Gambling board takes hit from Edwards tria

Alan Sayre

Sunday, Feb. 6, 2000 | 12:50 p.m.

NEW ORLEANS - During Gov. Mike Foster's first year in office, the Legislature supposedly took care of Louisiana's gambling regulation, viewed from outside the state as an often-comical example of the way not to deal with casinos.

Nearly four years later, the reform regulatory panel known as the Louisiana Gaming Control Board is something of a sideshow to the main event in Baton Rouge: the trial of former Gov. Edwin Edwards on charges of extorting riverboat casinos.

One defendant in the Edwards trial is a gambling board member. Although he hasn't attended a meeting since 1998, he still gets a paycheck. Likewise for another board member whose named turned up in the federal investigation and, according to published reports, has been named as an unindicted co-conspirator.

Early in 1998, board member Ecotry Fuller extolled the virtues of a partnership led by then-San Francisco 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo Jr. to put a riverboat casino in Shreveport. Fuller made the successful motion to accept the DeBartolo group over several competitors.

A few months later, DeBartolo was hauled before a federal grand jury, dropped out of the project and pleaded guilty to failing to report a felony: the alleged extortion of $450,000 by Edwards to grease the license application.

Now, Fuller is on trial with Edwards and five others, accused of racketeering. Prosecutors allege Fuller was involved in slipping DeBartolo a copy of a confidential background report of one of his competitors.

But Fuller is still collecting his $15,000 annual salary, which has taken a bit of gloss off Foster's pledge to have a "pristine" gambling board.

Gambling board members don't serve at the governor's pleasure, probably a good idea considering the Justice Department's allegations that Edwards let state police and the old Riverboat Gaming Commission know exactly who he wanted licenses doled out to.

But the current rub is the legal standard that board members can be removed only "for cause."

To remove Fuller would require a hearing in which evidence would have to be presented against him and which he would be allowed to challenge, said Cheney Joseph, the governor's executive counsel. Joseph has said federal prosecutors have refused to share their evidence against Fuller.

Gambling critic C.B. Forgotston said the administration should make an attempt to oust Fuller - as well as another absent board member, Ralph Perlman, who has stayed away from meetings at Foster's request since 1998. Reports say Perlman is among a list of 61 unindicted co-conspirators.

At issue is what constitutes removal "for cause."

"I don't believe you have to find someone guilty of a crime for that to be cause. When you have a very sensitive board like the gaming control board regulating a very volatile industry, then one must remove any hint of impropriety for public confidence that it is being regulated properly," Forgotston said.

Back in 1996, when the Insurance Rating Commission voted for an automobile rate increase against Foster's direct orders, the governor quickly bounced four offending members whose posts on the commission had not yet been confirmed by the Senate.

But Fuller and Perlman have been confirmed as gambling board members. The administration says Perlman wasn't asked to resign. Fuller refused when asked. So, for now, both stay, although they aren't around any longer when the board conducts business.

Presumably, Fuller would be gone - and possibly just not from the gambling board - if he is convicted of a felony. Would he stay if he is acquitted or could the state use the evidence presented in court to boot him, regardless of the jury's verdict?

And what about an unindicted co-conspirator? Being named as such hasn't stymied the public careers of a number of Louisiana officials.

The previous two gambling boards - the old state casino commission, which regulated the New Orleans casino and the Riverboat Gaming Commission - gained reputations as politically controlled pawns and industry cheerleaders.

For now, Fuller's presence in court isn't helping the regulatory image.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Alan Sayre, AP business writer in New Orleans, has covered Louisiana's gambling industry since 1993.