One current and two former Alaska legislators pleaded not guilty Friday to charges they accepted bribes, including cash and a job offer in Barbados for one man, to support legislation for an oil services company.
Rep. Victor Kohring of Wasilla, Pete Kott of Eagle River and Bruce Weyhrauch of Juneau, all Republicans, were arrested Friday.
Prosecutors allege that the scheme unfolded as lawmakers weighed a new petroleum profits tax structure and a new contract for a natural gas pipeline last year.
Kott linked his support of the pipeline and the company’s preferred version of the tax proposal to benefits during a teleconference with company officials, according to the indictment.
“You’ll get your gas line, the governor gets his bill, and I’ll get my job in Barbados,” he told company executives, the indictment states.
———-
Items compiled from Tribune news services.
