Ex-Mayor Willam Campbell of Atlanta is on trial in federal court, “accused in a 48-page indictment of running City Hall like a criminal enterprise, fixing contracts in exchange for nearly $200,000 and evading taxes.”
Campbell, who vehemently proclaims his innocence, “has reached out to African Americans with a strong appeal to help him fight white prosecutors who, he says, are trying yet again to bring down a strong black man.” Be that as it may, the charges against Campbell are both extensive and dramatic.
Vying to prove Campbell’s guilt, prosecutors tracked his bank withdrawals before and after a businessman accused of passing him bribes was jailed in 2000 for filing false income tax returns.
Before that year, Campbell made almost no withdrawals over four years, even as he gambled extensively and took vacations around the world. After the businessman, Fred B. Prewitt, was imprisoned, the withdrawals shot up.
Dewey Clark, a former mayoral aide, explained how Campbell managed. Clark said in testimony that he saw Prewitt slip the mayor a roll of bank notes big enough to “choke a goat.”
Clark said he parted with the mayor over another bribe. It came from a strip-club owner who needed a liquor license. When the mayor failed to deliver, Clark allegedly confronted his boss, shouting, “You took that boy’s money.”
Campbell’s secretary, Serena Skaggs, said she overheard the conversation and recalled the mayor’s icy reply: “Technically, I didn’t. You did.”
A string of confessions and convictions show that Campbell’s administration was awash in corruption. DeWayne Martin, the chief of staff, and Joseph Reid, the deputy chief operating officer, confessed to taking bribes and are cooperating with prosecutors.
Wilton Lawrence “Larry” Wallace, the chief operating officer, is serving a four-year prison sentence for bribery, and Herbert McCall, the commissioner of administrative services, went to jail for lying while under oath.
Prewitt spent six months in jail. Businessman Herbert H. Timmerman, who confessed to paying bribes in return for city contracts using Prewitt as a go-between, is cooperating with prosecutors.
Stories about money changing hands provided high drama, but they did not electrify the courtroom as did the appearance of an attractive TV anchor who had been rumored to be Campbell’s mistress.
The woman, Marion Brooks, confirmed the four-year affair and said Campbell flew her to Paris, rented rooms at fine hotels, and bought her jewelry and a $2,000 mink coat — with cash. He arranged to provide another $16,000 to help her buy a condominium when she moved to Chicago, she said. A second woman is scheduled to testify.
What I found most interesting, however, was what Campbell’s defenders say:
“This trial is not based on a great deal of factual information,” said Michael Langford, the director of community affairs under Campbell. “There are no credible witnesses here. A lot of this is based on the mayor’s strong stand on affirmative action. This is a result of his . . . saying there would be minority participation in contracting.”
Must be George Bush’s fault, trying to send a guy to jail for saying minorities will participate in contracting….
As I read this I can’t help thinking about the chasm between personal race relations and political race relations in this country.
Personal race relations have never been better. We are far more integrated, and very little open discrimination is tolerated. And yet, the political animus is as nasty as ever. In some ways it is worse now than it was when far worse abuses ocurred routinely with both government and social sanction.
Here’s a guy who, if accusations are correct, is guilty of some pretty nasty things none of which have anything to do with race. Yet he still thinks race relations are so bad he can use them to get himself off.
I think most people in the racial grievance industry believe they are improving the future even while they recognize most of their arguments aren’t factual. I don’t understand how they can look at these circumstances and hold this belief. It’s only a matter of time before the political animus poisons the personal.
I fear that’s the goal for more people than I think.