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miles
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Former Atlanta mayor Bill Campbell was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison today. This clown wrote the book on corruption. Maybe he'll run for Congress when he gets out of the joint.
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Campbell gets 30 months in prison
Sentence is an 'abomination,' former Atlanta mayor says
By BILL TORPY, JEFFRY SCOTT and BETH WARREN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/14/06
A federal judge scolded former Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell for leading an office riddled with corruption. Then he sentenced him to 30 months in prison.
"As the trial progressed, I was overcome, almost appalled, by the breadth of misconduct in your administration," U.S. District Judge Richard Story told Campbell on Tuesday during the sentencing hearing in federal court. Later, Story looked Campbell in the eye and said, "I am going to send you to prison, and I do not take that lightly. Within my heart I am not sure you have accepted responsibility for what has transpired."
With the sentence, the judge put the final stamp on a six-year-long federal investigation into Campbell's behavior while he was mayor. Prosecutors claimed he ran his office as a corrupt enterprise, taking cash bribes to fund a lavish lifestyle of gambling and international trips with girlfriends.
Campbell remained stoic as the sentence was handed down. The 52-year-old, who served two terms as Atlanta's mayor from 1994 to 2002, was convicted in March on three counts of tax evasion but acquitted on racketeering charges and taking thousands of dollars in bribes.
Under federal law in determining the sentence, Story was able to consider evidence and testimony presented during the trial about Campbell taking bribes, even though he was acquitted on those charges.
In addition to prison time, Story ordered Campbell to pay the government almost $63,000 in back taxes, a $6,000 fine and to serve a year on probation following his prison term. Prosecutors contended Campbell had evaded paying taxes on about $200,000.
Story alluded to the frequent, impromptu news conferences Campbell held on the courthouse steps during his trial in which he proclaimed his innocence and disputed the testimony of government witnesses in detail. The judge implied that Campbell's lack of contrition was one reason he gave the former mayor such a stiff sentence.
Campbell, who did not speak in court, called the sentence an "abomination" as he left the courthouse. He also claimed the judge was trying to undo the jury's verdict. "This is not justice," he said.
Campbell has frequently called the federal investigation into his dealings "racist," "an inquisition" and a "witch hunt."
Campbell vowed to file an appeal, which he must do in the next 10 days.
If the judge grants him an appeal bond, he will stay out of prison while his appeal is pending. Otherwise, he will report to a federal facility when ordered by the federal Bureau of Prisons.
Mark Kadish, professor at Georgia State University's College of Law, said Story seemed to follow federal guidelines. "I don't think Campbell will have much of an issue of appeal," he said, "and I don't think the judge will give him an appellate bond."
He said Campbell will probably serve his time in a minimum-security prison camp.
U.S. Attorney David Nahmias, radiant with victory, said Campbell would have gotten a lighter sentence if he had accepted responsibility for his actions in office. Nahmias said a finding Tuesday by the judge that Campbell obstructed justice probably resulted in an extra six months of prison time.
He also responded to charges that his office was out to get Campbell.
"Bill Campbell may believe that he has been the center of our universe, and his case was indeed important because of the position he held and the conduct he engaged in," Nahmias said. But to give some "perspective," Nahmias said that his office had prosecuted and convicted over 6,000 people since 1999, when the Campbell investigation began.
"Like them, Bill Campbell broke the law, and like most of them, he is going to prison. And we are going back to work," Nahmias said.
Campbell supporters were horrified at the sentence. When court was adjourned, many gathered in the federal courthouse and formed a prayer circle.
Steve Labovitz, an attorney who served as Campbell's chief of staff and testified for the defense, said he was shocked the former mayor got so much jail time.
"I absolutely do not think it's fair," he said. "Michael Childs, the one who started this whole investigation, who committed arson, was only given 33 months."
Before the trial, Childs told investigators he paid thousands of dollars in bribes to a Campbell aide because he was promised the mayor would get him a liquor license for his strip club. But prosecutors feared that Childs, who had pleaded guilty to arson in another case, would be a liability, and never called him to the stand.
