Cross-examination of Allen begins in Stevens case

Attorneys defending Sen. Ted Stevens began cross-examining the government's star witness Monday, seeking to back up their argument that the costs of the Alaska Republican's home renovations are greatly exaggerated. 

"Isn’t it a fact that you believed that those of the costs on Ted Stevens's house were excessive?" asked Brendan Sullivan, Stevens's veteran defense attorney.

{mosads}"Yes, it was too much money," said Bill Allen, the former head of the oil-services firm Veco Corp.

Stevens, 84, has pleaded not guilty to seven felony charges that he failed to disclose more than $250,000 in gifts and home renovations from Allen and other longtime friends. Stevens says he paid every bill he was given, including $160,000 in home renovations, and he disputes estimates that he did not pay $188,000 in additional costs.

Under cross-examination, Allen testified that two former Veco employees who worked extensively on the remodeling project and billed the company for their work, Rocky Williams and Dave Anderson, were alcoholics.

To back up the claim that the $188,000 tab was excessive, Sullivan pointed out that Veco employees had even overcharged Allen for renovations on his own home in Alaska.

"Here’s the problem, they did really screw up on my house — it was way too much," said Allen, 71, a close friend of Stevens's for the past 25 years. "But I never really [saw] how much time or the money that was spent on Ted's house. I’ve never seen an invoice so I had no idea how much — so I thought it was probably going to be too much." 

Sullivan is seeking to portray Allen as overzealous in making many of the home renovations while Stevens was 3,500 miles away on Capitol Hill, often asking questions about his generosity.

"You were generous to people, weren’t you?" Sullivan asked.

The attorney also pointed to e-mails showing Stevens's intent to pay his bills by taking out a mortgage to finance the project, and to back up the defense's claims that the senator's wife, Catherine, took the lead role in the remodeling project.

"But you know the ladies, it takes a place they want everyone to know [is] theirs," Stevens said in a 2002 e-mail to Allen, which was read aloud to the jurors Monday.

Sullivan is trying to show Stevens as a tireless advocate for Alaska, and as a loyal friend to Allen. When Allen suffered brain damage from a 2001 motorcycle accident, Stevens used his connections to get Allen an appointment with a top physician at the University of California-Los Angeles.

"That’s what a friend does, right?" asked Sullivan.

"Yes," Allen said, speaking slowly as a result of the accident.