Alabama: Randy Own Performed in Exchange For Vote

Taped calls: Country stars push senator to vote for gambling bill
Written by Sebastian Kitchen

Country music stars George Jones and Randy Owen were among those encouraging state Sen. Bobby Denton to vote for gambling legislation in March 2010, according to phone calls secretly re­corded by the FBI and played Wednesday during a federal corruption trial.

In the secretly recorded conversations, Coun­try Crossing developer Ronnie Gilley and his lob­byist, Jarrod Massey, talk about Jones and his wife attending the Alabama Music Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Awards Banquet to sup­port Denton.

Denton was being inducted into the Hall of Fame on March 25, 2010.

Denton, according to Gilley, had asked Owen if he could sing his "Christmas in Dixie" from his "Christmas" CD. Owen, lead singer of the legend­ary country band Alabama, told Denton he would sing with him if he voted for the gambling legisla­tion, Gilley said in the recording.

"Randy has already talked to Denton about that. Randy's got that covered," Gilley said to Jennifer Poun­cy, a lobbyist who worked for Massey, in one of the phone calls.
Gilley said, "The only rea­son that Randy Owen is com­ing to that thing tonight is Denton."

If Denton voted for the legislation, Gilley said to tell him Jones would sing with him, too, and that music ex­ecutive James Stroud would produce it.

Pouncy also said Denton did not want to vote on the gambling bill March 25 be­cause he did not want the vote on the same day he was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Gilley asked Pouncy if Denton would be OK with him calling and telling the senator "he has a lot of sup­port coming from Nashville tonight."

When asked why the coun­try stars were reaching out to Denton, Pouncy said in court, "they wanted him to vote 'yes' on the bill." Denton did vote for the bill, which was passed in the Senate but died in the Alabama House of Representatives.

Jones and Owen, like some other country musicians, had or were going to have busi­nesses named for them at Gilley's Country Crossing in Houston County, which had restaurants, a bingo pavilion and other attractions. Gilley has said Jones was paid to be the national spokesman for the development.

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Pouncy was on the witness stand Wednesday for a sec­ond day in a federal corrup­tion trial that alleges casino interests bribed state law­makers to vote for the gam­bling legislation. Nine defen­dants, including VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor and four current or former state senators, are on trial in the case. Pouncy, Gilley and Massey have pleaded guilty in the case.

Denton, D-Muscle Shoals, is not a defendant. He re­tired in 2010 and did not run for another term. He has de­nied that he was offered any­thing of value in exchange for his vote.

Denton, known as the "singing senator," recorded "A Fallen Star" as a teenag­er, recorded four songs for Judd Records that were dis­tributed nationwide, and per­formed on the Dick Clark Show from New York City, according to his website. His recordings of "Sweet and In­nocent" and "Back to School" were "big hits in several areas of the country," ac­cording to the site.

Shakedown

In other conversations played in court, Pouncy, Gilley and Massey talked about securing the votes of Sens. Larry Means, D-Attal­la, and Jim Preuitt of Talla­dega, who was a Democrat at the time, but soon switched parties. Means and Preuitt are defendants in the case.

Federal prosecutor Steve Feaga played a tape again Wednesday in which Massey calls Gilley and said they were getting a "shakedown" from Means. Pouncy testi­fied that Means told her that morning that he was going to have a tough re-election campaign and needed $100,000. Pouncy said she was there when Massey called Gilley to relay the in­formation and referred to the "shakedown." Gilley ap­proved the contribution dur­ing the call from Massey.

Pouncy, when asked in court Wednesday, said she never used the term "shake­down."

Playing the game

Massey, in a phone con­versation with Pouncy played in court Wednesday, said Means is "playing this game."

"They're probably going to be fine at the end of the day," Massey said of the votes by Means and Preuitt.

Pouncy and Massey have said, in tapes played in court, that Preuitt's concern was not related to the bill or to money, but to him being up­set with McGregor and Paul Hubbert of the Alabama Ed­ucation Association.

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Preuitt also wanted to be sure, according to testimony, that Etowah County which is in Means' district was per­mitted in the legislation to have a casino.

The commitment

Pouncy testified Tuesday to offering $2 million in cam­paign contributions to Pre­uitt for him to vote for the gambling legislation, but said that he changed the subject. She said he later asked if the commitment would stand if the bill died in the House of Representatives.

In a March 24, 2010, con­versation between Massey and Pouncy, she said she told Preuitt "the commitment stands."

The long ride

Pouncy said the FBI ap­proached her March 31, 2010. She said an agent rode with her in her vehicle as they went to the FBI office. The lobbyist said she was nervous.
Pouncy said she lied origi­nally and said she would be shocked if anyone from her firm was involved in bribery. Those agents, she said, in­formed her that lying to an agent was a felony. Pouncy said she has not been charged with that crime.

Pouncy, who had a child in February 2009, tearfully said she was worried about her child, her husband and her parents. She said she hired an attorney and her attorney approached the U.S. Depart­ment of Justice about trying to reach a plea agreement so she did not have to serve time in prison.

The trial ended at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday for the fu­neral of U.S. District Judge Ira DeMent, who died Satur­day. Pouncy will return to the stand at 9 a.m. today.