Key witness rejects claim that Stevens sought cover

A man who oversaw controversial home renovations at the heart of Ted Stevens’s criminal trial disputed Wednesday that he told another witness the senator was "covering his ass" when requesting bills. 

Bob Persons, a close friend of Sen. Stevens (R-Alaska) for more than a quarter century, denied making that statement in 2002 to the senator's ex-friend and the former head of the Veco oil-services firm, Bill Allen.

{mosads}On Oct. 1, Allen, now the government's star witness, testified under oath that Persons told him that Stevens was "just covering his ass" when the senator told Allen that he wanted bills for the project costs.

The claim is one of the strongest made in the criminal trial that Stevens deliberately sought to cover his tracks by asking for bills that he never paid.

Calling Allen's claim "crazy," Persons said he was never asked about that statement during two days of grand-jury testimony or in interviews with FBI agents.

"Absolutely not, nobody has ever asked me that question before," said Persons, the owner of the Double Musky Inn, a Cajun restaurant in Girdwood.

Stevens's lawyers contend that Allen, who is cooperating with the government after pleading guilty to bribing Alaska state legislators, lied under oath in making that assertion for the first time in the trial.

In cross examination, Persons, a middle-aged man, said he had a bad memory. The cross examination will conclude Thursday morning and it will be followed by Catherine Stevens taking the stand. Sen. Stevens is also expected to testify before the closing arguments are held. The jury is expected to get the case early next week.

Stevens is charged with seven counts of concealing more than $250,000 in gifts and home renovations, mainly from Allen. He denies all charges and says he paid all the bills he received and claimed that Allen hid many of the costs of the renovation project, which was mainly done by Veco employees.

Jurors had previously listened to secretly taped FBI calls where Persons and Allen fretted over a plumbing bill that was mistakenly sent to Stevens, even though the bill stated the labor was paid for by Allen.

In testimony Wednesday, Persons said he was concerned on that call because Allen did not want Stevens to know he paid for the bill.

"I was shocked about it," Persons said.

In another 2006 call taped by the FBI, Persons discussed paying for a racehorse he co-owned with Allen and the senator.

"Catherine says Ted gets hysterical when he has to spend his own money," Persons said on the call, referring to the senator's wife. "He gets hysterical because he can’t afford to pay a bunch of money."

Persons said Wednesday he was only joking on that call. He also said he wanted to give Stevens a $2,695 massage chair in 2001, but the senator told him that he doesn't accept gifts.