The silliest testimony of the trial was given by a woman who heads the Ethics Office of the Alaska Public Offices Commission. She's from Minnesota, a recent emigre to the farther North. She spoke the most fluent beauraucratese I've heard recently. She seemed to have page after chapter of Alaska Statutes and Administrative Code memorized word for word. With the Minnesota accent, I couldn't figure out if she should be a skit from <span style="font-style: italic;">Prairie Home Companion</span>, or with the government-speak, from <span style="font-style: italic;">Monty Python</span>. I couldn't see how her testimony bolstered the Feds' case.<br /><br />And that goes for a lot of the rest of the testimony heard this afternoon. It was somewhat underwhelming. It certainly didn't tidy up the loose ends I'd been wondering about all week long.<br /><br />The defense opens tomorrow. It will be a very minimalist show. John Henry Browne had hoped to present three (ex-Anchorage Mayor Tom Fink, Big Lake fireworks magnate Bob Hall and one other - no, <span style="font-weight: bold;">NOT</span> Pete Zamarello) as witnesses as to Kohring's use of the term "I'll do anything you want," "Is there anything I can do to help," and so forth. Which leaves the defense with whether or not to call Kohring to the stand.<br /><br />I'm not ready to make any predictions, but, in spite of my admiration for some of the tactical elements of Bottini's handling of this, overall, I'd call the U.S. presentation sketchy. For the amount of money they spent flying people in and out of Anchorage to testify in this case alone, they could have acted on Ray Metcalfe's information a year earlier and bagged a whole herd of bigger game before Metcalfe's exposure of Ben Stevens brought the most wary crooks back behind the tree line.<br /></span>Philip Mungerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com64tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6774888512752401212.post-77944036881980958732007-10-29T13:43:00.000-07:002007-10-30T07:55:31.778-07:00Week Two - Day One - Morning<span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Philip Munger</span>: The morning was taken with cross, re-direct and re-cross testimony of ex-Veco CEO Bill Allen. John Henry Browne sought to continue chipping away at the perception jurors might have that Allen's testimony isn't influenced by the threat of the deal Allen has made with the Feds coming unglued. I'll address that this evening. But important information came out this morning, that I'll outline here:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">1)</span> A distinction seems to be emerging from Browne's inquiry into the nature of the agreement Allen has with the Feds between illegal payments, bribes and gifts, as being three separate matters addressed in the still sealed aspects of the overall set of cases.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">2)</span> Bill Allen's nephew, Dave Anderson, who came up in the earlier cases, was mentioned again today in context of the term "blackmail." But today, Browne elicited from Allen that the blackmail threats were directly connected with the remodeling of Ted Stevens's Girdwood home.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">3)</span> Bill Allen appears to have stipulated in his plea agreement with DoJ that he made over $400,000 in "illegal payments" to Alaska politicians.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> As Browne was continually attempting to differentiate between payments, bribes and gifts in his questioning, it appears there is a lot of room for speculation as to how much is still up in the air for future cases. But it is pretty clear that about $115,000 in "illegal payment money is unaccounted for so far, even when you count in Ben Stevens and Bruce Weyrauch.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">4)</span> When questioned about Ted's house improvements, Allen stated that those improvements aren't being counted in the "illegal payment" category.</span>Philip Mungerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6774888512752401212.post-29202989664164461112007-10-29T07:30:00.000-07:002007-10-29T09:04:03.307-07:00Week Two - Day One - Preface<span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Philip Munger</span>: <span style="font-weight: bold;">Fred James</span> and I went to the Anchorage Symphony Saturday evening, for the premiere of Chris Brubeck's <span style="font-style: italic;">Spontaneous Combustion</span>, a jazzy concerto for violin and orchestra. The jazz-based concert featured selections from Leonard Bernstein's <span style="font-style: italic;">On the Town</span>, Darius Milhaud's <span style="font-style: italic;">Creation of the World</span>, and George Gershwin's <span style="font-style: italic;">An American in Paris</span>. Best ASO concert for my wife and me in a while - very well played and enthusiastically received.