Posted on 02/22/2006 11:06:30 AM PST by SmithL
MEMPHIS — A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced a former state lawmaker who admitted taking bribes during the Tennessee Waltz undercover sting to a year in prison.
Former state Rep. Chris Newton also was sentenced by federal Judge Jon McCalla to two years supervised release and 200 hours community service and fined $10,000.
"What I did was wrong there's no doubt about that," Newton told McCalla.
Newton was one of five sitting or former lawmakers arrested in the Tennessee Waltz probe of public corruption and was the first defendant to be sentenced. Two "bag men" and two local government officials also were charged.
"I've embarrassed my family, my friends," Newton told the court. "I've brought a cloud of doubt over the institution of the state Legislature."
Newton, who could have faced up to 25 years in prison, had asked for no time behind bars. The Cleveland, Tenn., Republican said he already had been punished with public embarrassment and financial ruin and was cooperating with Tennessee Waltz investigators.
He is expected to begin serving his sentence within 75 days and his free without bond in the meantime. The Federal Bureau of Prisons will decide where he serves the time.
Newton, 36, pleaded guilty to extortion and bribery conspiracy last summer and resigned in the middle of his sixth term in the Legislature.
He admitted splitting with a "bag man" $4,500 in payoffs in return for sponsoring legislation in 2005 to benefit what turned out to be an FBI front company called E-Cycle Management that supposedly was going to recycled used government computers.
After his plea, Newton told reporters he "became caught up in business as usual" at the state Capitol.
The Tennessee Waltz scandal led to a special session of the Legislature and passage of legislation creating an independent ethics commission for lawmakers. The legislation also restricts the contact lobbyists can have with lawmakers and caps cash political contributions.
Newton is the only Republican charged in the scandal and the only lawmaker to plead guilty. The others are awaiting trial.
The two accused "bag men," Charles Love of Chattanooga and Barry Myers of Memphis have pleaded guilty and are scheduled to be sentenced in August.
Love, a Capitol Hill lobbyist, had admitted that he passed money from undercover FBI agents posing as executives with E-Cycle to Newton and taking part of the cash for himself.
William Cotton, a Hamilton County commissioner, was convicted by a trial jury Saturday and is scheduled for sentencing in May.
With his guilty plea, Newton admitted splitting with Love $4,500 in payoffs in return for sponsoring legislation to benefit what turned out to be an FBI front company called E-Cycle Management that supposedly was going to recycled used government computers.
Also indicted on bribery and extortion charges were Sen. Kathryn Bowers, D-Memphis; Sen. Ward Crutchfield, D-Chattanooga and former Democratic senators Roscoe Dixon and John Ford, both of Memphis. Ford also is charged with threatening a federal witness.
This is just the warm-up act. Any predictions on Ford or the rest of the Memphis dems?
I remember the night,
And the Tennessee Waltz
Only you know how much I have lost
Yes, I lost my little darlin'
The night they were playing
The beautiful Tennessee Waltz
Redd Stewart and Pee Wee King (Julius Kuczynski), 1948
One year. Shows how serious we are about stopping corruption.
If the Butcher Brothers fiasco is any indication, everyone will go to jail except for Ford, who will get off by claiming racism.
That's what Bowers (and other Mem Dems) are saying already. Why wait til trial I guess?
Newton was a slimeball RINO piggie before this mess, I was not surprised to hear when he was indicted.
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