Lawmaker: Casino owner sent 2 lobbyists bearing $2,500 checks

Lawmaker: Casino owner sent 2 lobbyists bearing $2,500 checks
Written by
Sebastian Kitchen

Lobbyists for Milton McGregor delivered two checks to state Rep. Barry Mask the same day that the casino owner said he would find significant help for the legislator if he supported pro-gambling legislation, according to testimony in a federal corruption trial Monday.

McGregor, owner of VictoryLand in Shorter, also told Mask that legislators who did not support the people's right to vote on the legislation would have a political "price to pay" in the 2010 primaries and general election.

McGregor is one of nine defendants in the federal corruption trial that went into its third week Monday. McGregor and gambling supporters are accused of trying to bribe lawmakers to support the legislation.

The bill, if approved by the Legislature and voters, would have allowed electronic gambling, taxed it, and created a state gaming commission.

Mask, R-Wetumpka, is a key government witness and recorded conversations for the FBI, including two phone conversations with McGregor that were played in court Monday. He will be on the stand again at 9 a.m. today.

"I can get you support from people. I wouldn't think you would want support directly from me," McGregor says to Mask in the conversation.

An attorney for McGregor, in questioning Mask's credibility, questioned him about his gambling, about fees he receives from a prominent lobbyist with connections to the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, and about him receiving those fees connected to a company that does work for the state even though he is a legislator.

Joe Espy, lead attorney for McGregor, asked Mask if he realized during the course of 608 days, the time of the alleged conspiracy, that he had less than 40 minutes of telephone calls and no face-to-face meetings with McGregor.

"I don't recall any face-to-face meetings," Mask said of McGregor.

Espy said it is Mask, when McGregor was about to hang up, who brought up political contributions. Mask acknowledged asking McGregor about his fundraiser that night.
Espy said Mask initiated every call between him and McGregor except for one.

Mask said he also did not remember recording a third conversation with McGregor.

Mask and McGregor

On the tape, McGregor tells Mask "I need you to be one of the 63" votes in favor of the legislation in the House.

"I promise you this that you will never be sorry that you voted to let the people vote," McGregor said to Mask.

Both men, in the conversation, acknowledged that McGregor had never given any money to Mask before that.

Mask tells McGregor that people would go "hog wild" in his district, which includes parts of Elmore and Coosa counties, if he took money directly from McGregor.
Mask asks McGregor how much he thinks his friends would be willing to help him.
"I'll get on that," McGregor said.

Mask asked if those people would be giving $500 or "a couple thousand."

"No, I said significant help. These people are players Barry," McGregor said.
McGregor, in the conversation played in court, lets him know he has a "ton of friends" on his side that he can influence to support Mask that otherwise would not.
When asked in court what McGregor was saying, Mask said "he's buying my vote."

Mask and McGregor talked Feb. 15, 2010, the morning of a fundraiser for Mask at Johnny G's Pit BBQ in Tallassee. Mask asked McGregor if he had anyone attending the fundraiser who was bringing contributions and McGregor said he did not know about it.
But, that night, lobbyists Bob Geddie and Ben Patterson attended the fundraiser and brought an envelope with two $2,500 checks from political action committees operated by Fine Geddie & Associates.

Geddie is a defendant in the case.

When he opened the envelope later and saw the checks, Mask said he thought "oh crap" and called the FBI agents who were there in his office earlier when he called McGregor.

Mask said he opened a separate account with ASE Credit Union at the request of the FBI. He said the money is still there and he has never spent it.

Mask spoke again with McGregor on the next day, Feb. 16, 2010.

"I got Bob and Ben to go over to your fundraiser last night. They were impressed," McGregor tells Mask.

There was a dispute between Mask and defense attorneys Monday about his conversations with Geddie and Patterson that night. Mask said he had been wired by the FBI, but did not record conversations.

Geddie, according to Espy, told Mask he was bringing the checks for some of his corporate clients, Great Southern Wood and Protective Life Corp. Mask said that was not true. Espy said that could be proven if Mask had used the wire to record the conversation.

Mask's past

U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson did not allow defense attorneys to question Mask about receiving two government-funded checks, or his support for a 4 percent tax in Elmore County. He ruled those were not relevant to the current case.

Espy alleged that Mask receives not only more than $50,000 in salary as a state representative, but more than $97,000 for running the Elmore County Economic Development Authority, which he helped found and which receives almost $300,000 a year in funding from Elmore County. He said Mask was a double dipper.

Mask said the authority also receives private funding and is a 501c3.

Espy also said Mask was pushing a lodging tax for Elmore County in the Legislature and that the proceeds would go to the economic development authority to pay salaries, including his own.

With the jury in the courtroom, Espy questioned Mask receiving money from lobbyist and former Lt. Gov. Steve Windom, who lobbied for the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, and that Mask receives $10,000 to $50,000 each year for referring another client to Windom.

Espy said that client, Computer Associates, does work for the state and that Mask as a legislator continues to receive money for referring that company even though it continues to do work for the state.

When asked how much work he was doing for that money, Mask said "nothing," but said receiving the fee for referring someone was standard practice in business and that he referred that company in 2004 before he was a legislator.

Espy also questioned Mask about playing poker with his friends even though he has criticized gambling.


Mask, who plays cards regularly and invited friends for a poker bash for his birthday, said he enjoys playing cards.

"Even though he's a gambler, he doesn't want any gambling money," Espy said as he was leaving the courthouse.

Mask said in court he has never knowingly taken money from gambling interests, including McGregor and Native American operations.

"It is just a personal philosophy of mine. I do not think it is a good public policy to take money from gambling interests because of how they make their money off of people," Mask said when asked by a prosecutor.

Espy also asked Mask, in court, about being fired by the Business Council of Alabama, on May 31, 1995, and being told to get off of the property.

He asked Mask if he referred to his boss as a "spineless son of a b----."
Mask said that could have been what he said.

When asked about the proceedings leaving the courthouse on Monday, Mask said "that's part of their job and that's what they are doing."

"At the end of the day, this is not fun for anybody," he said.

Going to authorities

Mask contacted the Alabama Department of Public Safety after a series of events, about the time of state raids on casinos, including a voice mail from McGregor on Feb. 14, 2010, which was just two days after a man Mask said was a McGregor supporter tried to buy all 100 of the $50 tickets to the Mask fundraiser in Tallassee.

Mask told the woman helping to organize the event, Debbie Moore, who will take the witness stand next, that he did not want money from gambling interests, but the man told her he was coming anyway.

Mask called the attorney at DPS after the man said he would come to the fundraiser anyway.

He also said it was because of the timing of the raids, and after the call from McGregor, who Mask said he had not talked to in at least 18 months.

FBI agents then contacted Mask. They met him the next day at his office at the Elmore County Economic Development Authority in Wetumpka, where he returned McGregor's phone call and recorded it.

McGregor and Mask talked about conversations they each had with Robert Lambert, who lives in Mask's district and raised dogs that raced at VictoryLand in Shorter.

Lambert, according to Mask, called the lawmaker and tried to push him to support the legislation and said there was support out there if he voted for it.

Mask said he believes support meant campaign contributions.

Lambert, according to McGregor on the audio, told the casino owner that Mask's concern was casino interests becoming involved financially in the appointment of members to a gaming commission that would have been formed if the legislation passed.

McGregor, when he called Mask, told the legislator he would not become involved in those appointments because it was not appropriate.