Posted on 02/05/2006 5:55:50 AM PST by mcg2000
A witness in the federal corruption trial of former Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell, who admitted passing cash to the Georgia mayor, testified last week that he also made a large cash payment to Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton.
Memphian Dewey Clark, a former aide to Campbell, made the statement while under cross-examination by the defense, court transcripts show.
Clark, 45, who once worked as the Atlanta mayor's personal assistant-- and lived in his basement apartment for six years-- testified he gave Herenton thousands of dollars in cash.
Questioned about payments to Herenton, Clark responded, "I gave the mayor $9,000 cash in his office."
Clark did not say when the payment to Herenton was allegedly made or what it was for. Lawyers moved on to other topics and the issue did not resurface during his nearly three days on the witness stand.
Herenton would not agree to be interviewed regarding Clark's testimony. But spokeswoman Gale Jones Carson issued a statement:
"Any allegations against Mayor Herenton regarding former Mayor Bill Campbell's trial can be addressed after the mayor testifies in Campbell's case this month."
Herenton was subpoenaed Thursday but the date of his appearance is uncertain.
Clark testified he also gave a $1,000 campaign contribution to Herenton. He said he also gave $1,000 each for Reginald French, a former aide to Herenton now in private business, and French's wife, to put in their names as campaign contributions to Herenton.
French, contacted Friday, said he had "no knowledge" of Clark's claims that he gave him money for Herenton's campaign.
"That's absolutely absurd," said French, whose resume at Memphis City Hall includes stints as administrator of the Mayor's Citizens Service Center, special assistant to the mayor, general services director and now as chairman of the city's Alcohol Commission.
"This is the first I've heard of anything like that. I've given to several campaigns -- Mayor Herenton, Mayor Wharton, you have to check the disclosures."
Herenton's campaign financial disclosure forms show Clark contributed $1,000 to the mayor's campaign on April 30, 1999.
French contributed $1,000 on April 29, 1999, as did his wife, Michelle, those records show.
Tennessee campaign finance laws limit individual contributions to $1,000 per election and prohibit individuals from giving money on someone else's behalf. "You can't use someone else to get around the $1,000 contribution limits," said Drew Rawlins, executive director of the state's Registry of Election Finance.
In 2003, both Herenton and French were subpoenaed to Atlanta to testify in the trial of Herbert McCall, then-Atlanta commissioner of administrative services.
McCall and Larry Wallace, Atlanta's chief operating officer at the time, came to Memphis in 2000 to persuade Herenton to hire two Atlanta contractors, but Herenton said he wasn't interested.
According to trial evidence at that time, French passed $10,000 from an Atlanta contractor to McCall and Wallace following a January 2000 breakfast at The Peabody. French has said he was an unwitting dupe in the transaction.
Herenton was a key witness in that trial.
McCall received a 21-month sentence for obstruction and lying about the Memphis trip. Wallace is serving four years for failing to file tax returns and accepting kickbacks from another contractor.
Meanwhile, Clark's testimony about the $9,000 payment and campaign contributions to Herenton was only a brief portion of his nearly three days on the witness stand. He also testified about working in Herenton's campaign for a short while.
The bulk of his testimony concerned his travels to Tunica with Campbell to gamble and about passing thousands of dollars in cash to Campbell from an Atlanta strip club owner and a city contractor. He also admitted pocketing money himself.
Clark, now a Memphis bail bondsman, made a meteoric rise from humble beginnings, growing up picking cotton in Arlington.
He moved to Atlanta and worked on the mayoral and congressional campaigns of civil rights legends Andrew Young, John Lewis and later, Campbell.
Campbell, a two-term Atlanta mayor who served from 1994 to 2002, is accused of racketeering, accepting bribes and evading taxes. The trial begins its third week on Monday.
The seven-year federal probe into corruption at Atlanta City Hall centers on city contracting and campaign fund-raising. Already, 10 former city officials and city contractors during Campbell's administration have been convicted.
Prosecutors agreed not to charge Clark in exchange for his testimony --- a deal that came to light during Campbell's trial.
"At trial the government expects to ask you several questions, the truthful answer to which would incriminate you," assistant U.S. Atty. Phyllis Sumner wrote in an Oct. 19, 2005, letter to Clark read into the court record. The letter goes on to say, "as long as you are completely truthful, the government will not prosecute you for your role in the corrupt activities..."
Another former Memphian, Fred Prewitt, was one of the first Campbell associates sentenced. Clark describes Prewitt in court testimony as being "like a father" to Campbell.
Prewitt admitted being a "minority front" for companies trying to get city business in Atlanta.
He pleaded guilty in 2000 to filing false income reports on nearly $600,000 paid to him by contractors looking for city business. He was fined and sentenced to six months in prison and six months' home confinement and released from prison in December 2001.
During the first week of the current trial, another Memphian, Henry Stansbury, who retired from Herenton's security detail about two years ago, testified about his contacts with Campbell when the Atlanta mayor visited Memphis.
Stansbury said that on at least six occasions, he was asked to take Campbell and Prewitt from the Memphis airport to Mississippi casinos.
-- Jacinthia Jones: 529-2780
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CASH TRANSCRIPT
Defense atty. Jerry Froelich: All right. You also made the allegation that you had paid Mayor Herenton in Memphis, too, didn't you?
Dewey Clark: Yes, sir.
Froelich: That's not true, is it?
Clark: That is true.
Froelich: OK. So you're also saying that you paid Mayor Herenton?
Clark: Yes, sir.
Froelich: And how much do you allege you paid Mayor Herenton?
Clark: I gave a $1,000 contribution in my name. I gave Reginald French $1,000 to put in his name. I gave Reginald French $1,000 to put in his wife's name. And I gave the mayor $9,000 cash in his office.
-ccm
easy guess .... you're correct.
On Thursday, February 2, Thaddeus Matthews, Memphis talk-show host and black "community activist", filed a recall petition, the first step in the legal process of recalling Mayor Herenton. This thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1570697/posts
discusses the situation a little, but dismisses corruption as a reason for removal. This new information just adds more fuel to the fire. Of course, indictment might solve the problem, but I am looking for the first available opportunity to sign up.
Justice here takes a sidestep to racism. In six years I retire and we are out of here. I just hope there will be a market for our house.
Wow, does this mean that African-American politicians (a.k.a. dimorats)would take money under the table? Someone should call Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and get them to come and demostrate against this corruption.....wha...you don't say....they might be corrupt too? What has this world come to? :0 )
democraps=culture of corruption
Race card to be played in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1........
I'm just north of Shelby Farms and east of Sycamore View.. Still a nice neighborhood.
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