Posted on 06/05/2006 3:15:11 PM PDT by SmithL
MEMPHIS — A former state senator charged in an FBI bribery sting complained that his job as a lawmaker paid too little, according to a recording played for a federal jury Monday.
"I need to get in the big league, man," Roscoe Dixon said on a recording played at his bribery and extortion trial.
L.C. McNeil, an FBI agent testifying under his code name, said the recording was made in August 2004 when he was talking with Dixon about the senator’s desire to leave the Legislature.
McNeil was pretending to be vice president of E-Cycle Management, a company seeking legislative favors from Tennessee lawmakers. He used the name "McNeil" during the investigation, and Judge Jon McCalla allowed him to continue using it in court.
Dixon was running for clerk of Shelby County General Sessions Court when the audio recording was made, and McNeil said he was worried that if Dixon left the Senate, E-Cycle would lose influence in the Legislature.
Dixon is one of five current or former state lawmakers indicted in a federal investigation, code named Tennessee Waltz, that focused on E-Cycle, the fake company created by the FBI. He is the first lawmaker to go to trial.
The trial began last week, and prosecutors have played several secretly made audio and video recordings of Dixon for the jury.
Dixon, a Democrat, lost the clerks race and stayed in the Senate. He resigned last year, shortly before his indictment, to take a top job with the Shelby County mayor’s office.
In the conversation with McNeil, Dixon referred to administrative government jobs with good salaries, large staffs and contract-signing authority as "big league."
He complained that no matter how much per diem pay he drew above base salary, he could not make more than $30,000 a year as a Senator. "Everybody got some semi-hustle," he said of the state Legislature.
On the recording, McNeil expresses concern that Dixon will no longer be able to help E-Cycle if he leaves the Senate.
Dixon says he will still be part of a political "network" in Memphis and can use the court clerk’s office to lobby the Legislature.
"I’ll have a credit card and I’ll have more power and sway over them than I do as senator," he says.
One lawmaker charged in the Tennessee Waltz scandal, former Rep. Chris Newton, R-Cleveland, has pleaded guilty and is serving a one-year prison sentence. The other are awaiting trial.
Three county officials in Chattanooga and Memphis also were charged in the investigation as were two accused "bagmen" who have pleaded guilty to handling payoffs for lawmakers.
The Tennessean had an editorial today whining about the State
Senate not raising the minimum wage. Maybe they'll do one about paying the legislators more so they wont have to accept bribes. ; )
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