Jurors Given Two Portraits of Stevens

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Sullivan also referred to Stevens’ financial transactions, including closing a trust fund and procuring a mortgage, to demonstrate that the Senator and his wife, Catherine, intended to pay for the renovations themselves.

Although Stevens allegedly paid regular bills for the renovation work, Sullivan asserted that Allen suppressed a final bill for nearly $20,000 from a subcontractor, later paying that tab in conjunction with a separate invoice for work on his own home.

“You can’t report what you don’t know. You can’t fill out a form and say what’s been kept from you by the deviousness of Bill Allen,” Sullivan asserted.

The defense also sought to frame many of the alleged gifts as unwanted burdens for Stevens, including used leather furniture, a large gas grill, a toolbox and even $20,000 in outdoor Christmas lights.

“The evidence will show he didn’t want these things, he didn’t need these things, he didn’t ask for these things,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan also offered a preliminary defense of suggestions that at the same time Stevens allegedly received gifts from VECO and its employees, the company also solicited the Senator and his staff for assistance, including the procurement of government grants, asserting that Stevens was merely assisting a home-state company.

“There’s nothing illegal about that. Bring ’em on. Line it up. Ted Stevens is crazy about his constituents,” Sullivan said. “To suggest that he or his office worked for his constituents, yes. Guilty.”

Former VECO Employees Take Stand

Two former VECO employees testified in the case Thursday — the first of as many as 200 individuals who could be called during the expected four-week trial.

Both witnesses, now employed by the Colorado-based CH2M Hill, which purchased VECO in mid-2007, testified about either the renovations to Stevens’ home or subsequent projects, including the installation of a backup generator.

During both interviews, federal prosecutors introduced numerous floor plans, drawings and photographs showing the home’s interior and exterior. The images included both the original A-frame home, and the subsequent two-story structure, created when a new first floor was constructed and the original home raised to become the second level.

Federal prosecutors first called John Hess, now a program manager for CH2M Hill, who served as the architect for the Girdwood house renovations in the summer of 2000.

Hess testified that Allen introduced him to Stevens at an Anchorage restaurant called Jens’ (pronounced Yens) in mid-2000, where they dined in a private room and discussed the would-be renovation project during the 90-minute lunch.

Hess said Stevens wanted to confer with his wife about the design plans, which he would later fax several versions of to Stevens’ Washington, D.C., office

“I felt it was definitely a cooperative effort from the two of them about what they wanted in the final design,” Hess said, noting he also spoke with Stevens briefly on the telephone several times, although he did not meet him in person again.

Hess also testified about a folder on which he’d made handwritten notes including the names of Stevens and his wife, Catherine, Allen, as well as Rocky Williams and Dave Anderson, both VECO employees involved with the project, and a subcontractor.

Derrick Awad, who worked as a laborer for VECO, also testified Thursday regarding his work to install a backup generator at Stevens’ home in late 1999.

Awad, who valued the generator at about $6,000, said VECO paid him for his work at Stevens’ home, and said neither the Senator nor his wife were home when the unit was installed.

Paul Singer contributed to this report.