Former Riley aide says casinos helped fund campaign

MONTGOMERY (AP) — A former member of Gov. Bob Riley's Cabinet said Thursday that Riley received campaign contributions from Mississippi Indians who operate casinos, with the money intended to limit their competition in Alabama.

Bill Johnson, who was a coordinator in Riley's successful campaigns for governor in 2002 and 2006, said the Indian casino funds have influenced Riley's fight to shut down electronic bingo in Alabama.

Spokesmen for Riley and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment, but both have said in the past there were no contributions.

Johnson spoke out against his former boss while standing in front of the Country Crossing entertainment and gambling complex that is scheduled to open in Dothan on Dec. 1. Riley has opposed the development's use of electronic bingo machines, which Riley maintains are illegal slot machines.

"Decisions about gambling in Alabama should be made by the voters of Alabama and not by Mississippi casino owners," Johnson said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Johnson served as grass-roots and logistics coordinator in Riley's campaigns for governor, and Riley appointed him director of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs in 2005. Johnson resigned that post in June to run for governor as a Republican.

Johnson said the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians wanted to limit expansion of gambling in Alabama to protect their casinos in Philadelphia, Miss., and that's why the tribe wanted to contribute to Riley's Republican campaign in 2002.

Johnson said a senior campaign official told him the tribe promised $3 million in donations, but didn't deliver all of it. He was unsure of the exact amount.

Riley reported no direct contributions from the tribe on his campaign finance reports in 2002. But Alabama law allows money to flow through political action committees before being donated to a campaign.

Johnson is not the first to allege Indian money flowed into Riley's campaign. Former Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley made it an issue in her 2006 race against Riley.

She and others have pointed to convicted Washington lobbyist Mike Scanlon, who served as press secretary to Riley when he first became a congressman in 1997. Scanlon later started working for the Choctaw tribe in Washington and received millions to try to boost its political influence.

Campaign records shown 2002, Scanlon contributed $100,000 to political action committees run by two Montgomery lobbyists. The lobbyists' PACs were major donors to Riley.

Scanlon also contributed $50,000 to a Republican organization that was a major contributor to Riley's campaign.

Scanlon pleaded guilty in 2005 to conspiring to bribe public officials in connection with his lobbying work on behalf of Indian tribes and casino issues

In Johnson's remarks, he laid out a timeline that he said shows how Riley's actions have helped the Choctaws' casinos.

He said Riley created his Task Force on Illegal Gambling in late December 2008, when business was declining at the Indian casinos. Then Riley's task force raided an electronic bingo hall in central Alabama to create a test case for determining the legality of the machines that are operated in several Alabama counties.