Former Alaska governor's aide pleads guilty

JUNEAU, Alaska — The chief of staff for former Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski has agreed to plead guilty to fraud in an ongoing corruption probe involving an oil-field-services company.

Jim Clark's plea agreement was filed late Monday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Anchorage.

Clark has admitted he conspired with former VECO Corp. executives to hide from state election regulators more than $68,000 in polls and consultants' fees for Murkowski's failed re-election bid two years ago.

Clark's attorney, Bruce E. Gagnon, declined to comment. He said Clark would issue a statement today, when Clark is scheduled to be in court.

Messages left on Clark's cellphone and with Alaska's U.S. attorney, Nelson Cohen, were not immediately returned.

Efforts to reach Murkowski, a former Republican U.S. senator and father of current U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, also weren't immediately successful.

Two former VECO executives, including CEO Bill Allen, have pleaded guilty to bribing Alaska lawmakers. They have not yet been sentenced and are cooperating with authorities in the probe that stretches from Juneau to Washington, D.C.

U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, is being investigated for a remodeling project at his home in Girdwood, a ski-resort community on Anchorage's southern edge. Allen has testified that he sent VECO employees to work on the house.

Beyond saying he's paid every bill presented him for the remodeling project, Stevens will not comment on the investigation.

U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, is the subject of a federal investigation that includes his campaign-finance practices. Young's re-election campaign last year spent $854,053 on legal fees, but he won't disclose for what that money was used.

Two former state lawmakers have been convicted of accepting bribes from VECO and are serving sentences in a federal prison in Oregon. Another former lawmaker awaits trial.

Clark's plea, however, extends the reach of the investigation to the governor's office, where Murkowski served for four years.

Murkowski was soundly defeated in the 2006 Republican primary by the eventual winner, Gov. Sarah Palin, who campaigned on an ethics-reform platform.