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| Alabama state Sen. Quinton Ross |
Sen. Quinton Ross, D-Montgomery, said like most students he learned in civics class about the branches of government and the separation of powers.
He said he didn't learn that the Department of Justice could kill a bill in the Alabama Legislature.
"I just couldn't quite find where an agency had an ability to come into those constitutionally protected branches of government and stop their processes, that being the Department of Justice swooping into the state of Alabama and stopping the legislative process. That was a new lesson to me," Ross said.
Sitting in his seventh-floor Senate office a month after his acquittal on extortion charges, Ross questioned the motivation of the investigation that led to the trial. He also expressed gratitude for an outpouring of encouragement he said he received from supporters and constituents.
The nine defendants in the case were accused of offering or accepting bribes in connection with a 2010 gambling bill that would have authorized a statewide referendum on letting casinos operate electronic bingo machines. The jury acquitted Ross and lobbyist Bob Geddie. Jurors returned a combination of not guilty verdicts and deadlocked decisions against the remaining seven defendants, who will face a second trial in January.
"It was a surreal experience. But the God that I serve prepared me and took me through this," Ross said of his indictment and two-month long trial.
During the trial, Ross would stand silently behind his attorney, H. Lewis Gillis, as Gillis addressed reporters. Silent no more, Ross said he thought the case may have been announced and directed out of Washington, D.C., but was about "Alabama politics."
"The Justice Department, they tout the fact that they don't do anything political. In their opening statement they said this is not about politics as usual, this is about vote-buying. But as it unfolded for 10 weeks, it was about politics," Ross said.
"We live in a country of laws. We have the scales of justice. Justice should not be twisted in order to accomplish a political goal," Ross said.
Public investigation
In his questioning of the motives behind the case, Ross pointed to the decision by the Department of Justice to make the investigation public. An FBI agent testified that some Justice Department officials had concerns about letting potentially tainted legislation proceed and a decision was made to inform legislative leaders about the case. The bill never got a vote in the Alabama House of Representatives after that.
"You have just infringed upon the right of four-point-something million people in the state of Alabama because a few of you decided that it was a tainted piece of legislation," Ross said.
The Montgomery Democrat said investigators seemed to want to get a "photo op" of him in handcuffs. Ross also pointed to comments by Republicans picked up when prosecution witness Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, wore a wire. They discussed how a gambling referendum on the general election ballot would bring black voters to the polls lured by free rides on "HUD-financed" buses and promises of free buffets from casino owners.
"It was in their own taped conversations what would happen," Ross said.
Prosecutors have not talked to reporters in the case. But in the courtroom, they vehemently disputed defense assertions that state politics played any role in the case.
"This case is not about gambling. It's certainly not about politics. This case is about two things. It's about corruption. It's about greed," prosecutor Justin V. Shur told jurors. Another prosecutor noted that they worked for the Obama Justice Department and not the Alabama GOP.
'Perplexed'
Ross said he learned two or three weeks before the 2010 indictment that prosecutors were going to bring charges against him and he was "perplexed" by it.
"I thought there had to be some kind of mistake," Ross said.
Ross was accused of trying to extort campaign money from VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor and Country Crossing developer Ronnie Gilley. Lobbyist Jennifer Pouncy testified that Ross was "demanding" in his fundraising request and she told authorities she considered the request a "veiled threat." But during the trial his defense lawyers repeatedly pointed out Ross never threatened to vote against, or harm, the bingo legislation that the pair were pushing.
"I was the innocent from the beginning," Ross said.
Prosecutors hammered at the fact that Ross called the casino interests several times, but Ross said that is simply what you do during fundraising.
Ross said he was looking straight ahead when he stood to hear the verdict read in court. He wept as the jury foreman began reading the not guilty decisions.
"Tears just began to run down my face. They were tears of joy. As that was being read I was thinking about my son, thinking about my 2-year old, my family, thinking about all the people in the community that have stood behind me, the churches, the prayers," Ross said.
Legal costs
Ross said his legal bills have topped $1.2 million.
"You say spent. I still owe," Ross quipped.
A legal defense fund has been established on his behalf, and no, McGregor hasn't offered to help him with his bills, he said.
During the trial prosecutors brought out that Ross, a one-time sponsor of gambling legislation, for a time was being paid $6,600 a month by Greenetrack.
A former high school principal who has a doctorate in education, Ross said the contract with his company, The Ross Group, was to assure the success of students in Greenetrack's scholarship program. He said the work involved tracking their progress, providing mentoring and other services.
Despite his strong words, Ross insists that he is not angry.
"The one thing I was determined not to do was internalize this and become angry," Ross said.
Doing so, the senator said, would only damage himself and the ones he loves.
"When this started, my words in a letter to my constituents was that it was well with my soul. And it is," Ross said.
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