Greene County Sheriff Jonathan Benison defended his use of charity bingo money and said the Examiners of Public Accounts office “should be ashamed” over its allegations that he misspent nearly $5 million.
In a press release, Bennison tied the recent audit report, which noted a number of questionable expenditures and a lack of documentation, to a long running feud between bingo proprietors in Greene County and state officials. He indicated that the allegations against him were unfounded and that he provided the state with documentation to support those expenditures.
“It is regrettable that in the face of documentation justifying the millions of dollars of expenditures made to improve the lives of the citizens of Greene County, the vendetta of the forces in Montgomery continue,” a release from Benison read. “Less than a year ago, the litigation waged by the Attorney General for seven years ended with the reaffirmation of my role under the Constitution as the sole regulator of bingo in Greene County.
“Now, here we go again: The Examiners of Public Accounts have now issued a report questioning the expenditure of money for, among other things, the scholarships paid to every Greene County high school senior and the payments made to the deputies who protect and serve our county. They should be ashamed. I didn’t back down when they sued me, and I won’t back down now.”
State officials and Greene County officials have long held a disagreement over the legality of electronic bingo parlors operating in the county. While a number of lower court rulings, and a county constitutional amendment, have affirmed the legality of electronic bingo machines, the Alabama Supreme Court has consistently manufactured its own legal interpretation of bingo laws and deemed the games illegal.
That has led to protracted fights between the AG’s office and various bingo operators – both in Greene County and in other counties that hold similar constitutional amendments and allow the casinos to operate.
It has also set up a strange spectacle in which career lawmen are basically in a standoff with one another. Benison, like his predecessor and sheriffs from other counties, have held strongly to the language within those amendments that establish the sheriff as the county bingo authority. The AG’s office has sought to force those sheriffs to shut down the games, often heaping criticism on the sheriffs for what the AG perceives as a dereliction of duty.
While the AG’s office has experienced some success with the pressure campaigns in other counties, Greene County officials have been particularly stubborn and unusually successful in warding off those attempts. Currently, several bingo casinos are operational in the county and the AG’s office – after its loss in the aforementioned lawsuit – has seemingly given up trying to stop them.
But the state has found other ways to attack the bingo operations utilizing other regulatory agencies. A few years ago, the Alabama Department of Revenue sued GreeneTrack, a now defunct bingo casino, claiming it owed millions of dollars in back taxes. The claims were wildly inaccurate and clearly motivated by the politics of the situation, but nevertheless, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled GreeneTrack owed the money. The casino filed for bankruptcy and closed.
Bennison appears to be claiming that the recent audit report is more of the same, although his office has not provided any specific documentation to the media explaining precisely what the nearly $5 million purchased. The audit report noted the sheriff spent at least some of the money on consultants, lawyers and sheriff’s office employees.
