Iowa Corruption: Daniel casino trial reset for fall

Daniel casino trial reset for fall
Court date pushed back to October
By BILL SHEA, Messenger staff writer , Messenger News

The trial of a Fort Dodge businessman charged with making an illegal campaign contribution to former Gov. Chet Culver has been postponed until the fall while a special prosecutor and defense attorneys spar via court filings.

This week, Polk County Associate District Court Judge William Price moved the starting date of Steve Daniel's trial to Oct. 10.

But the trial won't happen at all if Daniel's attorney, Monty Fisher, of Fort Dodge, succeeds in getting the charges of making a campaign contribution in the name of another and willful failure to disclose a campaign contribution dismissed.

Leon Spies, the attorney for co-defendant Curtis Beason, of Davenport, said he intends to file a motion to dismiss all charges against his client as well.

Price hasn't set a date for a hearing on those requests to dismiss charges.

He has set a June 28 hearing on requests to move the trial of Daniel to Webster County and to separate his case from that of Beason.

The scheduling changes came in the same week Special Prosecutor Lawrence Scalise filed paperwork alleging that Daniel and Beason aided each other in making a $25,000 contribution to Culver's re-election campaign.

''They changed their theory of the case,'' Fisher said.

He described the change as ''somewhat unusual'' considering that the alleged offense occurred in 2009 and the criminal charges were filed on Oct. 11, 2010.

''As we have said all along, Mr. Daniel did not enter into any agreement to make any type of improper campaign contribution,'' Fisher said.

Fisher received Scalise's documents Friday afternoon, and said he couldn't comment in detail on them.

A phone call seeking comment from Scalise wasn't returned Friday.

Daniel and Beason are the last people facing charges connected to the $25,000 donation. Webster County Entertainment, the organization Daniel led in an effort to establish the Diamond Jo Fort Dodge casino, is also charged with making a campaign contribution in the name of another and willful failure to report a campaign contribution. Beason, who was advising the casino planners, was charged with those offenses and obstruction.

On May 13, Scalise dropped all charges against parties he had previously identified as the principal offenders in the case. They were Dubuque-based Peninsula Gaming LLC and its two top leaders, Brent Stevens, the chief executive officer, and Jonathan Swain, the chief operating officer.

That development prompted Fisher and Scalise to request a delay in the trial, which Price approved this week.

Peninsula Gaming was to operate the local casino if a state license was awarded for it.

The $25,000 donation was made in November 2009, soon after Peninsula Gaming paid Daniel and two other Fort Dodge men, Jim Kesterson and Merrill Leffler Jr., a consulting fee of the same amount. Kesterson and Leffler were not charged with any crimes.

The Diamond Jo Fort Dodge plan collapsed in May 2010 when the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission declined to issue the needed license.