Foster must decide whether acquitted gambling board member returns to meetings

Natalie Gott

Tuesday, May 16, 2000 | 2:26 a.m.

BATON ROUGE, La. - The chairman of the state gambling board says it is the governor's decision, not his, to decide whether two board members linked to former Gov. Edwin Edwards' federal racketeering trial should return to active duty on the board.

"That's not my province, that's the governor's province," chairman Hillary Crain said Tuesday during a break at gambling board meeting.

Board member Ecotry Fuller was acquitted last week on charges of wire fraud, conspiracy and perjury in the four-month trial. Board member Ralph Perlman was not indicted, but was named as an unindicted co-conspirator and tapes of conversations he had with Edwards about the state's final riverboat license were played in the trial.

Neither Fuller nor Crain has attended a meeting since the investigation began. Gov. Mike Foster asked Fuller to resign when he was indicted, but Fuller refused.

Foster spokesman Trey Williams said the governor has not decided whether to ask Fuller or Perlman to return to the board. Fuller's term ends next month. Perlman's term expires next year, Crain said.

Foster reviews the files of every board member when his or her term is about to end and decides whether they should be reappointed or if someone should be appointed in their position, Williams said.

Crain said the evidence in the trial proved that board members had no knowledge of the boasts that Edwards made regarding his influence with gambling board members.

"There is no question whatsoever that no member of this board was given anything for their vote," Crain said.

Fuller was accused of giving a confidential report to state Sen. Greg Tarver. Prosecutors said Tarver passed the report on to Edwards, who in turn mailed it to his friend, former San Francisco 49ers owner, Eddie DeBartolo Jr., who sought and won the state's final riverboat casino license. DeBartolo, who was a witness in the trial, gave up the license after he appeared before the federal grand jury.

Among the 17 charges he was convicted on, jurors said Edwards extorted $400,000 from DeBartolo in return for Edwards' help in obtaining the license.

Crain, repeating what he and other board members have said before, said DeBartolo's application for a license was the best one submitted.