<br /><br />Brubeck's concerto was the fifth product in less than five years by the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra's new work commissioning club, <span style="font-style: italic;">Musica Nova</span>. Created in 2003 for the purpose of commissioning a work per year. Beginning with my <span style="font-style: italic;">Piano Concerto</span>, the results, so far, of this annual enterprise have been a legacy of four solo concerti and a tone poem. You can click on the titles of the movements of my <span style="font-style: italic;">Piano Concerto</span> to hear them played by the Anchorage Symphony, with pianist Juliana Osinchuk:<br /><br /> <a href="http://www.garageband.com/song?%7Cpe1%7CS8LTM0LdsaSiZVmza24"><span style="font-style: italic;">I. Tug Ruby XIV</span></a><span style="font-style: italic;"> <a href="http://www.garageband.com/song?%7Cpe1%7CS8LTM0LdsaSiZVmzamg">II. The Dark Passage</a></span><span style="font-style: italic;"> <a href="http://www.garageband.com/song?%7Cpe1%7CS8LTM0LdsaSiZVmyY2k">III. Channel Fever</a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">This week</span>, both Fred James and I will be contributing more - and more varied - entries. Over the weekend, two important articles on the trial's defense aspects came out. The Anchorage Daily News's Lisa Demer wrote an article, titled <a href="http://www.adn.com/news/politics/fbi/kohring/story/9413506p-9326056c.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Kohring's lawyer is known for being flamboyant, effective</span></a>, that looks into the background of the lead attorney for Kohring's defense team. The article's comments contain even more biographical information on Browne. Fellow trial blogger, Steve Aufrecht has attempted a biographical sketch of Vic Kohring, titled <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com/2007/10/enigma-that-is-vic-kohring_29.html">The Enigma that is Vic Kohring</a>. Steve asks some important questions about missing gaps in Kohring's official bios.<br /><br />Steve also notifies us of the following event:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Several of us who have been at the trials will be talking on this subject Thursday at noon in the federal building cafeteria. The event is sponsored by the local chapter of the American Society for Public Administration. So some of these thoughts are warm up for that session.</span><br /></span>Philip Mungerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6774888512752401212.post-80872392868355678882007-10-26T23:42:00.000-07:002007-10-26T23:45:46.119-07:00Vic’s Accusers Get Examined by a Master<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fred James:</span> Last night I was kicked off Vic’s potential testify list for being too old and ugly. Nah, just kidding. They said I was too Fat, old and ugly.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Anyway I was free to actually observe the court session today from 9 AM until it wrapped up at 3:48 PM. This is what I saw:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">There were only two witnesses all day, Rick Smith and Bill Allen, two men who were accused by the Feds earlier and plead guilty to a bunch of counts which could put them both away for years. I will simply refer to them as “The VECO Crooks.” More on their status later.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">At about 9:07 AM John Henry Brown resumed his cross from the day earlier on Rick Smith. Smith, white haired and white beard with a deep, low voice has a real problem remembering. However most of the data Browne was after was on a WRITTEN transcript from the FBI videos. So for an hour or so the cross went like this:</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Browne: Do you remember why you did such and such? Ah: Ah...well, I can’t recall.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Browne: Page seven lines 12 through 17. Please read them to yourself.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Smith: (After reading the passages Sotto Voce): Well yes.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">It went on like this as Browne gradually teased out one admission after another which bolstered Vic’s position. For example Smith said Allen would FREQUENTLY give money to kids. And that it was Allen’s idea to give the money to Vic for an Easter egg Hunt. This is tantamount to saying...We were not bribing Vic on that one. We wanted to help the kids! Browne, after much hassle with Smith denying and not remembering, finally admitted that the US government was going to make recommendations to the trial judge which COULD act to lesson his sentence...IF SMITH DID CERTAIN THINGS IN RETURN!! Like testify, wear wires, make Government “monitored phone calls” trying to entrap people. After so much talk from the “VECO Crooks” about “Owning Vic’s ass, guess who actually owns their asses now?