Big Arm man part of corruption case

Sentencing put off until Nov. 12 for William Weimar

By NICHOLAS LEDDEN/Daily Inter Lake

The sentencing hearing for a Big Arm businessman tied to political corruption in Alaska state government has been postponed until Nov. 12.

The hearing originally was scheduled for today in U.S. District Court in Anchorage.

William C. Weimar, 68, was convicted in August of illegally funneling money to a political consultant for an Alaska state Senate candidate in the 2004 primary, knowing the candidate would back a private prison if he won.

Had the private prison won legislative approval, Weimar " who had a long-standing relationship with the unnamed candidate " would have stood to realize a $5.5 million " contingent interest" in the project, according to federal court documents.

The former owner of Allvest Inc., a corrections services company that once operated halfway houses in Alaska, Weimar now lives in Big Arm along the west shore of Flathead Lake.

Allvest, which at one time had government corrections contracts worth $10 million per year, went bankrupt in 2002 because of judgments in civil suits against the company.

Weimar in 2002 organized a new company, Weimar Investments, and registered it with the Montana Secretary of State. The business controls three 20-acre parcels of land near Big Arm, two of which have homes on them.

During his change-of-plea hearing in Alaska, Weimar admitted sending the candidate's campaign consultant $20,000 without reporting the payments to the state election commission and without routing them through the campaign.

While the indictment doesn't identify the candidate or the consultant, the candidate appears to have been a former Alaska state legislator elected in 1996 and 2000.

The apparent candidate, who had a record of supporting Allvest's private prison projects in past legislatures, lost his seat in 2002 and was trying to regain it in 2004, but lost in the Republican primary.

Some of the candidate's largest campaign expenses in 2004 were more than $43,000 in fees charged by an advertising and public relations firm based near Seattle.

Court documents quote details from a number of telephone conversations Weimar had with the consultant and the candidate from Aug. 17 to Aug. 23, 2004.

In a conversation on Aug. 17, 2004, the consultant told Weimar that the campaign was having money trouble, court documents say.

" I'm worried we're reaching the limit now. I don't know where we find 10 grand unless [the candidate] can get more in," the consultant said.

" There's no legal way to do that. At least not on that scale," Weimar responded.

Later that day, Weimar arranged to cover the candidate's next advertising mailer and told the candidate he would do so, court documents say.

On Aug. 20, 2004, Weimar told the candidate about an outstanding $20,000 invoice the candidate had with the consultant. But the candidate's campaign funds were depleted, and he had only $300 to $400 left in his account.

On Aug. 23, 2004, Weimar arranged with the consultant to pay off the debt, court documents say. He then called the candidate and told him " he would not be receiving any further bills from [the consultant]."

Weimar sent the consulting company a $3,000 check on Aug. 23, 2004, then later that same day sent $8,500 in cash drawn from a Polson bank by express mail and another $8,500, again in cash drawn from a Polson bank, the following day, court documents say.

Pursuant to a plea bargain, Weimar pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services mail and wire fraud and illegally manipulating currency transactions to avoid U.S. Treasury Department reporting rules, both felonies.

One of the goals of the conspiracy was to get the company proposing the private prison in which Weimar had the $5.5 million stake to make campaign contributions to the candidate, court documents say.

That company, reportedly based in Texas, had proposed several private prison projects across Alaska, including additional halfway houses and a juvenile treatment facility. In 1998, the company believed to be the one referred to in the indictment bought five halfway houses from Weimar's Allvest for $21 million.

Prosecutors have estimated Weimar could be ordered to serve between 10 and 16 months in prison, but the sentencing judge is not bound to that recommendation.

A Democratic activist in the 1970s, Weimar later became close to the Republicans who controlled the Alaska Legislature.

But since February 2007, Weimar has contributed $4,600 to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's campaign and $250 to Democratic U.S. congressional candidate Jim Hunt.

Weimar was the 11th person charged in the broad, ongoing investigation by the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice into political corruption in Alaska.

Also indicted were several Alaska state legislators, lobbyists, top executives of the oil field services firm Veco Corp., and U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.

On Monday, Stevens was convicted in a Washington, D.C., federal court of seven felony corruption charges for accepting a bonanza of home renovations from VECO Corp. executives and then lying about it.

The Anchorage Daily News contributed to this report.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com