Ex-aide says Edwards acknowledged helping Guidry get license

BY Natalie Gott

Thursday, Jan. 27, 2000 | 9:46 a.m.

BATON ROUGE, La. - While he was governor, Edwin Edwards acknowledged using his influence to help Jefferson Parish businessman Robert Guidry get a casino riverboat license, a former Edwards aide testified today.

"The governor said at one point he had helped Bobby get the license as a favor to Andrew Martin," Sid Moreland said under questioning from Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Magner.

Moreland said the conversation took place in the governor's mansion some time between 1994 and 1995.

The license in question was for the Treasure Chest Casino in Kenner. "Bobby" was Robert Guidry, then a Treasure Chest owner. Andrew Martin, is another former Edwards aide who worked at the mansion with Moreland.

Martin now is accused, along with Edwards and others, of shaking down Guidry for monthly payments of $100,000 in return for their help in getting the license.

Moreland told the jury that Guidry, who has pleaded guilty to crimes related to the Edwards case, was frequently Martin's guest at the governor's mansion. "Andrew would take him in to see the governor. That's how Bobby Guidry would have unlimited access to the governor," said Moreland.

Moreland, described in court as Edwards' "gatekeeper" at the mansion, said he did not like Guidry's frequent visits. He said he tried to keep gambling applicants away from Edwards, although he did not explain why in this morning's testimony. He also said the frequent visits interfered with his duty of writing the governor's schedule.

On Oct. 16, 1998, Guidry pleaded guilty to an extortion charge for paying the Edwardses and Martin $1.5 million - sometimes leaving the money in trash bins for Martin to retrieve - to ensure state approval of his riverboat casino. Guidry was fined $3.5 million. He faces up to five years in prison but could get less because he is cooperating with investigators. There was a possibility he would testify today.

Today was not the first time Moreland has figured into a riverboat casino investigation.

Moreland appeared before a state grand jury when East Baton Rouge District Attorney Doug Moreau was investigating the state's riverboat gambling industry.

Moreland would not say what he had been questioned about, and no indictments ever came from that investigation.

Edwards, his son Stephen, state Sen. Greg Tarver, gambling board member Ecotry Fuller and three others are charged in this case with manipulating the state's riverboat casino process to make money.

State police Lt. Dane Morgan on Wednesday described for jurors the extensive, bureaucratic gauntlet applicants for riverboat casino licenses have to run in Louisiana.

Morgan's testimony was to lay the groundwork for the prosecution's case, although he said that Stephen Edwards never did anything illegal when he served as the attorney for Star Casino, which was awarded the state's first riverboat casino license in 1993.

Star Casino and others applying for one of the 15 riverboat licenses had to put up an initial application fee of $50,000, submit to state police background checks and contribute information for thorough financial histories and economic projections.

Morgan described the process as it was established by the Legislature in 1991 under then-Gov. Buddy Roemer and implemented later by Edwards, as well as changes that streamlined the process in 1996 under Gov. Mike Foster.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Letten pointed out that while Roemer was in office when the 1991 legislation was established, Edwards was governor when the first 14 boats were approved.

The purpose of bringing riverboats to Louisiana was to provide economic development, Edwards' attorney, Daniel Small, said later. The law also said that preferential treatment should be given to Louisiana firms and out of state firms that would do business with Louisiana companies, Small added.

Although broad in scope, parts of Morgan's testimony touched on issues in the government's 34-count indictment.

At one point, Morgan noted state law prohibits public officials from doing business with the riverboats and requires that the identity of anyone with an interest of 5 percent or more in a casino riverboat be publicly disclosed.

The federal government's indictment includes allegations that Edwards co-defendant Cecil Brown tried to obtain a 25 percent interest in one failed riverboat project and that the interest was to be shared with Edwin Edwards.

The indictment also describes co-defendant Bobby Johnson's alleged attempt to gain a 12.5 percent interest in a company involved in the Belle of Baton Rouge casino; and it quotes Johnson as saying that Edwards suggested that the 12.5 percent interest be divided among several people to get around the 5 percent disclosure requirement.

Companies hoping to get a state riverboat license are not the only companies state police check out, Morgan said. Police also investigate companies who get contracts with the riverboats.

Tarver's attorney, Mary Olive Pierson, said after such a check, police approved a license for Tarver's wife, Jean, to sell office equipment to riverboat casinos in Shreveport and Bossier City.

A federal grand jury in Shreveport had investigated whether Tarver helped his gambling industry friends but nothing came of it. In a pretrial hearing, Pierson had tried to get U.S. District Judge Frank Polozola to prohibit prosecutors from bringing up the investigation. Letten had argued that the investigation helped define Tarver's character.

During his testimony, Morgan also said state police background checks are to be kept confidential because they list personal information.

Gambling Board members charged with disclosing background checks or violating other ethics rules face a maximum penalty of dismissal from the board, said Tarver's attorney, Mary Olive Pierson.

The indictment alleges that Edwards stole a copy of an executive summary with the assistance of Tarver and current gambling board member Ecotry Fuller, another defendant. The document was meant for gambling board members only, prosecutors claim.

Fuller's attorney, Craig Smith, later presented to Morgan a letter on state police stationary that discussed the state police's background check on Fuller. The references quoted in the letter said Fuller was an "honest man with integrity."

At Gov. Mike Foster's request, Fuller has not attended gambling board meetings since he was implicated in the case in September 1998.