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Smith’s body language and memory were highly negative when Browne spoke to him. When US attorney Edward Sullivan (One of their NEW leash holders) then asked questions of Smith, Smith’s memory became alive and potent. He answered questions rapidly and attended Sullivan like a good pet dog. Another blogger I know who witnessed this remarkable transition came to roughly the same conclusion.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">After Smith, US Attorney Joe Bottini spoke to Bill Allen. He walked him through his early life, how he got into the pipeline business, how he went from a kid who left high school as a sophomore, gradually worked his way up the ladder to becoming a multi-millionaire with thousands of employees. Allen, 70, described his motorcycle accident which banged his head and which caused him to have difficulty getting ideas “from my brain to my lips’ and finding words.” He had walked slowly up to the witness box and put on a pair of headphones to hear.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Allen, for all his physical problems and age, seemed to have a good recall of many events WHEN BOTTINI asked the questions. Bottini asked him why VECO left the North Sea Field which was apparently lucrative. Smith told him that when Norway began to raise taxes he sold out and put the money Alaska’s North Slope.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"> Allen admitted under examination:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">* an entire litany of who he paid off, who he gave jobs too, why he promoted Rick Smith who conducted fundraisers for VECO, “He done good.” to giving bonuses to employees for the purpose of them giving the money to VECO back politicians.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Brown asked him, given all the charges on Allen, was he ever arrested, handcuffed and taken to jail?” This was to compare him to Vic who WAS cuffed and taken to jail just long enough so that the press could take pictures. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Brown got Allen to admit eventually, after about fifteen minutes of evasion, that yes, he had cut the same deal with the US government as Smith, to do the government’s bidding, wear a wire, call people with the FBI listening in and testify at trials in return for the US making recommendations at his sentencing. He admitted that, as it were, HIS ass was in the government’s sling too.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">In addition when Allen spoke to Bottini he was relatively animated and answered questions almost cheerfully and his memory improved when he spoke to the attorneys who would make these recommendations!!!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">By the end of the day the US government’s case was whittled down by Brown to two items, a grainy black and white video where Allen is giving Vic an unknown amount of money for his daughter’s Easter egg hunt and a girl scout uniform, and the word of Allen principally that he gave Vic sums of cash. It looks like it will come down in the end to “VECO Crooks’” word against Vic’s.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Why should we believe them when we KNOW they are singing like canaries to keep their butts out of the Federal Slammer or at least REDUCE their prison terms due to good recommendations from their new government masters.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Monday the interrogation of Bill Allen should end and the US Government might wrap its case by late Monday or Tuesday. Then the defense opens its arsenal and the case should get REALLY interesting!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">IL Fettucinni</span>Philip Mungerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6774888512752401212.post-65492610326843638622007-10-26T22:11:00.000-07:002007-10-26T23:41:38.021-07:00Day Five - Fred is Freed<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Philip Munger:</span> My blogging colleague, Fred James, has been freed from the potential witness list. You'll be reading more of him now. I left my legal pad with the entire week's notes on a counter in the 2nd floor men's room of the courthouse this afternoon. Hopefully, I'll get it back on Monday.<br /><br />I had to work this morning, so was only at the trial in the afternoon. I commented yesterday that John Henry Browne's take on Alaskans may be deficient. I also said he hadn't yet committed any irreversible errors that might alienate him from the jury. I'm still working on that premise, but I find the dumb-ass query he made yesterday regarding the quality of legal help available to Alaskans in-state to have been one that unintentionally skirted the edge of the ice.<br /><br />Whether Browne underestimates the ability of a blue-collar jury of Alaskans to sift through all this shit or not is yet to be seen. I know from thousands of examples in my life here, that local knowledge counts, and that if you navigate into any waters, trails or unknown territory here without experience, you're at a disadvantage. Note to John Henry Browne - there is no Cicely, Alaska.