Alabama gambling trial highlights practice of lobbyists paying referral fees to legislators

Alabama gambling trial highlights practice of lobbyists paying referral fees to legislators
PHILLIP RAWLS Associated Press

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama's gambling corruption trial has exposed a little-known source of income for some legislators: thousands of dollars in referral fees from lobbyists who are trying to influence their votes.

Testimony in the case shows that Republican state Rep. Barry Mask of Wetumpka and former Democratic Rep. Terry Spicer of Elba were paid for referrals for years.

Jim Sumner, executive director of the State Ethics Commission, said he's not aware of any other legislators who got referral fees. "I'm very wary of these because of the conflict of interest that's created," Sumner said in an interview.

Country Crossing casino lobbyist Jarrod Massey testified in a pretrial hearing that he paid Spicer $1,000 to $2,000 in cash monthly for six or seven years while he was serving in the Alabama House for referring clients to him. Massey said the referrals from Spicer included Country Crossing developer Ronnie Gilley, who became his No. 1 client.

Both Massey and Gilley have pleaded guilty to offering millions in bribes to legislators to support pro-gambling legislation.

Spicer, who was defeated in November, serves as school superintendent in Elba.

He did not return phone calls seeking comment about the payments. A review of the financial disclosure forms he filed with the Ethics Commission each year do not show any payments by Massey.

Mask's annual ethics forms do show he got payments from former Lt. Gov. Steve Windom, whose lobbying clients include Computer Associates. Legislators check broad ranges of dollars on the forms instead of listing specific amounts. In most years, Mask listed his referral fees from Windom as being between $10,000 and $50,000. Windom said in an interview the amounts have varied, but they have been "on the low end of the $10,000 to $50,000 annually."

Mask is a former lobbyist for several groups, including the Business Council of Alabama. He is one of three legislators who helped the FBI with its investigation of Statehouse corruption.

He testified that he recommended Windom to Computer Associates in 2004 before being elected to the Legislature in 2006. His agreement with Windom called for him to get referral fees as long as Windom kept the computer company as a client.

Sumner said Alabama's ethics law does not address referral fees specifically, but it does prohibit a public official from using his position for personal gain. He said Mask's situation is different because the referral fee started before he was elected to the Legislature.

The Ethics Commission has never issued an advisory opinion on the fees because "nobody has ever asked," Sumner said.

But he made his view clear: "I don't think a member of the Legislature should be paid for recommending a client to a lobbyist."

Sumner said referral fees are reminiscent of what went on in the Legislature before the enactment of Alabama's first ethics law in 1973. At that time, many seats in the Legislature were held by lawyers and it was common for them to get retainers from utilities, insurance companies and other major corporations.

The ethics chief said the new law caused the retainers to start disappearing and the number of lawyers in the Legislature to decline.

"I don't think we ever want to go back to that," he said.