Alaska Governor’s Testimony Called ‘Not Credible’

In his closing statement in the Alaska Senate’s impeachment hearing against Gov. Bill Sheffield, special prosecutor Samuel Dash charged Friday that the chief executive’s lapses of memory about a state office building lease could constitute perjury.

Dash, a former Watergate prosecutor hired by the Senate to present the case against the first-term Democratic governor, told the Senate Rules Committee that there was “clear and commanding evidence the governor’s testimony before the grand jury is not credible.” The committee must decide whether to present an impeachment bill to the full Senate.

The grand jury investigated the award of a $9.1-million contract for a Fairbanks office building owned in part by political ally and fund-raiser Joseph (Lenny) Arsenault. The panel did not indict the governor but urged the impeachment action.

Sheffield pleaded his case before the committee earlier this week, but Dash said his closing statement would “only address where Sheffield lied to a grand jury in April.”

Dash said Sheffield’s “inability to recall meetings with his prosecutor who warned him of a possible scandal as well as a meeting with a friend and supporter (Arsenault) could constitute perjury.”