David Barber, the head of Alabama Governor Bob Riley's Illegal Gambling Task Force was compelled to resign last week after winning $2300 gambling at a Choctaw Indian Tribe casino in Mississippi.
In his January 13th resignation letter to Riley, Barber stated:
"I am convinced that the forces that operate illegal casinos in Alabama will focus on my actions as part of their continuing effort to smear you and your task force. The work of the Task Force is too important to allow it to be impeded by such a distraction"
Although Barber won the money legally, his hypocritical actions demonstrate poor judgment and accentuate Riley's persistence in preventing legalized gambling in his state.
During his 2002 campaign, Riley viciously attacked former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman's state lottery proposal to fund schools and create jobs. But why wouldn't Riley want the stream of revenue from legalized gambling coming into Alabama?
Country Crossing Casino developer Ronnie Gilley has gone to battle with Riley's Task Force and told the Montgomery Advertiser, he believes the Governor's crackdown on gambling suggests ulterior motives to eliminate competition for the Mississippi Choctaw Indian casinos.
Gilley may not be too far off. According to a 2002 US Senate Indian Affairs Committee report, disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff boasted the Choctaw tribe spent $13 million to elect Riley in 2002. The report states Abramoff told William Worfel, the former Vice Chairman of the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, that Mississippi Choctaw Chief Phillip Martin spent the money to protect the Choctaw's gaming enterprise.
"to get the governor of Alabama elected to keep gaming out of Alabama so it wouldn't hurt . . . his market in Mississippi."
The report further notes, convicted lobbyist Michael Scanlon, Bob Riley's former congressional press secretary, received $4.5 million over two years to protect the Choctaw's gaming interests through the scheme known as "Operation Orange."
Records show in October 2002, Scanlon sent $500,000 to Riley during his gubernatorial campaign. The funds were filtered through the Republican Governors Association and the
Republican National State Elections Committee. Documents indicate the funds were increased to $600,000 when Riley received payment.
Clearly Scanlon benefited from the Mississippi Choctaw casino revenues and since millions were spent to elect Riley, there's no way the Governor could ever allow gambling in Alabama, which is only an hour away from the Mississippi Choctaw casinos.
Riley continues to deny such allegations despite recent charges by his former cabinet member Bill Johnson that hid did accept money from the Choctaws during his gubernatorial election.
Johnson, a Republican candidate for Governor, says in 2002, Riley's Chief of Staff Dan Gans, told him that he was coordinating the Mississippi Indian contributions for Riley's campaign. Johnson says it wasn't until the Governor formed his anti-gambling task force and began raiding bingo halls across the state that he began to realize that outside money could be influencing public policy in Alabama.
"I knew about the Abramoff stuff and knew about Mike Scanlon but it never seemed like it was getting close to the Governor until it started to become quid pro quo."
Gans denies ever taking the meeting with Johnson and Riley's office denounced Johnson as a low level employee who could not conceivably be close enough to the Governor to have such knowledge. Yet Johnson has clearly touched a nerve. He's received several death threats and most recently, the Republican leadership in his home county filed a resolution banning him from addressing members of his party. (More will be posted on this subject).
Johnson agrees with Gilley that David Barber may have had other reasons to visit the casino, noting it's more than a three hour drive from where Barber resides. One thing's for sure, Johnson jokes:
"Gambling does ruin lives. Barber may have won $2300 but he lost a $125,000 a year job in the process!"
On January 6th Riley's Task Force on Illegal Gambling attempted to raid Country Crossing and seize its bingo machines. But someone tipped Gilley off and he was able to obtain a late night restraining order from Circuit Judge P. B. McLaughlin, preventing the pre-dawn raid. Riley took his case to the Alabama Supreme Court, which overturned McLaughlin's order, paving the way for the task force to shut down Gilley's $87 million entertainment facility at any time. Country Crossing, which employees 1300 people, held its grand opening this past weekend.
As for Dan Gans, he left the scandal plagued Alexander Strategy Group to run Polaris Consulting, a Washington lobbying firm. The Alexander Strategy Group, closely tied to Jack Abramoff and Tom Delay, brilliantly created the US Family Network, a public advocacy front group funded by the Mississippi Choctaw Tribe. Interestingly enough, in April 1999, then Congressman Bob Riley signed a fundraising letter on behalf of the US Family Network telling voters:
"The American family is under attack from all sides: crime, drugs, pornography, and one of the least talked about but equally as destructive -- gambling. We need your help today . . . to prevent the Poarch Creek Indians from building casinos in Alabama."
