JUNEAU — The former chief of staff for ex-Gov. Frank Murkowski apologized to Alaskans on Tuesday for concealing more than $68,000 in Murkowski campaign expenses that were paid for by an oil field services company.

Jim Clark pleaded guilty to fraud Tuesday in an ongoing corruption probe that has led to charges against legislators and VECO Corp. executives and put some of the state's most powerful politicians under scrutiny.

According to Clark's plea agreement, filed late Monday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, he could be sentenced to nearly four years in prison, plus three years supervised release and a fine ranging from $7,500 to $75,000.

"No one is more aware of my inappropriate conduct than I am. For this I sincerely apologize to all Alaskans," Clark said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press on Tuesday.

"Not only were my violations of Alaska's campaign finance laws wrong and unethical, they were stupid," he said.

Efforts to reach Murkowski, a former United States senator and father of current Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, also weren't immediately successful.

The plea agreement states that Clark conspired with VECO to hide from state election regulators more than $68,000 in polls and consultants' fees for Frank Murkowski's failed re-election bid two years ago.

Clark knew the campaign contributions were illegal because the money was not disclosed on filings submitted to the Alaska Public Offices Commission, the state election watchdog organization, court documents said.

Murkowski was soundly defeated in the 2006 Republican primary by the eventual winner, Gov. Sarah Palin, who campaigned on ethics reform.

Clark said in his statement that he had taken an illegal fund-raising "shortcut ... because I saw myself as 'too busy' to make the phone calls that I could have made to potential contributors to legally raise the money."

Clark apologized to Murkowski, "who trusted me to follow the law while acting in his behalf," and to Murkowski's 2006 primary opponents.

Palin said in a statement that Clark's admissions are "an indication that the federal corruption probe is very far reaching.

"It unfortunately proves what many had speculated was true. This reinforces our commitment to ensure that we serve Alaskans in a manner that's expected of state leaders," Palin said.

With his plea, Clark agreed to cooperate "in all federal, state and local investigations and prosecutions as requested," court documents said.

Former VECO chief executive Bill Allen and vice president Rick Smith also are cooperating. Both have pleaded guilty to bribing Alaska lawmakers, but neither has been sentenced.

Two former state lawmakers have been convicted of accepting bribes from VECO; one is serving his sentence in a federal prison in Oregon; another awaits sentencing. A third former lawmaker awaits trial.

During testimony in federal corruption trials, Allen and Smith already have implicated U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens; his son, former Alaska Senate President Ben Stevens; and current state Sen. John Cowdery. None of the three has been charged and each denies any wrongdoing.

Ted Stevens is being investigated for a remodeling project at his home in Girdwood, a ski resort community on Anchorage's southern edge. Allen has testified that he sent VECO employees to work on the house.

Beyond saying he's paid every bill presented him for the remodeling project, Stevens will not comment on the investigation.

Smith has testified that he bribed Ben Stevens and Cowdery.

U.S. Rep. Don Young is the subject of a federal investigation that includes his campaign finance practices. Young's re-election campaign last year spent $854,053 on legal fees, but he won't disclose how the money was used.

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