Stevens’ Contractor Hires a Lawyer, Opts To Keep Quiet

An Alaska contractor, Augie Paone, painted most of the picture we have of how a major state oil services company oversaw the renovation of Sen. Ted Stevens’ (R-AK) house. After giving a few interviews last week, Paone has hired a lawyer and will no longer comment publicly.

I spoke with Paone’s wife on the phone yesterday who said the family would not release the lawyer’s name. The lawyer has advised them to stay quiet, she said.

It’s too bad the Paones felt the need to lawyer up, though it’s probably not that surprising. In an interview with the Anchorage Daily News, Paone said he was “uncomfortable” with taking the renovation contract initially because he had not provided an estimate to Veco Corp., the company that handled the job for Stevens while the senator was in Washington:

“I didn’t suspect anything, but I just wanted to make sure,” he said. “When you work with a house of a legislator or a senator, you make sure you hold on to all the billings, just in case something happens.”

That was a good move. The job has piqued federal investigators’ interest as part of a broad investigation into public corruption in Alaska. Six months ago the FBI asked Paone for records and invoices from the job. He also testified before a grand jury.

Paone said he had done work for Veco Corp.’s offices and for a company executive before they offered him the work on Stevens’ home seven years ago. He charged normal rates, but saw the job as a favor – a favor he couldn’t decline to offer – rather than a typical contract:

“Bill Allen (Veco CEO) and some of the Veco boys, some of the Veco guys, were the ones that approached me and wanted to know if I could give them a hand,” Paone said. “I did it more as a favor, you know. It’s one of those things when somebody is the head, and packs that much power and asks you for a favor, it’s kind of hard to say no.”

Allen pled guilty to bribing five state legislators last month in a classic cash-for-votes scheme. One of the charges stems from a meet-up between State Rep. Pete Kott in a hotel suite where Kott complained about having “to cheat, steal, beg, borrow and lie,” to ensure government-backing of a pipeline valuable to Veco. In response to the legislator’s complaints, Allen said: “I own your ass.”

Sounds like Allen would take a “no thank you” well.