MONTGOMERY, Alabama — The state senator who so far has been the prosecution's only witness in a State House vote-buying trial was willing to do whatever necessary to lift his party into power, a defense attorney contended this morning.

Bobby Segall, who represents VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor, suggested that state Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, was willing even to put an innocent man in prison to help the GOP win control of the Senate.

“That’s not correct,” Beason testified in one of the more testy exchanges during a day and a half of cross-examination.

McGregor and eight others are on trial in federal court, accused of participating in a conspiracy involving bribes to pass legislation that would have given voters an opportunity to legalize electronic bingo machines that were under assault by then-Gov. Bob Riley.

Seeking to discredit Beason, Segall referred to statements the lawmaker made that reveal — in the attorney’s words — “utter contempt and shameless disdain” for the customers and employees of gambling establishments.

Segall showed Beason several transcripts of conversations he secretly recorded while he was working with the FBI in which he and other Republicans made disparaging remarks about black people.

Segall asked Beason if it was true that he was willing to “shamelessly ridicule and make fun of black voters” who the senator feared would show up at the polls in large numbers if a gambling constitutional amendment were placed on the ballot in 2010.

The transcripts show a person listed as Party 2 telling a group of Republicans that, if the gambling bill passed the Legislature, black voters would be bused to the polls.

State Sen. Larry Dixon, who was a Republican state senator from Montgomery at the time, said on the recording that there would be two or three bus rides on “HUD-financed buses.”

Beason agreed: “That’s right. That’s right. This will be busing extra.”

After it was suggested that casino owners would offer free food and gambling money and rides to the polls to patrons, state Sen. Ben Brooks, R-Mobile, added, “Free bus money.”

During a separate conversation, Rep. Ben Lewis, then a state representative from Dothan said “That’s y’all’s Indians” in reference to Greenetrack in Greene County.

Responded Beason: “They’re aborigines, but they’re not Indians."

Asked about the conversation today, Beason testified that he did not remember it.

Quipped Segall: “I’d want to forget it, too.”

Segall asked Beason whether he realized the recording device was on during those two meetings. If Beason did realize he was being recorded, Segall asked, “What must you say when you don’t know you’re on tape?”