Culture Of Corruption

Well lookee here! We got another member of that "culture of corruption" that Nancy Pelosi keeps harping about.

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.

It's funny, but I read this entire article, and maybe I missed it, but I don't see one mention of the political party that Campbell is a member of. Hint: He's not a Republican.

"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."

Of course he hasn't. I think he's proud of being the most corrupt mayor in the history of Atlanta. He's just pissed that he got caught.

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.

He got OJ'd by the jury. They didn't convict him for bribery because they got confused about a date. After the trial was over they essentially said if they hadn't been so stupid they would have convicted him for bribery also.

In addition to prison time, Story ordered Campbell to pay almost $63,000 in back taxes and 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 in unreported income.

Hopefully he's still got some money left after paying his high priced lawyers.

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.

He's right. If it were justice, he'd be going to the pokey for a lot longer than 30 months. And what kind of a black politician would Bill Campblee be if he didn't play the race card?

Campbell has frequently called the federal investigation into his dealings "racist," "an inquisition" and a "witch hunt."

Remember my earlier comments about the jury?

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 of racketeering if they had known the dates were not contradictory.

Idiots!

The last part of this article was on the same page as a story about how our Congresscritters just gave themselves a $3300 pay raise.

Somehow these just dovetail together. It seems a shame that our elected officials can't steal enough money so they have to keep giving themselves raises. They're now making $168,500 a year with lots of perks and they bitch about overpaid CEO's? At least most of the CEO's are competent.