Frank Prewitt
James Franklin Prewitt (January 31, 1949 - September 7, 2020) was an American attorney and government affairs consultant. He was a
Early years
James Franklin Prewitt, also known as Frank, was born in Berkeley, California on January 31, 1949. He was the youngest of three children born to Catherine and James Prewitt, co-founder of Western Baptist College (now Corban University) in Salem, Oregon. He attended public and international schools in the San Francisco Bay Area and Israel and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Corban College, a Master of Science degree from the University of Oregon and Juris Doctor degree from the University of Puget Sound School of Law.[citation needed]
During graduate school Frank served as a Trooper with the
Government service
In thirteen years of public service to the State of Alaska, Prewitt served as the Director of the Alaska Psychiatric Institute, Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Corrections and Assistant Alaska Attorney General.[citation needed]
When the State of Alaska's only Psychiatric Hospital was at risk of losing accreditation, Governor
Prewitt served under, and at the will of three successive Alaska Governors (Bill Sheffield, Steve Cowper and Walter Hickel). In his final year of public service, editorial writers of Alaska's largest newspaper twice applauded Commissioner Prewitt for his, "unusually level-headed approach to the high charged issue of crime…when he argues 'adding police and prosecutors, without giving equal attention to prevention, custody and treatment alternatives may be tough-minded, but it's also soft-headed and fiscally irresponsible."[2][dubious ]
Private practice
In 1995 Prewitt established a private consulting and lobbying practice advising and representing human service organizations pursuing business partnerships, outsourcing opportunity, funding, statutory and regulatory changes with Alaska state and local government.
From 1998 to 2004 Prewitt was the consulting government affairs and corrections expert for corporate partnerships proposing construction and operation of for-profit correctional facilities in Alaska, Oregon and Washington.[
Combating political corruption
From 2004 to 2007, Prewitt worked with undercover investigators as an FBI confidential source, exposing Alaska's sub-culture of political corruption.[citation needed]
On October 10, 2007 the
Two of the early private prisons venture partners were caught up in the ongoing Alaska political corruption probe leading to blogger and press speculation that Prewitt's service to the federal government may have been the result of a secret plea agreement although no formal charges were placed. Prewitt contends his participation with the FBI began after he was cleared. He wore a wire to record conversations in meetings with probe targets. Court documents filed on March 22, 2010 in a criminal appeal indicated that Prewitt had been paid $200,000 for his assistance.[3]
In the trial of ex-Representative Tom Anderson, Prewitt explained how he was willing to go undercover for the feds to try to ease his own criminal exposure in unrelated investigations. Counsel for Anderson, Paul Stockler, said Anderson assisted Cornell, a private prison company, without compensation from the time the investigation was initiated, but it was only after the Hickel administration's former Corrections Commissioner Frank Prewitt, who by then was under investigation himself, made overtures to his client, that he became involved.[4]
Criticism
Under cross-examination during the criminal trial of former Alaska Representative Tom Anderson, Prewitt testified that he accepted a $30,000 loan from Bill Weimar in 1994, four months before the end of his term as Commissioner of Corrections. He testified it was a personal loan offered during a family emergency that he gratefully accepted and repaid by providing six months of legal consulting work for Allvest, Incorporated from February 1995 to July 1995. He testified that Bill Weimar had a contract to provide halfway house services to Corrections. Neither the prosecution nor defense offered evidence that the loan was accepted in exchange for official acts, special interest favors, or was related in any way to a specific impropriety.[citation needed]
Allvest faced two lawsuits that allege its board of directors defrauded plaintiffs in two 2001 court judgments that held the private corporation responsible for wrongful actions. Attorneys Tim Dooley and Brett von Gemmingen alleged that Allvest owner Weimar sold Allvest assets valued at more than $17 million and distributed most of those funds to himself, with the transfer approved by the Allvest board of directors which was composed of Weimar, Prewitt, and Robert Cronen. "These transfers were made with the intent to evade just obligations," Dooley allege(d) in his lawsuit ...
Personal
Prewitt died on September 7, 2020. He was survived by his wife, V Rae, son Jason, daughters Tara Horton and Kelly Preston.[9]
References
- ^ State of Alaska Office of the Governor No. 92-201 09/23/92
- ^ Anchorage Daily News (ADN) Editorial 02/01/94; Anchorage Daily News (ADN) Editorial 08/28/94
- Alaska Dispatch News, Lisa Demer, March 23, 2010. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
- ^ Alaska corruption trial sent to jury Archived 2017-09-17 at the Wayback Machine, Juneau Empire, July 9, 2007. Retrieved September 17, 2017.
- ^ Fairbanks News-Miner 11/08/02
- ^ Anchorage Daily News 07/03/07
- ^ [1], United States Department of Justice, July 9, 2007. Retrieved September 19, 2013.
- ^ Alaska State Senator indicted on public corruption, Anchorage Daily News, October 6, 2007. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
- ^ James Franklin Prewitt, Anchorage Daily News, September 13, 2020. Retrieved September 18, 2020.