In addition to today’s story on the Kott trial, we wanted to offer a sampling of the original phone call audio intercepted by federal investigators and played in U.S. District Court in Anchorage this week.
These are recordings from inside the courtroom, as recorded on the court’s own audio system. The quality of the audio leaves a lot to be desired, but most of the conversations are clear enough to easily understand.
Use the links below to play back (or download) the audio to hear each call being introduced into the court record. Some passages have been edited to eliminate court procedural elements.
April 18, 2006 at 6:21 p.m. (2 min, 23 sec)
Intercepted call on Bill Allen’s cell phone between he and Pete Kott. Key phrase: “You get your gasline, the Governor gets his bill, and I get my job in Barbados.”
May 7, 2006 at 8:38 p.m. (4 min, 32 sec)
Intercepted call on Rick Smith’s cell phone. Smith calls Pete Kott in the Legislature and Kott reports that fellow Representative “Weyrauch voted the wrong way” on an amendment that sought to raise the Petroleum Profits Tax (PPT) to 21.5% from the proposed 20%. Kott asks Smith if he should rescind the vote and take a re-vote. He does, and calls back an hour later (in the next clip).
May 7, 2006 at 9:35 p.m. (4 min, 41 sec)
Intercepted call on Rick Smith’s cell phone. Kott reports back after successfully killing the 21.5% PPT tax rate amendment discussed just an hour before. The tax stays at 20% and both are happy with the outcome.
June 3, 2006 at 12:32 p.m. (3 min, 43 sec)
Intercepted call between Pete Kott, Bill Allen and Rick Smith on Smith’s cell phone. They discuss the PPT bill and how Kott should probably work to kill it, now that it’s gathering amendments and not leaning in the producers’ favor.