Labovitz noted that Campbell was acquitted on all the substantive charges, except for tax evasion. "All the government witnesses who testified against Campbell had tax issues. None of them are going to jail," Labovitz said.
Although Campbell's attorneys claimed any failure to pay taxes resulted from "sloppy bookkeeping," prosecutors told the judge this wasn't a case of a man forgetting to pay his taxes. They contended that Campbell worked hard to conceal his illegal activities and then tried to obstruct the investigation.
Gabe Pascarella, once a close friend and gambling buddy of Campbell's, testified Tuesday he gave Campbell records detailing the former mayor's spending and travel after learning investigators were asking about those subjects. He also secretly taped investigators when they questioned him and turned over to Campbell a rough transcript of the interview.
Pascarella owned a travel agency and kept a credit card account to pay for some of Campbell's travels with girlfriends. During the trial, he testified that Campbell repaid him in cash for those expenses. The arrangement was set up to keep the affairs from Campbell's wife, he said.
Judge finds bribery
Prosecutors hammered at Campbell's voracious appetite for spending cash, which nearly tripled from 1996 to 1999, when he spent $23,600. At the same time, cash withdrawals from his personal bank accounts shrank each year to just $69 for all of 1999.
Prosecutor Sally Yates, who led the Campbell investigation from the beginning, told the judge that Campbell failed to pay taxes on thousands of dollars in speaking fees, rent from former aide Dewey Clark, who lived in Campbell's basement, and the campaign funds he used for personal expenses. Campbell paid bills ranging from electricity to school tuition in cash to hide his ill-gotten gains, she said.
Outside the courthouse, Yates shook her head and said, "He [Campbell] still seems to be placing blame on others."
Though the jury found Campbell not guilty of corruption, Story didn't, saying he believed Campbell accepted $55,000 in illegal bribes from city subcontractor Dan DeBardelaben. The jurors were confused by different dates given for the DeBardelaben bribe. After the trial, several jurors said they would have convicted Campbell on racketeering if they had known the dates were not contradictory.
Juror Renita L. Stowers said she and fellow jurors believed Campbell was corrupt, but couldn't put the money in his hands.
"I'm pleased with how it turned out," Stowers said. "He deserves his punishment like everybody else. Just because he was the mayor doesn't mean he should get away with what he done. I think the judge done good."
Lead defense attorney Billy Martin, who argued for a probated sentence, called the government's arguments "outrageous" and "desperate."
Defense attorneys tried to show that Campbell won money at casinos and in high-stakes Friday night poker games with friends, including Pascarella.
Defense attorney Jerry Froelich criticized prosecutors for speculating about how much cash Campbell had and how he got it.
"Winning at a casino is not illegal and I don't know anyone prosecuted for Friday night card games," Froelich said. He later said that no one knows how much Campbell won. "Gamblers just don't keep track," he said. "It's just bad luck."
According to defense calculations, Campbell owed the government $11,346 in back taxes, based on about $40,500 of unreported income, Martin said.
For the first time, Campbell attorneys argued that one of the sources of cash he used to fuel his lifestyle was his late mother, June, who, they said, gave Campbell $20,000 in cash while he was in office. They included a letter from Campbell's mother in the pre-sentencing report as evidence that she gave her son money.
Yates said that the $20,000 gift from June Campbell would have taken about "half her income" in a given two-year period, and therefore it was incredible to think Campbell's mother provided him with that much cash.
Defense attorney Martin retorted: "It's not for them [prosecutors] to say that his mother is so poor she can't afford to give her son $20,000."
After the sentencing, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, Campbell's successor in office, wished the former mayor's family well. She added that it was unfortunate that there was "a sense that people can't trust the government."
Angelo Fuster, who served two years as Campbell's communications director, said the sentencing "seems like a sad, inevitable ending to a story that should have ended so differently. It's a cautionary tale that no matter how talented you are you need to keep a sense of reality. I thought he was the leader of the future. But it came to a crashing end."
Former Atlanta police Deputy Chief Lou Arcangeli was blunt when he commented on the sentence.
"The words that come to mind are sordid, hedonistic, squalid, self-centered and selfish — and I voted for him," Arcangeli said. "There's a Dirty Dozen of convicted city officials [during his years in office] and he's the chairman of the board. What a legacy."