<br /><br />I came to Alaska in 1973 to get away from artists whose personalities I perceived to be incomplete and whose lifestyles were too urban, indoor and sedentary for me to contemplate for my own future. They were my peers. Most were more intelligent than me IQ-wise. But most couldn't survive for a few days without the default urban support system, that I felt was deeply flawed and dangerous to rely upon. I fled.<br /><br />Many times since, I've failed in one arena or another because I wasn't practical enough to compete with people less intelligent, but more savvy then me. I've learned enough to respect such people, study them, approach them and befriend them if there was a chance of convergence on one or more levels.<br /><br />I developed a theory I'll call the PQ Theory. Essentially, it is this:<br /><br />Take a person's IQ Test score. Set it aside.<br /><br />Put him through a series of simple survival tests like:<br /> making coffee<br /> cleaning up after himself<br /> knowing when to ask for directions<br /> tying a knot<br /> starting a fire<br /> not freaking out about having to do this<br /> etc.<br /><br />I call the results of this set of simple evaluations DQ Tests - The Density Quotient.<br /><br />Subtract the DQ from the IQ.<br /><br />The result is the person's PQ - Practicality quotient. Many Alaskans' PQs are far higher than our nation's average PQ. By a lot. That's a large part of why I love this place so much, and am fascinated by the makeup of the Kohring Jury. <br /><br />When Judge Sedwick reminded Counsel Browne that there were only eight minutes to go before he dismissed the jury early for he weekend so they might return home, I moved to where I could watch the jurors for the remaining time. <br />Browne didn't quite hurry the affair up at that point - he's very good, very experienced. But he forgot what little decorum - false as it had been - toward ex-Veco chief Allen, and began treating Allen almost like a cypher. <br /><br />Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but in those last seven minutes, Browne lost any ground he may have made during the past two days, as he became more inattentive, and the jurors paid total attention to everything going on around them. Browne didn't seem to notice this. <br /><br />He's misunderestamated our common Alaskan. Kohring would have been tens of thousands ahead by now had he hired somebody like Weidner instead. Weidner, an Abraham Lincoln scholar, would know this jury like Abe knew his Civil War Presidential cabinet by now.<br /><br />Bottini was excellent in his examination of Bill Allen. His obvious humanity toward a man I despise shook me up a little. Thanks to Priscilla Horner for sharing her morning notes with me after the afternoon session.<br /><br /></span>Philip Mungerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6774888512752401212.post-33206844833889479472007-10-25T22:17:00.000-07:002007-10-25T22:52:20.954-07:00Day Four - Afternoon - Fiddle Faddle!<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Philip Munger:</span> That's right - <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Fiddle Faddle!</span> That'll get me in the mood to talk about John Henry Browne's cross-examination technique. <br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Fiddle-Faddle</span> was the title of one of LeRoy Anderson's greatest hits. He's the guy who wrote <span style="font-style: italic;">The Syncopated Clock, The Typewriter, Blue Tango</span> and many other pop classic pieces that populated the American airwaves in the 1950s. Think Lawrence Welk in the concert hall to imagine his music, if you don't know of it. But, wait! If you don't know LeRoy anderson, you probably don't know Lawrence Welk. But, wait, again! We all get to hear a little bit of LeRoy Anderson every Christmas. He also wrote the perennial secular Christmas piece, <span style="font-style: italic;">Sleigh Ride</span>. <br /><br />There was once a big audience for LeRoy Anderson and his music. Times have changed. A lot. Maybe there's a town somewhere that has a LeRoy Anderson Festival every year. But the styles he portrayed seldom resonate now with anyone under 50 years old.