Waltz 'bagman' had political backing

AP ^ | 6/12/6 | Barry Myers

[SmithL]

MEMPHIS - A confessed "bagman" in the Tennessee Waltz sting and aide to a former state senator convicted on extortion and bribery charges was endorsed by several Memphis politicians for vacant legislative seats last year.

Backed by Shelby County commissioners, Barry Myers was up for a House seat last May but was indicted days before he could get the position. He also nearly captured an appointment to a state Senate seat.

"Your credentials are quite impressive, and I appreciate you bringing your availability to my attention," Commissioner David Lillard wrote a candidate vying with Myers for the House seat.

"However, I have committed to support Barry Meyers (sic), who is also a candidate for the position."

The letter was written days before Myers and five current or former state lawmakers were charged with taking payoffs from E-Cycle Management, a fake company set up by the FBI to catch corrupt public officials in a sting code-named Tennessee Waltz.

Former state Sen. Roscoe Dixon, accused of taking $9,500 in bribes to file legislation favorable to E-Cycle, was convicted last week on the charges.

Myers, who was Dixon's former aide, testified for the government at Dixon's trial. Myers has pleaded guilty to being Dixon's "bagman" and is awaiting sentencing.

Lillard said last week that Myers came with solid recommendations and that he didn't know he was corrupt when he endorsed him.

Based on secretly taped conversations played in court, Dixon - who served 22 years in the Legislature - wanted to put Myers into a vacant Senate or House seat to preserve his political influence.

By February 2005, after Dixon resigned from the Senate, Myers appeared before the county commission seeking interim appointment to the vacant seat.

He got three votes - one each from commissioners Marilyn Loeffel, Joyce Avery and Cleo Kirk - finishing second to Democrat Sidney Chism.

When Chism's interim term expired and voters put Democrat Kathryn Bowers in Dixon's old seat, her seat in the House became vacant. Myers then again approached commissioners, who considered him for an interim appointment.

Yet days after the Tennessee Waltz arrests, they opted against installing anyone.

"Now, when we talk about Barry Myers, you're really talking about Roscoe, just with another name," Kirk said when endorsing Myers for the Senate.

One former lawmaker charged in the FBI investigation, Rep. Chris Newton, R-Cleveland, has pleaded guilty and is serving a one-year prison sentence.

The other indicted lawmakers - Sen. Ward Crutchfield, D-Chattanooga; Bowers, D-Memphis; and former Sen. John Ford, D-Memphis - have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.

A former Hamilton County commissioner has been convicted at trial on Tennessee Waltz charges and sentenced to three years in prison. A former Chattanooga lobbyist has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing and two other county officials in Memphis are awaiting trials.

[SmithL]

Of all the people involved in the Tennessee Waltz sting, Newton is THE Republican.

[GailA]

Considering how the people of Memphis feel about the fords it will be interesting to see if they convict all the indicted pols, except john ford.....fords can do no wrong in Memphis.