BENNY’S BUD

POLITICS If ROBERT S. STRAUSS of Texas and Mikhail Gorbachev of the Kremlin seem an unlikely twosome, consider the pas de deux featuring the superlobbyist, recently confirmed as ambassador to the Soviet Union, and gambler BENNY BINION. Strauss, brother-in-law of Mayor ANNETTE STRAUSS, intervened with the Carter administration in (he 1970s to grease the Las Vegas casino owner’s application for a presidential pardon. Binion’s fortune had been made illegally in crap games and casinos that he operated in Dallas during the 1930s and 1940s for a clientele including H.L. HUNT and occasional visitors such as HOWARD HUGHES.

Binion, who died in December 1989, was a killer by his own admission, a bootlegger, and a tax cheat-the crime for which he went to Leavenworth. Yet his loyal followers ignored his past and the violence he condoned. To them, Binion was just a charming caricature of the Old West. Clearly, Bob Strauss bought into that image.

’I like Benny.” Strauss told me a few months before Binion’s death. “He”s a good guy. He’s done a lot of good things.” Asked if he ever gambled with Binion, Strauss said, “No.” then paused. “Ask me that another time.”

While Binion was seeking the pardon that had been denied him by a succession of presidents, “The Cowboy” sent jars of his chili to Strauss. “When I’d get Binion chili, I just felt obligated,” Strauss said. “I was glad to help that application along as best I could.” Justice Department officials, who presumably never tasted Binion chili, were not swayed. The application was denied, and Binion died the convicted felon that he was.