<br /><br />I was thinking of another way to describe John Henry Browne this afternoon as I watched him work the jury. He's been described as Eddie Haskell, and as Sir John Henry Browne. Both are valid, as they cover aspects of his courtroom presence. I've already explained here why I have enormous respect for this interesting attorney. But I was struggling for a term to describe why I think his strategy isn't working. And I came up with "fiddle-faddle," which can also mean screwing around with something, or wasting time. <br /><br />I got a sense that his constant fussing over aspects of Rick Smith's confessional agreement with the Feds isn't resonating with the jury. At all. I watched some of them yesterday afternoon, outside the court building, as they waited for transportation home or away to their temporary lodging. This is a fairly blue-collar jury. The weather turned markedly toward winter yesterday, and is unpredictable today. It is a time when blue-collar Alaskans are concerned with dealing with the cold weather around their homes or businesses. I didn't dare talk to any of them, but I could feel that their pensiveness was as much about their concerns over the weather as about their responsibility as jurors, which I've seen them express in the courtroom.<br /><br />Alaskans are remarkably resilient to being taken along novel paths by outsiders. Several instances occurred yesterday and today, where Browne showed his lack of understanding of the uniqueness of Alaska and Alaskans. He hasn't made the irreverseable error of talking down to the jury, but he's failed the common test put against outsiders when they have to try to talk about aspects of our place to us and blow it.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fred James:</span> Since I’m on the defense’s potential testimony list, I’m barred from the courtroom UNTIL I’ve testified. Thus I flew all the way here from Washington but can’t actually see and hear the case yet!! How totally frustrating!<br /><br />However I can still read newspapers, watch the grainy black and white videos on the adn.com site that allege Bill Allen is “Buying Vic’s vote and heart.” I listen to every point of view I can. Since the government is presenting its case now, many of the comments I’ve heard are negative and full of finger pointing at Vic.<br /><br /> There is no doubt that Allen tried to bribe Vic. But it is not clear to me why it would be necessary when Vic is famous for his pro free enterprise, pro-industry, anti-tax, anti-big government political philosophy. Not only has Vic written consistently in newspapers around the state what amounts to a concise manifesto of 21st Century Laissez-faire, he has courageously voted for it time after time over his political career. Many times the vote tally would be 19 to 1, Vic the prominent dissenter.<br /><br />Moreover, Vic has voted in favor of free enterprise and against what he called the “Leviathan State” in all areas, not merely oil and gas. Several years ago there came up a bill in the state House to introduce more taxes on, of all things, snow machines. There was not much hue and cry over this small but obviously odious, little tax. Vic spoke and voted against it. This has been his wonderfully consistent pattern for the most part. (I say “for the most part” because Vic has commented to me that now and then, some bills are so confusing and poorly written that it’s hard to tell what they do! So he had to make his best guess.)<br /><br />Given his open record and consistent voting why do you have to bribe him? You already know which way he will vote. If the bill expands the state or increases taxes, Vic will vote no! If a bill opens up the market or cuts taxes, Vic will blister his finger pressing the yes button!<br /><br />Thus the Feds can allege Vic accepted bribes from Allen but how will they prove beyond a reasonable doubt that this is what happened instead of Vic’s insistence that he was accepting gifts from a friend for his daughter? If you KNEW the daughter, it is quite easy to see how this could come about. She is a darling, animated, intelligent, young lady of about 12 now.<br /><br />There are many subsidiary issues. Was Vic hurting financially? If so, why? Did he ask for a loan from multi-millionaire Bill Allen? Why? If Allen wanted to control Vic, why bribe him and risk jail when a simple and legal loan might have accomplished the same end? I emphasize the word “might.”<br /><br />After I testify or am taken off the list to testify, I’ll start going in to the court to watch the defense unleash its case. What is not in doubt at this time is the vast sum of money the feds are spending to bring in jurors from all over Alaska, feed and house them as well as the little battalion of FBI agents who have to wait their turn to testify.<br /><br />All over a guy who who asked the wrong crook for a loan.<br /><br />Next time we can deal with the really bizarre and banal allegation that Vic got his nephew a job, using his public office illegally to do so! Until then don’t believe what the Feds or Allen say, without the proof in hand. Too many innocent men have been railroaded off to prison on insinuations or gossip, their lives and their loved ones’ lives in tatters, only to find out three years later through DNA or other hard evidence that the guy was innocent all along! Hard proof is a rare commodity.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">IL Fettucinni</span><br /><br /></span>Philip Mungerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6774888512752401212.post-34514311407024698592007-10-25T08:59:00.000-07:002007-10-25T09:18:19.845-07:00Day Four - Morning - Reds!