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/0614metcampbell.html
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Campbell gets 30 months in prison
Sentence is an 'abomination,' former Atlanta mayor says
By BILL TORPY, JEFFRY SCOTT and BETH WARREN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/14/06
A federal judge scolded former Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell for leading an office riddled with corruption. Then he sentenced him to 30 months in prison.
"As the trial progressed, I was overcome, almost appalled, by the breadth of misconduct in your administration," U.S. District Judge Richard Story told Campbell on Tuesday during the sentencing hearing in federal court. Later, Story looked Campbell in the eye and said, "I am going to send you to prison, and I do not take that lightly. Within my heart I am not sure you have accepted responsibility for what has transpired."
With the sentence, the judge put the final stamp on a six-year-long federal investigation into Campbell's behavior while he was mayor. Prosecutors claimed he ran his office as a corrupt enterprise, taking cash bribes to fund a lavish lifestyle of gambling and international trips with girlfriends.
Campbell remained stoic as the sentence was handed down. The 52-year-old, who served two terms as Atlanta's mayor from 1994 to 2002, was convicted in March on three counts of tax evasion but acquitted on racketeering charges and taking thousands of dollars in bribes.
Under federal law in determining the sentence, Story was able to consider evidence and testimony presented during the trial about Campbell taking bribes, even though he was acquitted on those charges.
In addition to prison time, Story ordered Campbell to pay the government almost $63,000 in back taxes, a $6,000 fine and to serve a year on probation following his prison term. Prosecutors contended Campbell had evaded paying taxes on about $200,000.
Story alluded to the frequent, impromptu news conferences Campbell held on the courthouse steps during his trial in which he proclaimed his innocence and disputed the testimony of government witnesses in detail. The judge implied that Campbell's lack of contrition was one reason he gave the former mayor such a stiff sentence.
Campbell, who did not speak in court, called the sentence an "abomination" as he left the courthouse. He also claimed the judge was trying to undo the jury's verdict. "This is not justice," he said.
Campbell has frequently called the federal investigation into his dealings "racist," "an inquisition" and a "witch hunt."
Campbell vowed to file an appeal, which he must do in the next 10 days.
If the judge grants him an appeal bond, he will stay out of prison while his appeal is pending. Otherwise, he will report to a federal facility when ordered by the federal Bureau of Prisons.
Mark Kadish, professor at Georgia State University's College of Law, said Story seemed to follow federal guidelines. "I don't think Campbell will have much of an issue of appeal," he said, "and I don't think the judge will give him an appellate bond."
He said Campbell will probably serve his time in a minimum-security prison camp.
U.S. Attorney David Nahmias, radiant with victory, said Campbell would have gotten a lighter sentence if he had accepted responsibility for his actions in office. Nahmias said a finding Tuesday by the judge that Campbell obstructed justice probably resulted in an extra six months of prison time.
He also responded to charges that his office was out to get Campbell.
"Bill Campbell may believe that he has been the center of our universe, and his case was indeed important because of the position he held and the conduct he engaged in," Nahmias said. But to give some "perspective," Nahmias said that his office had prosecuted and convicted over 6,000 people since 1999, when the Campbell investigation began.
"Like them, Bill Campbell broke the law, and like most of them, he is going to prison. And we are going back to work," Nahmias said.
Campbell supporters were horrified at the sentence. When court was adjourned, many gathered in the federal courthouse and formed a prayer circle.
Steve Labovitz, an attorney who served as Campbell's chief of staff and testified for the defense, said he was shocked the former mayor got so much jail time.
"I absolutely do not think it's fair," he said. "Michael Childs, the one who started this whole investigation, who committed arson, was only given 33 months."
Before the trial, Childs told investigators he paid thousands of dollars in bribes to a Campbell aide because he was promised the mayor would get him a liquor license for his strip club. But prosecutors feared that Childs, who had pleaded guilty to arson in another case, would be a liability, and never called him to the stand.
Labovitz noted that Campbell was acquitted on all the substantive charges, except for tax evasion. "All the government witnesses who testified against Campbell had tax issues. None of them are going to jail," Labovitz said.
