Wife downplays senator’s role in home improvements

Sen. Ted Stevens's wife testified in his defense Thursday, but struggled to explain whether the couple paid for a series of home renovations that are central to her husband's corruption trial. 

In direct testimony, Catherine Stevens downplayed her husband's role in their home remodeling project and asserted they believed they settled all costs for the renovations.

{mosads}"I believed that any work that was done on the chalet we were billed for and we would pay for," Mrs. Stevens said.

Mrs. Stevens, a Washington lobbyist and trained attorney who has been married to the senator since 1980, said she had the "time and interest" to take the lead role in the renovation project. The senator, on the other hand, was "too busy" with his work on Capitol Hill, she testified in federal court Thursday.

The testimony is a key part of the senator's defense strategy. His lawyers say the senator was only peripherally involved in the project and believed the $160,000 they paid was a fair price for the renovations, which doubled the size of their once-modest home in Girdwood, Alaska.

But in cross-examination, Mrs. Stevens could not explain why she had not drawn up a contract over a number of the home renovations, why the Stevenses kept a number of gifts, such as a $2,700 massage chair, even though they said they didn't want them. And she couldn't explain who paid for and built some of the renovations and who built a wrap-around first floor deck.

"Who built the deck?" asked Brenda Morris, a government prosecutor.

"I don’t know who built the deck," Mrs. Stevens said.

She was meant to bolster his defense, but her difficulty under cross-examination may have hurt her credibility with the jury.

Stevens, 84, has pleaded not guilty to seven felony charges of failing to publicly report gifts, including some $188,000 in renovations that were allegedly paid for by Bill Allen, the former head of the Veco oil-services firm. The longest-serving Senate Republican faces reelection Nov. 4.

Sen. Stevens, who remained mostly expressionless and took notes as his wife testified, is expected to take the stand Thursday afternoon after Mrs. Stevens faces about an hourlong cross-examination. The case is supposed to be sent to the jury early next week.

On Thursday, Mrs. Stevens downplayed Veco's role, suggesting that Augie Paone, a subcontractor with Christensen Builders, was in charge of the renovation. The couple paid Paone about $130,000 for his work. But she couldn't explain how a number of renovations occurred after she last paid Paone in March 2001.

She called Allen "a friend who volunteered to find some people that may be available to work to renovate the chalet [and] find a contractor for us."

Mrs. Stevens said she believed two Veco employees who spent substantial time working at the couple's home — Rocky Williams and Dave Anderson — were being paid by Christensen Builders.

She also contended that she was often angered by the actions of Allen, who spent an enormous amount of time at the couple's home when they were 3,500 miles away in Washington. When she returned to their Alaskan home, she said she often saw needles used by Allen, a Type 2 diabetic.

The defense is trying to portray Allen, now the government's star witness, as an overzealous contractor who requested changes to the home without the couple's permission — and later hid his costs from the senator.

Mrs. Stevens said she was "extremely upset" with a steel staircase arranged by Allen and "very angry" with the addition of a fancy Viking gas grill, which she said she has "never" used. She called herself "very unhappy" when Allen replaced her furniture with new items, like an Ottoman sofa and a black leather couch with cigarette burns.

Any additional costs, she said, would have been paid for by an equity line of credit the couple received from an Alaskan bank. She said when she learned of the additions that Allen put in, she called the senator's office and asked if there were any additional bills, but learned there were none.

She also portrayed the senator as consumed with his work, not the home renovation project, saying he works from breakfast to late in the night, and "brings [work] home and will work for hours.”

The testimony also included moments from her past, including her first marriage that ended in a divorce, and her marriage to the senator in 1980 — two years after his first wife died in a plane crash.

The senator laughed when she told the jury she calls him "Oscar," after a character in the film "The Odd Couple." The senator calls her "Rosalie," she said.