Casino owner cited in complaint against Ala. judge

A casino owner accused of buying votes in Alabama for pro-gambling legislation is cited in a judicial complaint against a former state judge, who's accused of letting a gambling lobbyist bankroll her re-election campaign while she was handling a custody dispute involving the casino owner's grandchildren.

An attorney for VictoryLand casino owner Milton McGregor said Tuesday that he did nothing wrong and the complaint filed against former District Judge Patricia Warner of Montgomery is based on errors.

"It's reckless and somebody is going to have to answer for that," defense attorney Joe Espy said Tuesday outside the federal courthouse.

The 72-year-old McGregor is in the third week of a trial where he and eight others are accused of buying and selling legislators' votes for pro-gambling legislation with campaign contributions. The legislation was designed to keep McGregor's now-closed VictoryLand casino in Shorter operating.

Late Monday afternoon, the state's Judicial Inquiry Commission filed a complaint against Warner, a Democrat who resigned unexpectedly last week less than six months into her second term. The 74-count complaint accuses Warner of judicial misconduct in several cases, including the one involving an effort by McGregor's former son-in-law to regain visitation rights with McGregor's grandchildren.

The complaint will be heard by the Alabama Court of Judiciary, which can sanction her if it finds her guilty of misconduct and impose financial penalties. A spokesman for the state pension system said Warner qualifies for state retirement benefits. The amount was not immediately available.

The complaint contends that McGregor contributed at least $286,000 to eight political action committees controlled by lobbyist Johnny Crawford and then Crawford's PACs gave $20,750 to Warner. That's out of $75,455 the Democratic judge reported raising from all sources for her campaign.

The complaint said Warner should have stepped down after McGregor's son-in-law questioned her impartiality because of the PAC donations from Crawford, "a known lobbyist for Mr. McGregor and the gambling industry and the father of Laurel Crawford, Judge Warner's staff attorney."

The complaint said McGregor's ex-son-in-law, Todd Brown, was unable to visit his children for nearly two years because the judge suspended his visitation rights and acted "in bad faith" on his request for her to step aside.

Legislative action suspended on Alabama Children's Family Act ...

The Alabama Senate has put off a decision on a joint child custody bill that proponents say would make custody agreements for parents more equitable and opponents claim would destabilize children's living environments. The Alabama Children's Family Act has been postponed until next year.

Under Senate Bill 196, parents who cannot come to a mutual decision about how to split custody of their children would be court-ordered to divide parenting time equally. The so-called 50-50 child custody bill has the backing of the Alabama Family Rights Association, a fathers' rights advocacy organization.

Under current state family law, when a couple disputes a custody matter, a judge decides how much time parenting time each will have. The decision to award primary and secondary custody is made based on the best interests of the child.

Senate Bill 196 supporters say judges disproportionately award primary custody to mothers, assigning fathers a distant background role limited to visitations every other weekend. Children's rights groups, legal experts and some lawmakers claim the bill is more to soothe parents than children. Children who must split time equally between parents would be adhering to an adult-friendly schedule that would upset stability.

Both sides in the political disagreement over the Alabama Children's Family Act agree that family court judges heavily favor mothers - backed by Census statistics that show mothers are granted primary custody more than 80 percent of the time.

There's no argument among the groups that Alabama judges should recognize fathers' desires to spend more time directly parenting, but a there is a large division of ideas over how courts should proceed with child custody when parents cannot come to terms outside a courtroom.

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