LEAKED DETAILS LED TO PROBE

As reaction continued to mount in the wake of allegations that Missouri House Speaker Bob Griffin used political influence in casino negotiations last year, speculation swirled over the question of how privileged legal communications came to be public.

Efforts to identify who leaked letters from one lawyer to another, leading to the allegations against Griffin, have produced no-comment responses from The Kansas City Star, which first published the story last Sunday, and from the Missouri Gaming Commission, whose files apparently include some of the correspondence between Griffin and a lawyer representing Sahara Gaming Corp.

Part of the allegations against Griffin have centered on his use of his legislative title as speaker of the House of Representatives in a letter to Sahara's lawyer.

But Griffin said Thursday that one of the gaming corporation's lawyers who also is on its board is the majority floor leader of the Nevada House of Representatives. And, Griffin said, the wife of the Sahara president is a Nevada state representative and the majority whip. Both are Republicans.

In a letter sent Thursday to the editor of the Star, Griffin lashed out at the newspaper for its reporting, but it stood by its story.

The gaming commission, with offices in St. Louis, won't talk about what it has in its files, but today it acknowledged receipt of "information" sometime in September 1993 that triggered an investigation.

In his letter to the Star, Griffin mentioned correspondence to the Sahara attorney written Sept. 9 that was "turned over to the State Gaming Commission."

A gaming commission staff member said the information in its files is privileged and is never released to the public. The staff member said he couldn't disclose whether the probe started last fall has been completed.

Speculation around the state is that either a Sahara official or someone on its payroll provided the Star with the correspondence, which included a letter from Griffin, acting as the attorney for a Parkville casino group, to Michael Burke, a Kansas City lawyer representing Sahara.

Another possibility that surfaced Thursday afternoon is that a rival to the Parkville site is trying to scuttle that city's casino options. Griffin's letter to the Star Thursday also said he believes the newspaper was motivated to run its stories because of its "strong efforts to deprive Missouri of the economic development revenue potential of riverboat gambling."

His letter said Sahara, a Las Vegas gambling corporation, may be "sabatoging" an Aug. 2 vote on riverboat gambling in Parkville "so their corporation is free to look for another Missouri site."

It also has been learned that Sahara has approached Kansas City officials about a casino slot abandoned by another company. Voters in Kansas City already have given their approval to casinos.

Griffin said Thursday in a statement he believes the privileged lawyer-to-lawyer information was distributed by Sahara officials who would like to end their agreement with the Parkville group of investors. He said the released information "would heighten public opposition in that community."

Griffin, who often is described as the second most powerful public official in the state after the governor, is visibly shaken by the charges that have been leveled against him.

The Star, in its initial story, charged that Griffin had "demanded that a Las Vegas corporation give a $16 million share of its proposed Parkville casino to a group headed by a political fund-raising company that worked on his campaign."

Griffin has denied he did anything wrong in his legal representation of the company, Public Issues Management Inc., during negotiations with Sahara.

In an interview, Griffin's mood appeared to be that of a man seriously concerned about the negative publicity. But he vigorously defended his reputation. "I've done nothing wrong or illegal," he said.

His role in the negotiations between PIM and Sahara, Griffin said, was to negotiate an agreement that precluded application for a license from the gaming commission.

Questions about his role were raised because of PIM's involvement in Griffin's recent political campaigns. Others involved in the group seeking 20 percent ownership of the proposed Parkville casino include lawyers, developers and an aide to Kansas City Mayor Emanuel Cleaver.

The sharing arrangement is similar to those elsewhere in the state where local ownership has joined with gaming companies to operate casinos.

Griffin, operating as a private attorney representing PIM, had been tendered an offer of 14.7 percent local ownership, and later offers went even higher. The negotiations between Griffin and the Sahara attorney never reached an agreement on the higher 20 percent figure.

As the talks concluded a little more than a year ago, Griffin withdrew from the negotiations. Since then he has had no active role. He said he ended his representation of PIM because he had no further role to play.

Griffin said charges by Sahara that he threatened to block state licensing if the 20 percent ownership demand wasn't met are totally false.

"Look, if I were involved, why would I seek to block a deal that was to pay my clients?," he said. "The arrangement was based on actually locating an operation at Parkville. Blocking it would have been the last thing I would have wanted, because with no license, there was no deal."

Griffin said he had cleared his employment as counsel for PIM with his law partners in Kansas City, who voiced no objection. He said he also checked with others concerning the ethics of his role, and no objection was ever raised.

A spokesman for Attorney General Jay Nixon said his staff is checking whether Griffin violated any ethics restrictions in his role as a private attorney for local investors in a gaming operation. The staff isn't aware of any wrongdoing in the proceeding, the spokesman said.

The widespread unfavorable publicity since the Star published its story last Sunday has disturbed Griffin, who says he feels some kinship with past state officials who have undergone media scrutiny. Despite the bad press, the Northwest Missouri lawmaker said he plans to seek the post of House speaker when the General Assembly is organized after the Nov. 8 general election. He appears to have no opposition to an unprecedented eighth two-year term.

The final word likely will depend on the attorney general's findings of possible ethics violations. A top Democratic official said he was convinced the speaker broke no law but said the appearance was damaging.

Numerous Republicans have called for Griffin's scalp, but only one Democrat has publicly criticized him: State Rep. Carol Roper Park, a former ally who is engaged in a close primary race in the 5th Congressional District. Griffin said he was disappointed by her criticism.