Alabama: Senator denies allegations in bingo trial testimony

Senator denies allegations in bingo trial testimony
By Lance Griffin

Sen. Harri Anne Smith denied the allegations of a former state senator who testified Friday she offered him a campaign donation in exchange for a favorable vote on bingo legislation in March of 2010.

“What he said was not the truth,” Smith told the Dothan Eagle Saturday.

Former Sen. Steve French, a Republican from Mountain Brook who served in the Senate from 1998-2010, testified Friday in the bingo corruption trial in Montgomery that Smith made the offer March 11, 2010, at her senate desk as the body was getting ready to convene for the day.

“I was standing close to the mic. Her desk was on the front row. She asked me if I was serious about wanting a contribution from her and I said yes I was, and she said would you commit to vote for the gambling bill.”

French said Smith made the offer two more times during their brief conversation. He said he then turned and walked away.

Smith questioned French’s testimony.

“You know how those desks in the senate are in close proximity. You would have thought they would have brought some other senators to back up his testimony,” Smith said.

During cross examination, Smith attorney Jim Parkman attacked French’s motive for testifying, claiming his loyalty to the Republican Party was an incentive to craft the story.

Parkman emphasized the fact that French first reported the conversation he had with Smith to Sen. Jabo Waggoner, then-Senate minority leader, and not law enforcement.

French lost his bid for re-election in 2010 to Slade Blackwell. French said he believed gambling interests funded Blackwell’s campaign. French also said he believed “the Country Crossing people” were behind a negative full-page ad against him that ran in the Birmingham News in February of 2010.

“Bet that made you pretty mad, didn’t it?” Parkman asked.

“I was not happy,” French said.

Parkman also pointed out that French reported the incident to law enforcement two days after the State Republican Candidate Committee voted to deny Smith ballot access as a Republican for her endorsement of Democrat congressional candidate Bobby Bright.

French said he was not angry at Smith for endorsing Bright and said he thought the committee made a mistake by denying Smith ballot access. He said he had been tasked by the Senate Republican Caucus to write a letter to the committee in support of Smith, but that his mother became deathly ill and that he tended to her for several days and forgot to write the letter.

Parkman then asked if he had ever referred to Smith as “stupid.”

French said he had a conversation with former Smith political consultant Mike Swinehart about the March 11 conversation and asked Swinehart if he believed “Smith was wearing a wire or just stupid?”

“I was trying to make some sense out of the conversation,” French said. “The conversation made no sense to me and I was trying to eliminate all possibilities.”

French said he did not consider the conversation with Smith a bribe because he never committed to vote for the bingo bill. He voted no on the bingo bill March 30.

Smith said French’s comments about her seeking to make contributions to others did not make sense.

“It’s insane because I had an opponent. I needed the money I had raised,” Smith said.

Smith also said her defense plans to call witnesses to counter French’s testimony.