Secret Recording Brags of GTECH Influence With Lottery Directors

SACRAMENTO — Lobbyist Clayton R. Jackson, while representing an East Coast company with millions of dollars in California lottery contracts, was secretly taped bragging that two of the state’s three lottery directors were “our guy” and “our gal,” it was disclosed Thursday in a federal court trial of Jackson.

Speaking to then-state Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys), who was recording the conversation for the federal government, Jackson said the descriptions referred to the first lottery director, Mark Michalko, and the current director, Sharon Sharp. Jackson is on trial on corruption charges.

Both directors were instrumental in awarding Jackson’s client, the Rhode Island based GTECH Corp., contracts worth at least $700 million to operate the lottery’s computerized games.

Spokesmen for the two directors and GTECH said Thursday their relationships were professional and that the company was not granted special favors. Kevin Eckery, a spokesman for Gov. Pete Wilson, who appointed Sharp, said the director continues to have the governor’s backing.

“In the context of a trial like this, who knows what people mean,” he said. “Sharon (Sharp) was selected for the job because she was an experienced, successful lottery manager.”

On the tape recording, Jackson also referred to political consultant Joe Rodota, who advised Wilson on the appointment of a new director in 1991, as having been employed by GTECH and the lottery’s public relations firm.

Rodota, who has since become Wilson’s cabinet secretary, has said that after he completed his lottery work for the governor, he accepted a sub-contract to do research for GTECH as a private consultant. He says his current job has no involvement with the lottery and that he has never done GTECH any favors.

Throughout the secret tape recordings, both Robbins and Jackson make frequent disparaging remarks about politicians, government officials and companies. None of those mentioned have been charged with wrongdoing.

The tapes involving GTECH were introduced in the eighth day of the criminal corruption trials of Jackson, 50, and former state Sen. Paul Carpenter, 65, (D-Downey), both of whom have pleaded not guilty to a 12-count federal indictment of trying to bribe Robbins.

The tapes of conversations recorded in November, 1991, were presented by Jackson’s attorney, Donald H. Heller, during his cross-examination of Robbins, the prosecution’s star witness. Robbins, who is serving a two-year sentence after pleading guilty to corruption charges, has testified that he helped Jackson’s clients--including GTECH--get what they wanted from the California Legislature in return for campaign contributions.

In the long, rambling exchange between the two men, Jackson tells Robbins of his delight that lottery director Chon Gutierrez has been replaced by Wilson.

“So he was just dumped and Pete Wilson put a new gal in who’s our gal,” Jackson said, referring to Sharp.

Asked by Robbins if Gutierrez was GTECH’s “guy,” Jackson quickly answers no, describing Gutierrez as a “yo-yo from the Department of Finance” brought in by former Gov. George Deukmejian to run the lottery. He accuses Gutierrez of going to the press with the information about Rodota and with accusations that GTECH is connected to the Mafia. Gutierrez, who is an official with the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, declined comment.

Jackson then tells Robbins about Michalko, the lottery’s first director. “We had the first guy,” said Jackson. “He was our guy. He was the guy who set the lottery up.”

During their tenures, Michalko and Sharp recommended that the lottery award GTECH lucrative contracts to run its computerized games. In Sharp’s case, competitors complained that the contracting process favored GTECH and that specifications were designed so that it was the only company that could bid.

A GTECH official called Jackson’s comments untrue. “I have no idea what he was talking about, no way of putting it in context,” said spokesman Robert Rendine. “It was not our characterization and I’m not going to comment on a characterization in a trial where we are not involved.”

Spokesmen for Michalko and Sharp labeled the comments as ridiculous. “He’s (Jackson) ranting and raving about stuff that’s wrong all over the place,” said lottery spokeswoman Joanne McNabb. “The lottery is certainly not run by any vendor. Not by GTECH and not by any other vendor.”

Bill Seaton, a business partner with Michalko in a San Diego-based lottery consulting firm, called the allegations untrue. “He (Michalko) is just about the most honest person I’ve ever met,” said Seaton, who was formerly the lottery’s public affairs director.

Robbins pleaded guilty in December, 1991, to accepting a bribe from Jackson for helping defeat a bill opposed by GTECH. Jackson, however, has never been charged with making the bribe and GTECH officials have maintained that they had no knowledge of any bribe between their lobbyist and Robbins.