<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Philip Munger:</span> I'm giving mid-terms at UAA this morning and early afternoon. What crappy weather!<br /><br />I didn't take on Vic's Wednesday comments about the Mat-Su Borough government, which he characterized as "socialist," nor his similar but more severe take on Palmer-based <a href="http://www.foms.net/">Friends of Mat-Su</a>, as "communist," because I didn't transcribe the comments very well, and they were in overall context of disparaging comments about other organizations and media outlets he perceives as being dangerous to America. Part of this is because I'm a board member, past secretary, vice-president and acting president of Friends of Mat-Su.<br /><br />But I will say that I find it strange that this guy who was so bothered by inflamed or inaccurately passionate comments about his actions to feel a need to go around Juneau wearing a bulletproof vest, to be so similarly inflamed toward his perceived enemies. The term "communist" or "commie" is loosely thrown around by wingnut Dan Fagan quite often, too. When he dislikes somebody or something, they're "socialist." When he's really pissed, he calls them "communist." Why these inaccurate and essentially libelous categorizations of ideas and people they dislike?<br /><br />Excellent take on Browne's strategy of calling in so many FBI agents from around the country by Steve Aufrecht at his <a href="http://www.whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com/">trial blog</a>. And Lisa Demer's long, thorough, chronology-based <a href="http://www.adn.com/news/politics/fbi/kohring/story/9406095p-9318010c.html">article</a> at the Anchorage Daily News provides links to trial video and audio.<br /></span>Philip Mungerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6774888512752401212.post-24123690685249049022007-10-24T22:28:00.000-07:002007-10-25T01:00:15.483-07:00Day Three - Afternoon - Bill Kill, Part One<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Philip Munger:</span> I got in to the afternoon session of the trial today just as they had started playing a surveillance video of Kohring in the Baranof suite of Bill Allen. Although I already knew from reading the charging documents what had transpired, it was the first time I watched the conversation while listening. I tried putting down in my own words how I felt about the way Kohring seems to be verbalizing in the conversation. The combinations of enormous gulfs between his conversational tone and what was going down didn't bother just me. Others in the room seemed very pensive, even uncomfortable.<br /><br />During a recess, <a href="http://www.whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com/">Steve Aufrecht</a>, Michael Carey and I were talking about this, all three of us sort of bewildered. Does Vic even come close to understanding how so many of us feel about him as we watch this transpire? Even though he often comes across in conversations I've had with him as childlike, guileless, and as a sort of incomplete personality, none of us felt that while watching the video of him begging Allen for money and not coming up with an answer to his dilemma. <br /><br />We were pretty much in agreement that a small tragedy is unfolding here regarding a possible upcoming flash of awareness on Vic's part about this, when Steve noticed a little round thing on the ceiling. All three of us laughed as we realized it looked like an electronic "bug." Then Vic walked up, smiling vacuously as he greeted us with his weird affability. I pointed to the thing on the ceiling. Vic laughed a nervous attempt at heartiness, and said "I'm not afraid of having anything I say recorded."<br /><br />Back to the video tape that includes the cash exchange. There was an enormous gulf in the way he verbalized - so cleanly, so utterly non-profane - and the sleaziness of what he was actually, and to observers, obviously doing. I think that bothered me even more than the contrasts between his <span style="font-style: italic;">faux </span>guile and Allen's overly done earthiness.<br /><br />He also continually exaggerated the significance of daily events - a radio appearance on Dan Fagan's program, a radio appearance on a nationwide NRA show, a speech he made at the Palmer High School basketball awards banquet, the value of his house and other things. I used to think this aspect of Vic's personality was a basic insecurity. I'm not so sure anymore. I think it is more complex.<br /><br />Driving back to the Valley with me co-blogger in waiting, Fred James, Fred talked on the cell to Vic a couple of times, as we fought an enormous traffic jam for four hours (!!!) I can guarantee you that Kohring continues to have the highest hopes.<br /></span>Philip Mungerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14601488767955084836noreply@blogger.com13