Alabama: Lobbyists believes more targeted

Gambling corruption trial: Witness says he believes feds targeting 20 more people
Written by
Sebastian Kitchen

A gambling lobbyist who has pleaded guilty to bribery and cor­ruption acknowledged Thursday that he believes there are 20 more targets in a federal investigation into corruption in Alabama politics.

Jarrod Massey, who was a lob­byist for Country Crossing devel­oper Ronnie Gilley, also talked about a list of 14 senators "in play" to vote for gambling legisla­tion and talked about paying to take a state legislator and his fam­ily to ski in Colorado.

Massey has now been on the witness stand for a week and will return this morning.

Susan James, an attorney for former Country Crossing spokes­man Jay Walker, asked Massey if he said in a call from jail that there were 20 other people that federal authorities were targeting.

Massey acknowledged he said that and said he would fully coop­erate with those investigations.

James, leaving the courthouse Thursday, said Massey did not mention any names.
Walker is one of nine people on trial for their alleged role in a scheme in which casino operators and their lobbyists tried to bribe state lawmakers.

Gilley, who has also pleaded guilty, said when he was testifying in this case that he would probably testify in other trials, and a federal prose­cutor indicated earlier this week that Massey's coopera­tion extends far beyond the current case.

Massey and Gilley have admitted to bribing former state Rep. Terry Spicer, who is not a defendant in the case.

Activities in court have also indicated Spicer, a Dem­ocrat from Elba who lost his bid for re-election in Novem­ber, has been cooperating with federal authorities. A defense attorney questioned Massey about whether he knew if Spicer had entered into a plea agreement, but Massey said he didn't know.

Massey, who made a trip to Colorado before reporting to prison, said Thursday that he made two skiing trips to Colorado with Spicer and his family.

Massey said Spicer paid for some incidentals such as ski rentals, but that he paid for the majority of the trip himself.

'In play'

David McKnight, attorney for lobbyist Tom Coker, asked Massey about a list of senators Massey provided to federal authorities that con­tained the names of 14 state senators who he thought were "in play" and might vote for gambling legislation.

Casino operators and their lobbyists were trying to pass legislation to allow them to keep their casinos operating.

Of the 14 senators on the list Massey gave to authori­ties, eight voted against the legislation on March 30, 2010. The Senate narrowly passed the legislation, but it died in the House of Repre­sentatives.

Those who were on the list, but voted against the bill include Republicans Scott Beason of Gardendale; Ben Brooks of Mobile; Charles Bishop of Jasper; Larry Dix­on of Montgomery; Steve French of Mountain Brook and Paul Sanford of Hunts­ville; and Democrats Tom Butler of Madison and Phil Poole of Tuscaloosa.

Those on the "in play" list who voted for the bill are Democrats Kim Benefield of Woodland; Bobby Denton of Muscle Shoals; Marc Keahey of Grove Hill; Larry Means of Attalla; Wendell Mitchell of Luverne and Jim Preuitt of Talladega. Preuitt switched to the Republican Party soon after the vote.

Means and Preuitt are de­fendants in the ongoing pub­lic corruption case. Coker, a lobbyist for VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor, and his client are defendants in the case.

Also Thursday, McKnight played audio secretly record­ed by the FBI and pointed to times when there were dis­agreements between the McGregor and Gilley camps, and when Massey and those working for Gilley would work against McGregor's in­terests.

Massey also acknow­ledged he had lied repeated­ly to people, including his fa­ther, during the time in question, but said he has been honest on the witness stand.

Massey questioned about Riley

Massey was also asked about then-Gov. Bob Riley's stance against gambling.

Riley, who believed the machines at VictoryLand, Country Crossing and other casinos were illegal in Alaba­ma, formed a task force that tried to eliminate those ma­chines through raids or the threat of raids at those casi­nos.

When asked by an attor­ney, Massey said the opposi­tion to the gambling legisla­tion was probably stiffer than those supporting it.

Bobby Segall, an attorney for McGregor, asked Massey about a political action com­mittee operated by Riley and about Riley urging legisla­tors on how to vote on gam­bling.

Massey said, when asked, that the Poarch Band of Creek Indians operated a ca­sino in the district of Rep. Barry Mask, R-Wetumpka, and he believed that played a role in Mask not supporting the legislation on electronic gambling by non-Indian casi­nos.

Massey said he believes the strongest reason Mask was against the gambling bill was because he was close to then-House Minority Leader Mike Hubbard, Rep. Jay Love and other Republicans close to Riley.

Mask, who cooperated with the FBI and secretly re­corded conversations with McGregor and others, said on the witness stand that he believes gambling is bad public policy and he has nev­er supported gambling legis­lation.

McKnight also asked Mas­sey if he knew if Riley with­held $3 million in bonds for the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind to pressure Preuitt. The school is in Tal­ladega in Preuitt's district. Massey said he was not aware of that.