Pete Kott Trial Day 12 - Kott Admits He Lies

The earlier posts today were pretty much on the fly during breaks. For this one I've had about six hours to digest what happened

The prosecutors didn’t make the home run I was expecting when they had a chance to question Kott. Rather they got a base hit here, a walk there. Nothing spectacular, but when it was over, I think they scored a few more runs than the defense.

The most significant gain for the government, I think, has to do with Kott’s honesty. Kott was caught between what he said on the tapes, and the defense’s attempt to prove that Kott was not doing Veco’s bidding. Goeke got Kott to admit that

• He lied to other legislators in his (ultimately unsuccessful) attempt to get done what he needed to do, including legislators with whom he had built some rapport
• He lied to Bill Allen and Rick Smith, the two people he told us yesterday were the only two people who had never lied to him.
  
• He would lie to his friends to maintain his principles.
  

Wednesday, Bill Allen, Uncle Bill as Kott calls him, was like family. This was a very special friendship. He could walk into Bill's house any time, and he did. Thursday Kott is trying to show that Allen doesn't "own his ass' as Allen claimed on tape. So now what he said on tape to Allen about doing his bidding and about his power to get things through the legislature was not really the truth, he was telling Bill what Bill wanted to hear. It was ok to lie to his best friends, almost family, to maintain his principles. What Goeke didn't ask was, "What are these principles that are more important than honesty and truth telling?"

What are these principles? In all this testimony, Kott really didn't tell us much about his principles. He did say he believed strongly in natural resources development. Was that really a principle he held stronger than truth telling? Then again, maybe it was. After all, he was willing to lie to other legislators to get the gas pipeline through. He also talked about the importance of family. But he tells us to look at his actions, not his words. While he put "Married for 30 years" on one of his brochures, now, we learned in the testimony, he has been living about four years with a woman who is not his wife to whom he is still legally married. And Bill Allen, he has told us throughout is like family, but he has also told us now that he has lied to Bill.

We don't know what those principles are. We do know he lies to get what he wants. So why shouldn't the jury assume that he is lying to them to get what he wants - a Not Guilty verdict?

Getting Kott to say that he lied to his very, very good friends, and to acknowledge that honesty is not one of his principles (he'd rather lie than violate those principles), the prosecution has undermined Kott's credibility with the jury.

Below is a series of exchanges where Kott said he lied. While they are not verbatim, I think they are fairly close, certainly in meaning, to what was said.

1.

Goeke (G): On the tape you say to Bill Allen (BA) and Rick Smith (RS) that you had to lie, cheat, and steal.
PK: There was a bit of deceit with Rep [Ethan] Berkowitz (B). I didn’t know at the time he knew what I was up to. I felt somewhat disappointed in myself.
G: How long working with EB?
PK: Ten years.
G: His role?
PK: Minority Leader
PK was speaker, had to develop relationship with Minority leader and did.
G: Why were you talking about lying, cheating, and stealing?
PK: Wanted to make point I didn’t feel real comfortable about it. Violated what I perceived as my ethics. Especially with Mr. B. We’d worked in the coup together also.
G: About getting votes of Crawford and Croft through your connection with B?
PK: Yes, if you review all the transcripts, you’ll see Crawford and Croft stuck on 20/20 position. They didn’t want to see anything pass if it wasn’t a gross tax. If they couldn’t get that, they’d do what they could to ?stop it? I was going to get credit for then [for getting their votes] I didn’t really deserve.

So right in the beginning Goeke has gotten Kott to say he had lied. The original quote from the tape, was that he told Allen and Rick that he'd had to "lie, cheat, and steal" to get Rep B to vote his way. So he's admitted that he would lie to his legislative colleagues to get his way, even one he'd developed a close relationship with.
By the end he was also admitting that he also, at least exaggerated, if not lied, to Allen and Smith about having gotten Crofts and Crawford's votes. He got credit for something he hadn't done.

2. The defense was trying to show that while Allen and Smith wanted the PPT to stay at 20/20, Kott was a free agent who instead voted for 21.5. To do this, they had to admit that what Kott said to Allen and Smith on the tape wasn't true. And so he did:

G: Later you went to Room 604 as was your custom. When you’re up there you have no idea the FBI is recording that conversation. So when you told RS, you were going to go up from 20/20 that wasn’t true was it?
PK: it was true
G: Recall later in the room, do you recall those conversations. Going to play a tape.
May 8 06 Ex 30 5:05
I don’t want to jeopardize the gas line, I’ll stay on 20, Reps x,y, and z will stay on 20.
Who’s on the screen?
PK: that was BA
PK You are speculating on my motives. These are good friends of mine. I’m going to tell them what they want to hear.
G: You’re lying to them
PK: I think my votes speak for themselves
G: I agree, but i think for different reasons

3. Then a little later. He gets Kott to say he is willing to sacrifice the truth for his principles. I think he missed an opportunity to ask, "So what are these principles that are more important than the truth?"

G: But you told Smith and Bill Allen frequently about your ability to work things.
PK: These are friends, I’m going to tell them what they want to hear, I want to boost their morale. This is chit chat.
G: You tell this jury here, that what they want to hear is that you lied to them
PK: not quite a lie, but a (stretch?) of the truth.
G: It wasn’t the truth?
PK: No it wasn’t the truth.
G: And those were the people you considered your long time friends, your Uncle Bill.
PK: There’s a difference between my words and actions. My principles.
G: Willing to sacrifice your principle of the truth with them?
PK: Yes. You can’t have it both ways.
G: Long standing relationship, right?
PK yes


4. After talking about the power of Fairbanks Senator Therriault, Wendt, Kott's own attorney asks Kott:

W: Did you have that sort of power
PK: I wish I did
W: Did you want Bill Allen and RS to see you as important?
PK Certainly I wanted to look good in their eyes.
W: Do you regret saying those things now?
PK Certainly led me to say things that weren’t entirely true. Whether I regret them at this point, I’m not sure. Perhaps I shouldn’t have gotten into that environment in the first place. If I have a choice between compromising my principles or lying to my friends, then lying to my friends will take a back seat.
W: What do you mean by back seat? That your principles come first?
PK: Yes

They covered a lot of other ground that I trust will be mentioned in the ADN and other sources. In the end, I would think this was the most important revelation for Thursday. I think that it should be relatively easy for the Prosecution to tie together how Kott's story changes depending on what point he's trying to make. Allen and Smith are my best friends and I trust them completely. Except that I lie to them when it suits me. I tell them what they want to hear. Presumably, before 12 total strangers he should have no compunctions about telling them what they want to hear so he won't have to go to jail.