Legislator: Country Crossing supporters offer more than $200,000 for vote

Legislator: Country Crossing supporters offer more than $200,000 for vote
Written by
Sebastian Kitchen

Former state Rep. Benjamin Lewis, a key government witness who recorded conversations for the FBI in a corruption investigation, went to authorities after he felt Country Crossing developer Ronnie Gilley tried to bribe him with hundreds of thousands of dollars in help for his next campaign during dinner at a Montgomery restaurant.


Lewis and two other legislators attended a March 2009 dinner at Garrett’s restaurant where Gilley and others were promoting Country Crossing, a country-music themed project near Dothan with a bingo pavilion, restaurants and other attractions.


Lewis, a Republican from Houston County, and Gilley got into a heated argument about the project, which would have been funded by electronic gambling.


Lewis said he was asked how much his last campaign cost, which was more than $200,000 in 2006. Gilley and his lobbyist, Jarrod Massey, said there would be more money available for his next campaign.


Lewis said Gilley told him music producer James Stroud, a supporter of the project who was at the dinner and who had been at the State House with Gilley supporting Country Crossing, would write him a check for twice that much.


“I told you the level of support you’ve been getting ain’t a drop into the bucket,” Gilley tells Lewis in a later conversation Lewis secretly recorded. “All we’re asking you to do is give people the opportunity to vote.”


Lewis, who was since appointed a district judge in Houston County by then-Gov. Bob Riley, is on the witness stand for a second day in a government corruption trial alleging that VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor, two sitting state senators, and six others schemed to pass legislation that would help gambling interests in the state if it passed. Gilley and Massey have already pleaded guilty.


Lewis said in court his concerns grew about the comments at the dinner and that he contacted local authorities in Houston County, who put him in touch with the FBI.


An agent asked him to record conversations with Gilley and state Sen. Harri Anne Smith, a defendant in the case who also attended the dinner at Garrett’s.

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State Sen. Scott Beason, who also recorded conversations with the FBI and roomed with Lewis in Montgomery during legislative sessions, testified that Smith told him following that dinner that Country Crossing supporters could help him with as much as $500,000 for a campaign for lieutenant governor if he supported the project. Lewis said Beason told him about that conversation. He said Beason told him that he was told House members who supported gambling legislation would receive $200,000 to $250,000 for their campaigns with senators receiving $500,000.

Smith, an independent from Slocomb, said that conversation never happened.

Smith, in a phone conversation secretly recorded by Lewis, said she asked Riley on a trip following deadly shootings in Samson in 2009 why he did not help them when they went to him a year earlier trying to stop Country Crossing. Lewis, Smith and local leaders said they went to Riley and then to Attorney General Troy King in 2008 asking for help.

Smith said Riley told her that then-Sen. Charles Bishop, R-Jasper, later came to him with ministers and other people from Walker County asking for help after more gambling operations popped up there. She said Riley told her, as he has told the Montgomery Advertiser, that he then asked a lawyer to look into the legality of so-called electronic bingo.

After looking into it, his staff had a different view from King. Riley then formed a task force which then tried to, through raids or the threat of raids, shut down casinos in the state including Country Crossing and VictoryLand.

Smith said, when she asked Riley about his action now after not helping them, that “he was real shaky on that. His voice quivered.” She said “I didn’t let up … which I wanted to do because I don’t trust him.”

“I don’t trust the governor. I think all this stuff he is doing is a shame,” she told Lewis.

Smith said she had the impression, from her conversation with Riley, that there was a political squabble between Riley and King and that was at the heart of a lot of the issue for him.

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Smith said she questioned how serious Riley was about the gambling issue. She told him: “Governor the only way I know you are serious is that the first machines you pick up are Milton McGregor’s” who she said was the “800-pound gorilla.”

“If Milton is Illegal, then we will get him,” Smith said Riley told her.

When Lewis asked her in a conversation about whether she thought Gilley and his supporters would seriously help with money for a campaign, Smith said she believed they would follow through.

When Lewis talked to her about the campaign help, she said she would not take it so it could go somewhere else.

Smith told him in the conversation that she believed there would be opposition to her and Lewis and they would lose if they voted against the bill

“I think Ronnie is crooked,” Lewis said in the conversation and said that his camp “would stab you in the back in a heartbeat.”

Smith said she did not believe Gilley would “stab you in the back” if he voted with them.

In the conversation, Smith also told Lewis “I passionately oppose gambling.”
Lewis said he recorded about 20 conversations.

State Sen. Scott Beason, who also recorded conversations with the FBI and roomed with Lewis in Montgomery during legislative sessions, testified that Smith told him following that dinner that Country Crossing supporters could help him with as much as $500,000 for a campaign for lieutenant governor if he supported the project. Lewis said Beason told him about that conversation. He said Beason told him that he was told House members who supported gambling legislation would receive $200,000 to $250,000 for their campaigns with senators receiving $500,000.


Smith, an independent from Slocomb, said that conversation never happened.


Smith, in a phone conversation secretly recorded by Lewis, said she asked Riley on a trip following deadly shootings in Samson in 2009 why he did not help them when they went to him a year earlier trying to stop Country Crossing. Lewis, Smith and local leaders said they went to Riley and then to Attorney General Troy King in 2008 asking for help.


Smith said Riley told her that then-Sen. Charles Bishop, R-Jasper, later came to him with ministers and other people from Walker County asking for help after more gambling operations popped up there. She said Riley told her, as he has told the Montgomery Advertiser, that he then asked a lawyer to look into the legality of so-called electronic bingo.


After looking into it, his staff had a different view from King. Riley then formed a task force which then tried to, through raids or the threat of raids, shut down casinos in the state including Country Crossing and VictoryLand.

Smith said, when she asked Riley about his action now after not helping them, that “he was real shaky on that. His voice quivered.” She said “I didn’t let up … which I wanted to do because I don’t trust him.”

“I don’t trust the governor. I think all this stuff he is doing is a shame,” she told Lewis.

Smith said she had the impression, from her conversation with Riley, that there was a political squabble between Riley and King and that was at the heart of a lot of the issue for him.

Smith said she questioned how serious Riley was about the gambling issue. She told him: “Governor the only way I know you are serious is that the first machines you pick up are Milton McGregor’s” who she said was the “800-pound gorilla.”

“If Milton is Illegal, then we will get him,” Smith said Riley told her.

When Lewis asked her in a conversation about whether she thought Gilley and his supporters would seriously help with money for a campaign, Smith said she believed they would follow through.

When Lewis talked to her about the campaign help, she said she would not take it so it could go somewhere else.

Smith told him in the conversation that she believed there would be opposition to her and Lewis and they would lose if they voted against the bill

“I think Ronnie is crooked,” Lewis said in the conversation and said that his camp “would stab you in the back in a heartbeat.”

Smith said she did not believe Gilley would “stab you in the back” if he voted with them.

In the conversation, Smith also told Lewis “I passionately oppose gambling.”
Lewis said he recorded about 20 conversations.