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Sen. Stevens Takes Stand In His Defense

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The Associated Press

Published: October 17, 2008

WASHINGTON - Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens denied scheming to hide $250,000 in home improvements and other gifts from a wealthy businessman, taking the stand Thursday in his own defense at a corruption trial blocks from the U.S. Capitol.

When asked by his attorney Brendan Sullivan whether he thought his Senate financial disclosure forms were accurate when he signed them, the Alaska political patriarch replied, "Yes, sir."

Stevens, wearing an American flag pin on the lapel of his dark-colored suit, then responded with a soft "No, sir" when Sullivan asked whether he had engaged in any scheme with anyone to hide any gifts.

Stevens, 84, was the final witness in his defense against charges that he lied on the Senate forms to conceal improvements to his modest Alaska chalet and other gifts from Bill Allen, a longtime friend and former chief of the oil services company VECO Corp.

Before taking the stand, Stevens - a plain-talking, gruff man whose trademark "Incredible Hulk" tie symbolizes his temper and reputation in the Senate - was told by U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan that he didn't have to testify.

"It's a privilege and a duty," Stevens replied before being sworn in.

Stevens will take the stand again on Friday, which could be the last day of testimony in the three-week trial. Prosecutors said they would call three rebuttal witnesses after Stevens, and the judge said he expected closing arguments early next week.

Defense attorneys have said Allen kept Stevens in the dark about additional work done on Stevens' home at Allen's expense. Stevens was too busy to notice anything amiss as workers transformed his tiny A-frame cabin into a spacious two-story home.

"He works all the time," testified his wife, Catherine, a lawyer who married Stevens in 1980. "He's a classic workaholic."
Catherine Stevens also testified earlier Thursday that she was in charge of the renovation of their Girdwood, Alaska, cabin and that they paid every bill they received - $160,000 in all.

She described Allen as a friend who volunteered in 2000 to keep an eye on the renovation of their mountain cabin while they were away in Washington. She said she believed employees of Allen she later spotted at the site were being paid by the contractor - not Allen.

The contractor was "the one responsible for all renovations," she said.

During her testimony, the defense displayed invoices from the contractor for tens of thousands of dollars in labor and materials, and the checks she signed to pay them. She claimed Allen often crashed at the home and added some extras, including an expensive gas grill, without her approval.

When she first saw the grill, "I was very angry," she said. "It was a fire hazard and I didn't want it on my deck."

Prosecutor Brenda Morris jousted with the witness about her actual involvement with the renovation, with Stevens saying she never interviewed the engineer who drew up the plans for the renovation, accepted the contractor on the word of Allen and never got a contract with the plumbers or electricians.

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