This time it's Alaska State Rep. Pete Kott, an erstwhile House Speaker. From the Anchorage Daily News:
[Kott] was convicted Tuesday by a federal jury of conspiring with Veco Corp. executives to push an oil tax favored by industry.
Jurors convicted the Eagle River Republican of conspiracy, bribery and extortion. They acquitted him of a fourth felony charge, wire fraud...
The evidence was compelling, said state Sen. Fred Dyson, R-Eagle River, who helped the FBI in its investigation and sat in on much of the trial. The recordings of people laughing and swearing about “jerking the public process around” generate a gut level impact.
Jerking the public process? That's an understatement, based on this unbelievable nugget from the White Collar Crime Prof Blog:
Kott was one of a group of legislators supporting the interests of the oil companies who called themselves the "Corrupt Bastards Club" that included a hat with Veco's logo on the front and the initials "CBC" on the back -- not a very helpful picture for a politician accused of corruption.
There are more than a few who could wear that hat.
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