Although Campbell's attorneys claimed any failure to pay taxes resulted from "sloppy bookkeeping," prosecutors told the judge this wasn't a case of a man forgetting to pay his taxes. They contended that Campbell worked hard to conceal his illegal activities and then tried to obstruct the investigation.
Gabe Pascarella, once a close friend and gambling buddy of Campbell's, testified Tuesday he gave Campbell records detailing the former mayor's spending and travel after learning investigators were asking about those subjects. He also secretly taped investigators when they questioned him and turned over to Campbell a rough transcript of the interview.
Pascarella owned a travel agency and kept a credit card account to pay for some of Campbell's travels with girlfriends. During the trial, he testified that Campbell repaid him in cash for those expenses. The arrangement was set up to keep the affairs from Campbell's wife, he said.
Judge finds bribery
Prosecutors hammered at Campbell's voracious appetite for spending cash, which nearly tripled from 1996 to 1999, when he spent $23,600. At the same time, cash withdrawals from his personal bank accounts shrank each year to just $69 for all of 1999.
Prosecutor Sally Yates, who led the Campbell investigation from the beginning, told the judge that Campbell failed to pay taxes on thousands of dollars in speaking fees, rent from former aide Dewey Clark, who lived in Campbell's basement, and the campaign funds he used for personal expenses. Campbell paid bills ranging from electricity to school tuition in cash to hide his ill-gotten gains, she said.
Outside the courthouse, Yates shook her head and said, "He [Campbell] still seems to be placing blame on others."
Though the jury found Campbell not guilty of corruption, Story didn't, saying he believed Campbell accepted $55,000 in illegal bribes from city subcontractor Dan DeBardelaben. The jurors were confused by different dates given for the DeBardelaben bribe. After the trial, several jurors said they would have convicted Campbell on racketeering if they had known the dates were not contradictory.
Juror Renita L. Stowers said she and fellow jurors believed Campbell was corrupt, but couldn't put the money in his hands.
"I'm pleased with how it turned out," Stowers said. "He deserves his punishment like everybody else. Just because he was the mayor doesn't mean he should get away with what he done. I think the judge done good."
Lead defense attorney Billy Martin, who argued for a probated sentence, called the government's arguments "outrageous" and "desperate."
Defense attorneys tried to show that Campbell won money at casinos and in high-stakes Friday night poker games with friends, including Pascarella.
Defense attorney Jerry Froelich criticized prosecutors for speculating about how much cash Campbell had and how he got it.
"Winning at a casino is not illegal and I don't know anyone prosecuted for Friday night card games," Froelich said. He later said that no one knows how much Campbell won. "Gamblers just don't keep track," he said. "It's just bad luck."
According to defense calculations, Campbell owed the government $11,346 in back taxes, based on about $40,500 of unreported income, Martin said.
For the first time, Campbell attorneys argued that one of the sources of cash he used to fuel his lifestyle was his late mother, June, who, they said, gave Campbell $20,000 in cash while he was in office. They included a letter from Campbell's mother in the pre-sentencing report as evidence that she gave her son money.
Yates said that the $20,000 gift from June Campbell would have taken about "half her income" in a given two-year period, and therefore it was incredible to think Campbell's mother provided him with that much cash.
Defense attorney Martin retorted: "It's not for them [prosecutors] to say that his mother is so poor she can't afford to give her son $20,000."
After the sentencing, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, Campbell's successor in office, wished the former mayor's family well. She added that it was unfortunate that there was "a sense that people can't trust the government."
Angelo Fuster, who served two years as Campbell's communications director, said the sentencing "seems like a sad, inevitable ending to a story that should have ended so differently. It's a cautionary tale that no matter how talented you are you need to keep a sense of reality. I thought he was the leader of the future. But it came to a crashing end."
Former Atlanta police Deputy Chief Lou Arcangeli was blunt when he commented on the sentence.
"The words that come to mind are sordid, hedonistic, squalid, self-centered and selfish — and I voted for him," Arcangeli said. "There's a Dirty Dozen of convicted city officials [during his years in office] and he's the chairman of the board. What a legacy."
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/0614metcampbell.html
