Rayburn denies bribe-taking from video poker operator

Wednesday, June 4, 1997 | 10:34 a.m.

Rayburn, 80, often was stopped by U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance as he wandered into his legislative record, but was direct when asked if he had accepted graft from Fred Goodson, a one-time video poker truck stop operator from Slidell.

"I have sold a lot of things in my life, but I have never sold my vote and I want them (prosecutors) to prove it," Rayburn said.

Rayburn also said he had never discussed video poker legislation with co-defendant Larry Bankston, another former senator accused of taking bribes from Goodson to protect video poker from local-option referendums. Bankston once headed the Senate oversight committee on gambling legislation.

"Never, ever. I have discussed video poker truck stops with Mr. Goodson, but never with Sen. Bankston, members of his committee or any member of the Legislature about voting 'yes' or voting 'no,"' Rayburn said.

Prosecutors alleged Rayburn was bribed by Goodson in three ways: through a 4.99 percent share of Goodson's video poker operation sold to Rayburn's three adult children in 1994; a $2,500 campaign check in 1994; and a $400 hunting trip in 1995.

Under questioning from his attorney, Arthur "Buddy" Lemann, Rayburn said he was aware that Goodson was looking for investment partners for additional mini-casinos and his son, Benny Rayburn, became involved after he was voted out as Washington Parish sheriff.

"I told him that it might have hurt me politically, but to go ahead and do what he needed to do," Rayburn said.

Rayburn said he was present when Benny Rayburn agreed to the deal in a meeting at the office of attorney Carl Cleveland, another co-defendant.

"Was it your understanding that you were putting together a bribe scheme?" Lemann asked.

With a slight chuckle, Rayburn said: "If it had been that, I wouldn't have been there."

Rayburn said he received no proceeds of the truck stop deal.

Rayburn also said the $2,500 campaign check had been deposited in a wrong account, backing testimony from his daughter, Tommie Jean Rayburn, who said she corrected the error and filed an amended campaign disclosure report. Although the report was filed two days after the FBI interviewed the Rayburns, Ms. Rayburn said she had been tracking the error for months before.

Prosecutors said the check was a trade-off for Rayburn's 1994 vote against a local-option video poker vote. Rayburn said he did vote against the measure - but because it would have unfairly exempted video poker machines at tracks and off-track betting parlors.

Rayburn also said he agreed to go on the hunting trip with "a couple of friends" of Goodson. The truck stop operator who prosecutors contend paid the $400 fee, Don Williams, did not show up for the trip, Rayburn said. Rayburn said he never met Williams.

"Did you consider this to be a bribe?" Lemann asked.

"I hope I'm not that weak," Rayburn said. "No, that was not a bribe."

The defense previously has contended that the trip was a permissible gift under state campaign finance law.

Also on trial are Goodson's daughter, Maria Goodson; and Goodson's accountant, Joe Morgan. The trial is the first stemming from FBI affidavits filed in August 1995 alleging widespread bribery among legislators, gambling interests and lobbyists.

Rayburn was voted out in November 1995, while Bankston did not seek re-election. Rayburn was first elected to the state House in 1948 and moved to the Senate in 1952. At the time of his ouster, he was chairman of the powerful Senate Budget Committee and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, which handles money matters when the Legislature is not in session.