Ex-Edwards aide testifies about riverboat licensing

Natalie Gott

Thursday, Jan. 27, 2000 | 4:47 a.m.

BATON ROUGE, La. - Edwin Edwards began his final term as governor telling his staff that he did not want his friends and family profiting off state government, a former Edwards aide testified Thursday.

But Sid Moreland also said Edwards later acknowledged helping Treasure Chest Casino owner Robert Guidry win a lucrative riverboat casino license as a favor to his friend Andrew Martin, now on trial with Edwards for an alleged shakedown of Guidry.

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

Edwards, bound by a court gag order not to comment on the case, said only, "He wasn't too accurate," when asked later about Moreland's testimony.

Martin's attorney, Sonny Garcia, said: "I'm not concerned about it."

Edwards, Martin, Edwards' son Stephen and four others are on trial in a federal racketeering case, accused of various roles in an extortion and bribery scheme involving casino licenses. Testimony began Wednesday.

Moreland, a personal aide to Edwards' during his third and fourth terms, said Edwards began his final four years as governor well aware that many voters were unhappy at the choice they had to make in Louisiana's 1991 runoff election: Edwards, with his scandal-tinged history, or David Duke, the ex-neo-Nazi and one-time Ku Klux Klan leader.

"He wanted to correct history and leave a good legacy for his grandchildren," Moreland said.

Toward that end, Moreland said, Edwards made one thing clear: "He said he didn't want his friends and family profiting off the government this time."

Moreland described the consternation at the governor's mansion that followed publication of an article in the New Orleans daily newspaper, The Times-Picayune, about business deals various of Edwards' offspring planned with riverboat casinos.

Moreland said he knew nothing of the ventures, but that Stephen Edwards later launched a profanity-laced tirade at him, angrily blaming him for leaking the story to the newspaper.

"He said he wanted to kick my ass," Moreland said. "He said I was only there to undermine what he and his family did. He didn't know why his father was stupid enough to have me there.

After the article appeared, Moreland said, Stephen's siblings, Anna, Victoria and David Edwards, all agreed that they would not do anything that would embarrass their father. "They just walked away from it," he said.

It was sometime in 1994 or 1995 when, during a conversation in Edwards' mansion office, Edwards purportedly told Moreland that he had a hand in helping Martin get Guidry a riverboat casino license.

The license for the Treasure Chest in Kenner now figures in one of seven alleged criminal schemes federal prosecutors have outlined in the case.

In that scheme, Martin and Edwards and Stephen Edwards are accused of shaking down Guidry for monthly payments of $100,000 in return for their help in getting the license.

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.

Guidry is expected to testify in the case Friday, once defense attorneys finish questioning Moreland. Only one defense attorney had questioned Moreland when court adjourned early because an alternate juror became ill.

Moreland said he left the governor's mansion a few months before Edwards' term expired.

"A discord had developed between myself and Stephen (Edwards) and Mr. Martin," Moreland said. "It was tough to work in that environment. After awhile, I just realized this administration is over."

Moreland said he had tried to shelter Edwards from the gaming applicants but said he was unsuccessful because Stephen Edwards represented several companies trying to get riverboat licenses and Martin had was trying to secure a boat for Guidry.

"We had lost the chance to have a scandle-free endeavor, which is what we wanted to do," Moreland said.