More news broke Tuesday in the Jefferson County electronic bingo saga as Yellowhammer News confirmed that Bruce Pettway loaned his brother’s campaign more than $50,000.
Bruce Pettway loaned the campaign of Sheriff Mark Pettway a total of $56,322.25 in the 2018 cycle and donated another $2,500, according to publicly available campaign finance information.
As of the latest campaign finance report, which was filed on January 30, only $5,000 of the total amount loaned had been repaid by the campaign.
This comes the same day that Yellowhammer News learned Sheriff Mark Pettway’s brother has canceled his business license.
A letter from Bruce Pettway’s attorney on Tuesday confirmed that the sheriff’s brother had been licensed for electronic bingo at the recently closed Lowe’s in Graysville. The letter also said that no electronic bingo activities have taken place at that facility, which purportedly remains in the control of Lowe’s. Pettway’s attorney advised that the license, which was obtained on March 1, has now been fully refunded and canceled.
At a press conference on Monday, a spokesman for Sheriff Pettway denied having knowledge that Bruce Pettway was granted a business license to conduct electronic bingo.
“I don’t know that to be true, but it has no bearing on our enforcement, our priorities,” Capt. David Agee said.
Attorney General Steve Marshall has criticized Sheriff Pettway for “refusing to act” on electronic bingo operations in his jurisdiction.
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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