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DEL.ICIO.USCampbell’s travels may come up today
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Testimony will resume today in the federal corruption trial of former Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell, with the prosecution expected to call a travel agent who once arranged trips for the mayor.
Gabe Pascarella’s name surfaced in the federal investigation in 2001, a year before Campbell left office. At the time, investigators were trying to determine whether city contractors had paid for any trips Campbell had taken with former Atlanta newscaster Marion Brooks, according to people familiar with the investigation at the time.
In an interview at the time, Pascarella said it was “entirely possible� that Brooks paid him for arranging trips with Campbell after Brooks’ bank records revealed a single payment of $3,000 was paid to a Stone Mountain travel agent who sometimes arranged trips for the mayor.
Brooks, who worked for WSB-TV, left Georgia in 1997 for Chicago, where she co-anchors the 4:30 and 5 p.m. weekday newscasts for NBC affiliate WMAQ.
Pascarella has expressed public support for the mayor on at least one occasion — on an airport issue. In a letter to the editor at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Pascarella in 1998 said Campbell’s “legacy will be determined by the decisions he makes, even if they are not popular with the antipathetic editorial staff of The Atlanta Constitution.â€?
At the time, he was referring to Campbell’s handling of leadership changes at Hartsfield International Airport.
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