State Sen. Lesil McGuire was accused Tuesday of making veiled threats to dissuade a lobbyist from testifying in the corruption case against her husband, former state Rep. Tom Anderson.
The surprising information came up during the sentencing hearing of Bill Bobrick, a once-prominent lobbyist who began cooperating in September 2006 with the FBI in its investigation of corruption in Alaska politics.
In an interview after the hearing, McGuire denied making any threats and said Bobrick was deflecting attention from himself onto her "on the day of his reckoning with the public."
Bobrick, 52, pleaded guilty in May to conspiring with Anderson to push the interests of a private prison firm in exchange for money. He funneled nearly $24,000 to Anderson, money put up by a prison consultant who was working undercover for the FBI. In all, Anderson received nearly $26,000. The prison company, Cornell Cos., didn't know about the scheme, federal officials have said.
U.S. District Judge John Sedwick ordered Bobrick to serve five months in prison, followed by five months of house arrest on the felony conspiracy conviction. That's the minimum sentence under federal guidelines, which are advisory. It's far less than the two years to 30 months that Bobrick would have faced if he didn't cooperate.
And it's much less than the five years that Sedwick sentenced Anderson to serve. The Republican who represented East Anchorage in the Legislature for two terms also initially cooperated with the FBI, then decided to fight the charges against him. He was indicted in December 2006 and a jury convicted him in July of seven felony counts including bribery and money laundering.
Anderson reports to a federal prison on Monday in Oregon.
At Anderson's trial last summer, Bobrick testified for hours to help the government put the former legislator away.
"Certainly his testimony cemented the deal for the government," Sedwick said at Tuesday's sentencing.
He also wore a wire, helped the FBI investigate other people, and did as much as any witness could be expected to do, the judge said.
Prosecutor Joe Bottini also praised Bobrick but said he needed to be punished for being a catalyst for the scheme that got him and Anderson in trouble to begin with.
Before all this, Bobrick had a long list of clients who paid him to represent them before the city of Anchorage. His clients included at various times the police union, the firefighters' union, developers, Wal-Mart and many more.
Bobrick's attorney, Doug Pope, told Sedwick the threats by McGuire were real. He asked the judge to consider a lighter sentence since Bobrick helped the government despite the attempts at intimidation. On New Year's Day, less than a month after Anderson was indicted, McGuire called Bobrick, the judge was told. Bobrick's wife, Jessica Bury, was in medical school at Mayo Medical School in Minnesota. McGuire wanted her number to tell her "about efforts to bar Jessica from obtaining her license to practice in Alaska," Pope said.
"Bobrick understood the call to be a threat that, if he testified favorably for the government, Lesil McGuire would take steps to see that Jessica did not obtain her medical license," Pope said.
McGuire dug up Bury's number on her own and left similar messages on her voice mail, Pope said.
Pope had asked that the portion of the hearing dealing with the threats be closed to the public. But Sedwick ruled it had to be open.
Pope told reporters outside of court that he considered McGuire's actions "witness tampering."
McGuire is someone to be reckoned with, he told the judge. Not only is she a state senator, but her father is David McGuire, a prominent and influential orthopedic surgeon in Anchorage, Pope said. He served on the Alaska State Medical Board from 1992 to 1995 and was chairman much of that time. The board licenses doctors in Alaska.
Pope said he immediately alerted prosecutor Bottini. Prosecutors took the veiled threats very seriously, Bottini said.
Bobrick was walking on the Coastal Trail when McGuire reached him on his cell phone, Bottini said, so there was no recording of that call, but he said he believes Bobrick's recollection of it.
"It was for the purpose of trying to rattle his cage, which in part she succeeded in doing," Bottini told the judge, referring to McGuire.
He said it took him until the next day to get hold of Anderson's attorney, Paul Stocker. If anything like that happened again, prosecutors would try to revoke Anderson's release on bond, Bottini said he told Stockler.
Stockler said in an interview that he conveyed that to Anderson and McGuire.
"She had an innocent explanation for the contact. I said I don't care," Stockler said. Defendants shouldn't be contacting witnesses, he said.
The calls stopped, everyone agrees.
McGuire said she didn't even know that Bobrick was working with the government until Stockler told her.
She doesn't remember exactly why she was so eager to talk to Bury that day but thinks she wanted to commiserate. The two couples were friends. They went out to dinner at Sullivan's Steakhouse, got together to play Cranium, talked about intimate family things, McGuire said.
"I can just tell you this. I didn't threaten her. And I wish the best for her," McGuire said.
She said she felt empathy for Bury and still is struggling to deal with what happened.
"I just feel like every time I get my sea legs back something hits me again," McGuire said.
The judge said that it was hard to know just what to make of the reported threats and that "the facts may not be exactly as they've been suggested today."
"With respect to the threat against Mr. Bobrick's wife, I cannot place a great deal of stock in it but I think it is worth considering," Sedwick said.
Ultimately, he said, it did seem that Bobrick had cause to worry about his wife's future, even if McGuire had no ability to actually carry out any threat. And Bobrick "soldiered on," the judge said.
Under Tuesday's sentence, Bobrick also must serve two years on probation. He also must do 800 hours of community service and pay a $3,000 fine.
Bobrick told the judge he's lived in Alaska for 32 years and he'll try to spend the next 32 making up for what he did, if he lives that long.
"I don't really have the words to convey the depths of my shame and my remorse," Bobrick said. Sedwick said he's never seen a defendant so remorseful.
Bobrick said he knows he has contributed to the view that the Alaska political system is corrupt.
"I'll carry that scar for the rest of my life," Bobrick said.
As the hearing ended, both Bobrick and Bury seemed overcome, maybe with relief. She cried and they hugged. They walked with friends out of the Federal Building. They had nothing to say to the mass of reporters who surrounded them.
