Alabama: Corruption Witness Targeted

Ala. gambling witness expected ethics complaint

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A legislator who helped the FBI with its investigation of Statehouse corruption said he's not surprised to have a complaint filed against him with the State Ethics Commission.

Republican Rep. Barry Mask of Wetumpka said Saturday he expected some people to go after him after he assisted the FBI and testified in Alabama's gambling corruption trial.

"I've gone from being a witness against some of the worst people in Alabama to where I'm on trial," Mask said in a phone interview Saturday.

Mask testified in the gambling trial about a phone call he recorded with one of the defendants, VictoryLand casino owner Milton McGregor. He said McGregor sought his vote for pro-gambling legislation in February 2010 and then another defendant, VictoryLand lobbyist Bob Geddie, showed up unexpectedly at a fundraising reception with $5,000 in contributions.

The jury in the gambling trial has begun deliberations.

Defense attorneys brought out in the trial that Mask had been receiving annual payments from Steve Windom as a result of a business relationship.

Windom used to lobby for a dog track owned by the Poarch Creek Indians. The tribe operates electronic bingo casinos in Montgomery and Wetumpka that competed with McGregor's VictoryLand casino in Shorter until McGregor's casino was forced to close last year.

On Tuesday, Scott Gilliland of Birmingham, who was the Democratic nominee for secretary of state in 2010, filed a complaint with the Ethics Commission asking that it investigate the payments to Mask. Gilliland complained that Mask was receiving Windom's payments at the same time he was voting on bills pushed by Windom.

State law prohibits ethics officials from commenting on the complaint until the commission decides whether to drop it or take action.

Mask, a former lobbyist, said a friend with Computer Associates asked him to recommend a lobbyist for the company in 2004 and he suggested Windom, who got hired. Windom, a former lieutenant governor, started paying Mask a referral fee in return for the business. The payments started before Mask's election to the Legislature in 2006 and continued after his election.

Mask reported the payments on the annual financial statements that candidates and officeholders have to file with the Ethics Commission. The statements list income in broad categories. Mask, in reporting income received from Windom, checked $1,000 to $10,000 in 2005 and $10,000 to $50,000 in each subsequent year.

On Saturday, Mask said he had received about $12,000 a year from Windom, but he and Windom stopped the payments in December when Mask joined most other legislators in enacting a tougher state ethics law.

During the trial, a lobbyist who pleaded guilty to paying bribes, Jarrod Massey, testified that he paid several thousand dollars a year to Democrat Terry Spicer of Elba for referring lobbying clients when Spicer was a state representative. Unlike Mask, Spicer did not report the income to the Ethics Commission, but no one has announced filing an ethics complaint against Spicer.

Mask said he has no regrets about helping the FBI even though he's now got to respond to an ethics complaint.

"It's not about me. It's about fighting corruption and doing what's best for Alabama," he said.