Alabama: Former Rep. Benjamin Lewis testifies about $$$ promises

Former Ala. legislator testifies in gambling trial
By PHILLIP RAWLS


MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- A former Alabama legislator who helped the FBI in its investigation of Statehouse corruption said a casino developer offered to pay for his entire re-election campaign if he supported pro-gambling legislation, and indicted state Sen. Harri Anne Smith told him in a tape-recorded call that the developer was good for the money.

"She was saying that if I voted for the bill, they would raise the money," former Rep. Benjamin Lewis testified in federal court Wednesday.

Lewis spent a second day Wednesday testifying in the trial of Smith and eight others accused of buying and selling votes on legislation designed to protect electronic bingo casinos from raids by Gov. Bob Riley's gambling task force.

Outside the courthouse, Smith said, "I am truly innocent and there are motivations behind these people who are testifying that are truly absurd."

Under questioning by Smith's attorney, Lewis testified that the senator never offered him any money to support the gambling bill and never did anything to get him to take the side of casino developers.

Lewis, now a district judge in Dothan, served in the Alabama House from November 2006 until June 2010, when Riley appointed him to the judgeship. Much of his testimony Wednesday involved Ronnie Gilley, developer of Country Crossing casino in Dothan, who has pleaded guilty to offering bribes to legislators.

Lewis testified that Smith encouraged him to attend a dinner in Montgomery on March 4, 2009, where Gilley was urging some legislators to support his project and the pro-gambling legislation. He said country entertainers John Anderson and Aaron Tippin joined Gilley at the dinner, along with Nashville music executive James Stroud, who was then president of Ronnie Gilley Entertainment.

Lewis said he told Gilley that the best he could do was not criticize the legislation but he would have to vote against the bill because of his opposition to gambling.

He said Gilley then asked how much he spent in his 2006 campaign. Smith said $150,000, but Lewis said it was more like $200,000. Then one of Gilley's lobbyists, Jarrod Massey, said it would take double that amount to run in 2010.

"Ronnie Gilley pointed his finger at James Stroud and said, `He can write you a check for that,'" Lewis testified.

Lewis, a Republican, said he later talked about the dinner with his Montgomery roommate, Republican state Sen. Scott Beason of Gardendale, who was also at the dinner. He said Beason recounted that Smith, a Slocomb independent, had told him that House members could expect $200,000 to $250,000 from gambling supporters for voting for the bill and Senate members could get up to $500,000.

Lewis said he became worried Gilley made an illegal offer and he contacted the Houston County sheriff, who put him in touch with the FBI. He soon became the first of three legislators who helped the FBI in its investigation of Statehouse corruption.

On March 24, 2009, the FBI recorded Lewis as he called Smith to get her views about the promise of campaign funds. On the tape, Smith said she didn't believe Gilley had the money in hand yet to build Country Crossing, but she thought he would keep his offer to provide campaign support if Lewis voted for the bill.

"I believe that they will raise the money," Smith said on the tape.

She was also recorded saying that if she voted for the bill, she didn't plan to take any campaign money from Gilley. "I'm keeping him from giving it to somebody else," she said on the tape.

Two days later, Lewis called Gilley while he was in the hospital being treated for pneumonia and talked about the pro-gambling bill. In the conversation recorded by the FBI, Gilley told Lewis, "The level of support you've been getting ain't a drop in the bucket to what you'll get."

Outside the courthouse, Smith's attorney, Jim Parkman, said Lewis was helping the FBI for political gain.

"There is no doubt he was doing things for the Republican Party and Governor Riley," Parkman said.

But under questioning by attorneys, Lewis said the judgeship he got through appointment by the governor didn't become vacant until a year after he began helping the FBI.

In addition to Smith, the defendants are VictoryLand casino owner Milton McGregor; McGregor lobbyists Tom Coker and Bob Geddie; former Sens. Larry Means and Jim Preuitt; current Sen. Quinton Ross; former Country Crossing spokesman Jay Walker; and former legislative employee Ray Crosby.

Attorneys say the trial, which is in its third week, will last several more weeks.