"Well, GOP consultant Roger Stone was deposed in the Scott Rothstein bankruptcy case yesterday and, true to his usual form, he didn't disappoint.
And of course, most of the good stuff didn't concern the real business at hand, which is whether Stone owes Rothstein creditors $60,000 that was listed as an unpaid loan in the Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler books. That issue remains unresolved. No, the good stuff revolved around Stone's forte, politics.
Stone told me he also discussed at the depo Crist's appointment of his friend, former chief of staff and "maestro" George LeMieux, to the U.S. Senate seat. And that to me is where it gets really interesting. Stone, after all, has had it in for LeMieux, whom he chidingly calls the the "Frenchman," for some time.
"I hit LeMieux hard," Stone said of the deposition.
The biggest allegation Stone makes about the senator is that LeMieux was paid off by the Seminole Tribe to add blackjack and other table games in the compact he negotiated for Crist. And he said he raised that allegation at yesterday's deposition.
Here's the way the payoff was orchestrated, according to Stone. First, the Seminole Tribe, angling for expanded gambling and an accommodating deal from the state, has pumped about $600,000 into Florida Republican Party coffers since 2006. The tribe's development partner, Coastal Development, contributed another $300,000 to the state GOP during that time."
Get the Story:Stone: Seminoles Paid Off LeMieux Through GOP (The Broward Palm Beach New Times 3/23)
