Former governor takes the witness stand

Natalie Gott

Tuesday, April 11, 2000 | 9:19 a.m.

BATON ROUGE, La. - Taking the stand for the first time since his federal racketeering trial began three months ago, former Gov. Edwin Edwards today flatly denied allegations that he manipulated Louisiana's licensing of riverboat casinos.

The long-awaited testimony began with two simple questions from defense attorney Daniel Small about Edwards' relationship with the Louisiana Riverboat Gaming Commission, which was dismantled after he left office in January 1996, and the current Louisiana Gaming Control Board, which he is alleged to have influenced after leaving office.

"Did you do anything to corrupt the gaming board?" Small asked.

"Absolutley not," Edwards answered.

"Did you do anything to corrupt the gaming commission?"

"Absolutely not."

Later, after providing an attentive jury with a brief history of his life, Edwards spoke to one of the government's central claims in its indictment: that he used his cronies to shake down applicants for casino licenses, thereby insulating himself from any appearance of wrongdoing.

Edwards said people have invoked his name to gain political advantage - without his permission - for decades.

It is "a problem that has haunted me since I was first elected governor," said Edwards, who was elected to the first of his four terms in 1971.

Then he mentioned two of his co-defendants, cattleman Cecil Brown and businessman Bobby Johnson, whose boasts of their friendship with Edwards constitute a major part of the prosecution case.

"Neither Cecil Brown, who is my friend, nor Bobby Johnson, who is my friend, was ever on the list who had the authority to speak for me," Edwards said.

Edwards, his son Stephen, Brown, Martin three other men have been on trial since Jan. 10 in what prosecutors say was an elaborate bribery and extortion scheme centered around the licensing of riverboat casinos. The crimes allegedly took place during and after Edwards' fourth and final term, which ended in January 1996.

Edwards took the stand for the first time this morning. After his initial denial of any wrongdoing, he launched into a review of his life. He began with a review of his hardscrabble childhood - there was no running water or electricity in his rural southwestern Louisiana home until he was a teen-ager. He briefly touched on his graduation from high school at 16, his college years interrupted by a volunteer stint in the Navy during World War II, and his graduation from LSU law school.

Edwards' propensity to carry and spend large amounts of cash has also been an issue in the trial.

Prosecutors claim large cash payments Edwards made for big-ticket items including houses, major home repairs and boats are evidence of his trying to spend payoffs without leaving a paper trail.

"I spend cash. I don't launder money," Edwards said.

He chalked up his preference for cash to his being a child of the Great Depression and his early days as a rural lawyer, when his clients were suspicious of checks.

His political career, he said, was marked by his attempts to help the underprivileged.

"I always had an open door for the underprivileged. It marked my career and my life. That doesn't say that I always did it right."

It was the second time in his life Edwards found himself on the witness stand testifying in his own defense. In a 1985 federal trial stemming from health care investment deals, Edwards took the stand. That trial ended with a hung jury that was leaning toward acquittal. He was acquitted in a second trial in 1986, during which defense attorneys said the case was so weak that they did not bother to present evidence.

By his own count, Edwards says he has been the subject of almost two dozen state or federal investigations going back to his days as a congressman in the 60s, and four terms as governor from 1972-80, 1984-88 and 1992-96.

His testimony today came a day after a retired attorney for state police said he does not believe that Edwards tried to influence state police during a video poker investigation involving star government witness Robert Guidry.

The testimony from attorney Howard Elliott Jr. revolved around a state police investigation into Guidry's application for a license to operate the Treasure Chest casino in Kenner, and an earlier controversy over a video poker license. At the center of the video poker investigation was Guidry's relationship with an organized crime figure.

State police suspended and then later reinstated Guidry's video poker license. If the license had not been reinstated, it would have been difficult for Guidry to get a riverboat casino license, Elliott testified.

Guidry, who has since sold the Treasure Chest, testified earlier in Edwards' racketeering case that he paid off Edwin and Stephen Edwards and co-defendant Andrew Martin to get a riverboat casino license in 1993, when state police were in charge of issuing licenses.

Elliott said he knew of no improper influence Edwards used during the state police video poker investigation.

Under cross examination, prosecutors focused on a meeting Edwards had with top ranked officials at state police regarding the issue.

"Isn't it a fact that Gov. Edwards sat there with his son Stephen and reminded you that he and Bobby Guidry were buddies?" prosecutor Jim Letten asked Elliott.

"I don't think he was doing that to influence us," Elliott said.

Elliott said Edwards was unhappy because state police had failed to hold a hearing on the video poker issue and made other mistakes in their handling of the situation. Edwards told state police officials in the meeting that he would have been more direct in his criticism of their action had he not been a friend of Guidry's, Elliott said.

Defense attorneys appeared at the beginning of Monday's proceedings to focus on allegations against Tarver, but switched in the afternoon to focus on Edwards.

The morning testimony was marked by gaming board member Sherian Cadoria, who testified that she never met co-defendant state Sen. Greg Tarver and never received any bribes from anyone.

While lending weight to defense claims that there was no conspiracy involving Edwards and Tarver, Cadoria also appeared to score points for the prosecution. On cross examination she vented her anger over remarks Edwards made during secretly taped conversations in 1997.

In one of those conversations, Edwards implied that the two black members of the board were influenced by Tarver, who is black.

"By inference, he's saying I'm one of those board members," said Cadoria, who is black and made clear her displeasure with Edwards' taped remarks. Gaming board member and defendant Ecotry Fuller is the other black member on the board.

In one conversation, Edwards is heard telling a man identified as Lafayette businessman Bennie Benezech that casino operator Jack Binion had "the blacks on the commission pretty well locked up" through a relationship with Tarver, a black state senator from Shreveport.

"He's talking about this person being a part of a conspiracy because it is my name that is a part of this board," Cadoria said angrily as she pointed to herself.

Cadoria, a retired general in the Army, also commented on allegations that Edwards received a $400,000 extortion payment from DeBartolo, a payment the defense characterizes as a legitimate payment for legal work.

Cadoria said she did not know that DeBartolo paid Edwards $400,000 before the vote. Had she known about the transaction, the licensing process would have stopped immediately, she said.

DeBartolo had no reason to pay any money to Edwards anyway, she said. "This man presented the best presentation. He didn't have to bribe anyone."